Women and Youth's role in Community Resilience

by Mugove Nyika of Gudza Ramuka Community, Zimbabwe

In the small rural community of Gudza Ramuka, Zimbabwe, women and children are recognised as playing pioneering roles in the community building process. As the community has been exploring our own pathway to a more sustainable and resilient future, special sparks of discussion and engagement have emerged from these key members. From participation in gatherings, to raising critical questions, to making situations more visible for families, the journey of understanding the pathway to a more resilient future would have been vastly different without the contributions of women and children.

Like elsewhere, women in this community play central roles in their families. They anchor the food and farming system in the community, as the custodians of the seeds and holding the main responsibilities for the cash crops. Many households are headed by women because of the higher death rate for men and the migration of men in search of greener pastures. It is the women who are involved in the more intricate processes in farming such as seed sowing, weeding, harvesting, post harvesting processes like threshing and winnowing of small grains. In addition the women have multiple basic chores such as provision of food, fuel, and water for the household at the same time taking care of the children.

They unconditionally nurture their families through thick and thin. The nuclear and extended families form the social fabric of the community and the women hold the thread of this fabric. As the community gathered for meetings, the women were the majority of the participants. As the workshops asked for insights, the women were more engaged in their responses. For example, as the community came together to assess the adoption of climate smart farming practices in January 2024, it emerged that the 3 best demonstrations of mulching and intercroping had been done by women, Mrs Ben Murwisi, Mrs Sheunesu Chiwera, and Ms Sheila Makambwa, the latter is a single mother.

When it came to creating a storyline for the drama in preparation for a community celebration, Mai Eliza Mugova offered to do the creative work. Some women stepped up into leadership roles for example Mai Chris Chimiti offered to do the coordination and logistics for the community meetings .

When we looked at the history of our community, we recognised the women held such important repositories of our story. While the men were contributing about the key milestones in the historical timeline of the community, the women provided the fullness of the stories. When the village Headman was narrating the story of how the village was established at its current location the grand mothers narrated the disruptions to their lives in terms of food and shelter and how the community dynamics had been changed by the new planning rules from the government. The women remembered the names of the officers who were responsible for the village resettlement that took place in 1939.

The children make visible the situation in their families and they are quick to step up into emerging spaces and roles. It is through these qualities that women and children have led the Gudza Ramuka community in exploring its pathway towards a more sustainable future.

Some children also showed up at the meetings, initially more as people who merely accompanied their mothers and seemed disinterested. As spaces opened for them the children stepped up and became active participants at every stage. They showed much interest and were quick to engage with the issues.

When the community started to gather for meetings to explore the journey to resilience there were just a few children who accompanied their mothers. Initially the children focused on their play during the meetings but when the meetings involved learning about new seeds and seedlings and sharing them, the children stepped up and wanted their own share of the seeds and seedlings and they participated in planting the same in their family gardens. When it came to seed distribution even toddlers would stretch their hands to receive the seeds.

At the end of one of the first community meetings a discussion was being made about the date for the next meeting. During that discussion a young girl, Elizabeth Mugova raised her hand to ask whether the children should come to the next meeting and a decision was taken to plan for the engagement of the children both during the community meetings as well as having additional separate meetings for them.

During the preparations for the community celebration, Jane Chimiti, a 13 year old girl, volunteered to organize a traditional dance group made up of the children only.

The children have been outstanding in applying new ideas and adopting them. They have been trying out new things like organic farming techniques, new foods and healthy habits. The adults struggled more in breaking away from bad habits and unhealthy diets.

The community prioritised ecological issues in their analysis and explored their food system and started working together to address the gaps that they identified. In their analysis of the current situation, the community explored the connections between their food, the physical environment and their health. They connected the poor state of the soil with food insecurity. They also connected the simplified agricultural system with the nutritional challenges that they were facing. Climate change also emerged as a critical issue that was increasing vulnerability in the community.

In addressing the issues identified, the community looked at their farming practices and started learning about organic farming and reviving some traditional farming practices. The women were at the forefront in this revival both as repositories of the traditional knowledge and as implementers of the actions that had to be taken. The children were open minded and quick to catch on to the new ideas and implement the new practices.

The women found it easier to collaborate and they formed sub groups to make their tasks lighter and to support each other. The children also worked well with each other in their group. This was a revival of some of the cultural traditions in the community that had died over the years due to the impact of colonialism, neo colonialism and globalisation.

When we explored the resilience of the community the women and children were at the forefront not only articulating the issues but most importantly in taking responsibility and carrying out the necessary practical actions. Their active engagement was shining all the way to the celebration of the milestones that the community has achieved. The women expressed themselves in song, dance and drama while the children expressed themselves in poetry and drama.

Through their active engagement, the women and children were filling a gap left by less proactive community leadership. They have been stepping up to the plate and assuming responsibilities that have been strengthening the whole community towards greater cohesion and resilience. There is a new spirit in this community largely thanks to the active engagement of the women and children and through their actions they are actually providing leadership to the community as a whole.