LAST night I walked home along a quiet road with noise cancelling headphones on. As I did so I thought once again about how I will never have the same type of anxiety in doing this as the women I know; my partner, my mother, my sisters, my friends. The fear of gender-based violence is one that does not populate my thoughts daily but is something I have thought about continually since returning from southern Zimbabwe.
While there, I heard how climate change is exacerbating gender-based violence, a catch all term for a range of horrors including domestic and sexual abuse.
The climate in Southern Zimbabwe is changing. Dry seasons are becoming drier, rains are less predictable and last year the region faced a drought as part of the El Nino cycle.
Musu Chumanzala, a field officer with Trócaire’s partner agency ORAP, explained to me how the droughts dried up water sources and led to crops failing, finishing by saying: "It is painful to see a mother going hungry."
However, the impact of these droughts is even more profound on women. I spoke with Samantha Dube and Nomosonto Dube who work with Trócaire’s partner Musasa, helping women affected by violence.
I met them outside their offices in Bulawayo, a small unassuming bungalow set off a dusty road lined with small shops selling groceries, hardware supplies and car parts. Their office also contains a shelter for women. For their own security I’m not meeting any of the survivors living there, but Samantha paints a stark picture of how climate change is impacting women.
Due to the changing climate women are having to walk further to collect water. "Along the way they experience violence such as rape," Samatha says, detailing how when water is scarce, water points can become a centre for the abuse of power. In addition, the pressures caused by food insecurity at a household level also increase cases of domestic abuse and can force women into negative coping strategies that put them at even greater risk.
Peter Heaney with Samantha and Nomosonto
As part of the UK Aidmatch programme Trócaire are supporting communities to help tackle both climate change and gender-based violence at the same time. Borehole wells have been drilled that help provide water closer to where people live, meaning women can access clean water in a safer location. That water is also being used to irrigate land where women’s community groups are growing vegetables and being supported to save collectively and set up small businesses or income generating projects. These have helped provide a vital source of income and food during last year’s drought.
They also work with women to change the balance of power. These groups "support women to make financial decisions, to provide for themselves and to be economically empowered". Then, if they encounter gender-based violence a woman then knows, "I can do my project, I can depend on my project, rather than staying in this abusive relationship," Samantha tells me.
Combined with this, Musasa has been running mobile clinics for victims and survivors of gender-based violence where they can meet with trained councillors and access the services they need, such as the police, and also receive medical assistance or financial support. I heard about one survivor of physical abuse who Musasa supported through providing shelter and helping to relocate her permanently away from her abuser. She was supported to start a business breeding and selling chickens and is now making $250 a month, enabling her to have a secure income and live independently.
Working with key decision makers and community leaders is also an integral part of the process to change attitudes. "We have chiefs," Nomasonto says "that have been there for years in districts and they were not reporting [incidents of gender-based violence] because of the patriarchal system that exists there" but now they are seeing referrals coming in from these same people to help survivors of gender-based violence access the services they need.
It is not easy work, but it is making a difference. When I asked Nomasonto how she does it she told me, "My strength comes from me being a feminist. I would love to see more women able to make informed decisions, I would love to see women that are free from abuse, from gender-based violence, I would love to see women who are participating in leadership roles." And this is what Musasa, together with Trócaire, are working to achieve.
