A FAITH-BASED organisation that pushes for gender inclusion and equality in apostolic communities has embarked on programmes to empower women in Shurugwi with support from Unki Mine.
The Apostolic Women Empowerment Trust (AWET) is implementing the community health and sanitation programmes in wards 18 and 19.
AWET said the project comprises two components, which are sanitation and health.
Under the sanitation aspect, the project is meant to address adequate sanitation at both household and community levels, especially at apostolic shrines.
On the other hand the health programme is meant to improve health services uptake when it comes to HIV and maternal as well as sexual reproductive health issues.
AWET is working with the Health and Child Care ministry and partners such as Zvandiri, National Aids Council, NGOs, and other government ministries,
It is targeting adolescent girls and young women from the apostolic churches and other religious groups, artisanal miners, pregnant women and people living with HIV and Aids.
Hope Dunhira, the AWET head of programmes, said they were implementing the programmes through behaviour change facilitators (BCFs), who were mostly from apostolic churches.
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“We used the ideology of setting a thief to catch a thief, which is why 80% of the BCFs are apostolic church members, so that they can easily reach out to fellow church members and as a result there is an increased uptake of health services,” Dunhira said.
“More apostolic women are now coming for institutional delivery leading to a decline in home deliveries.
“Under 95-95-95 all pregnant women booked for antenatal clinics (ANC) first get an HIV test, if they test positive they are put on antiviral treatment under the test and treat notion.”
She said adolescent girls, who after being referred by BCFs for HTS or ANC, are sent to Zvandiri Community ART Treatment Support for psychosocial support under the support groups of enhanced adherence.
AWET said it had bought 30 straight singer sewing machines and two heavy duty overlocking machines as part of the project to empower women in the community.
It also trained adolescent girls and young women under the empowerment programme on reusable sanitary pad- making for personal use to boost self-esteem and for resale to earn a living.
