Southern Africa

The undersigned organization are gravely concerned that every year, 12 million girls are married or in unions worldwide with an estimated 640 million girls and women alive today who were married as children.

The Resources of Open Minds (R.O.O.M.) program is a great example of how creativity can challenge the status quo. This is the program’s Annual Report 2024.

Ending in 2024, the R.O.O.M. program empowered creators across Africa and the Middle East to amplify diverse, alternative ethical and social narratives in societies where public space continues to shrink. This is the program’s final synthesis report.

In this newsletter, you can read stories from the Women and Youth Inclusion for Equality program about increased participation of women and youth at all levels of political and civic life in Zimbabwe.

This edition of the Women & Youth Voices Newsletter celebrates the women and youth that we work with through our various programs. As we reflect on the 2023, with a focus on the elections held in August 2023 in Zimbabwe, it is clear that women and youth played a critical role in shaping the outcome.

Despite the challenges of 2022, we also saw positive developments. Hivos and its partners achieved successes in areas of gender equality and diversity, climate justice, and civic rights. A selection of these can be found in our Annual Report 2022.

The annual accounts are also included in this report.

2023 is a decisive year in Zimbabwe – not only for Hivos’ work to empower women  – but this August Zimbabwe is holding its Harmonized Elections (parliamentary, provincial, local and presidential elections). It is a time that offers opportunities for women in politics to step up and be recognized as leaders. Stories from across the […]

In February 2023, various women’s rights organizations came together and produced an election charter seeking gender equality within political parties in Zimbabwe.

Together with the National Arts Council of Zambia (NAC), Hivos organized a workshop to help creatives, artists and lobbyists think of new critical ideas for the sustainability of the arts in Zambia. Their views were also used in formulating Zambia’s National Arts Policy.

This case study examines how the Women’s Global Network for Reproductive Rights has built and supported a grassroots sub-regional youth movement to enhance young people’s access to sexual and reproductive health services and information, including safe and legal abortion.