Vision
GCN envisions a society where girls are empowered and enjoy their rights
with support from whole communities so as to walk in the fullness of their
potential in line with the Millennium Development Goals.
Mission
GCN’s mission is to resocialise girls (0-18 years old) so that they
articulate their individual and collective rights and strategically position
themselves to take charge of their own empowerment.
GCN mobilizes whole communities to eradicate patriarchal
structures that dominate the home, school, and community so as to support
the development of an enabling environment and to promote and protect
the rights of the girl child
GCN ensures girls at risk and most vulnerable to abuse
are rescued and empowered to speak out and, through provision of safe
shelter and strong referral to legal and medical aid, stand up to defend
their rights
GCN supports and promotes girls to be in school and advocates
for a violence free school environment so that girls get maximum benefits
from education |
Organisational Goal
GCN’s organizational goal is to protect and promote the rights of
the girl child and to support the economic, political, social and cultural
empowerment of the girl child in order for her to assert those rights
in the home, school and community
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Historistal Background
The idea to come up with an organisation that champions the rights of
the girl child in Zimbabwe was perceived in 1998 by Betty Makoni, the
current Director and founder of GCN and her ten upper six students. She
was deeply influenced by her experiences of abuse as a child and the many
incidents of gender-based violence in the community where she grew up.
As an organization, GCN was born out of the helplessness
and hopelessness of the girl child in Zimbabwe with the view to assisting
girls in their quest for emancipation. GCN was formerly established and
launched in 1999 at Zengeza 1 High as a response to the harsh realities
of life of the girl child observed in the home, school and community by
the director and founder, Betty Makoni and her female students.
There is evidently deprivation and insecurity that follow girl children
from birth. Of particular concern is the difficult path faced by the girl
child in pursuing her educational goals. Girls are often forced to drop
out of school for various reasons ranging from socio-cultural beliefs
and practices to economic. These include: early marriages, sexual abuse,
insufficient resources for education (coupled with preference given to
the education of male children), and being forced to take charge of child-headed
households or provide home based care to sick relatives inter-alia.
After listening to the often-horrifying stories of girls,
the founder members felt that something had to be done and in November
1998, they formed an informal discussion group, which became a safe space
for girls to meet and talk freely about their problems and devise possible
solutions.
The club at Zengeza 1 High became the first girls’ empowerment club
in Zimbabwe. As the word spread about the club, neighboring schools subsequently
adopted the idea and began forming their own clubs for girls, all with
the objective of helping provide a safe forum where girls could meet,
discuss challenges, offer each other support and devise solutions to their
problems.
On March 1999 the organization was formally established
with a specific mandate to be a voice for the voiceless, school-aged girls
between the ages of 0 – 16 years. It set out not only to advocate
on their behalf, but also to empower the girls to speak out for themselves
when their rights were being threatened.
The beginning of its formal existence in 1999 marked the beginning of
great things to come. The forgotten girl child found a channel to highlight
her plight, interests, to voice out sensitive issues like rape, HIV and
AIDS, forced marriages and premarital sex; and communicate her aspirations
and hopes in an effective manner.
 
By end of 1999, there were at least 10 active clubs in Chitungwiza. In 2000
GCN began building Girls Empowerment Villages, which served as ‘safe
houses’ where survivors of rape and sexual abuse could seek refuge
and rehabilitation and were empowered to break silence countrywide on rape.
The founder members, together with and five hundred girls and a few gender
sensitive men, women and boys undertook a seventeen day 150 kilometer march
against child sexual abuse from Chitungwiza to Mutare. From then the organisation
established itself as a champion in girls` issues.
Today,
GCN is firmly established in Zimbabwe and has indeed become a household
name. By July 2006, over 30 000 girls belong to some 500 GCN clubs in Zimbabwe,
spread over 35 of Zimbabwe’s 58 districts. There are now 3 Girls Empowerment
Villages, located in Rusape, Hwange and Chihota.
The club remains the epicenter of the organization, making it the only truly
grassroots movement for girls in Zimbabwe. GCN, through a strategy of empowerment,
is helping its members walk in the fullness of their potential as future
women leaders. Daily, girls in Zimbabwe are being empowered. This new breed
of women has brought a new dimension in the fight for gender equality and
equity while at the same time dealing with some challenges that come with
the HIV and AIDS pandemic and gender based violence. |
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Organisational
Objectives
• Support individual transformation
of girls through capacity building training in gender, HIV and AIDS, human
rights, leadership and confidence building
• Ensure laws and policies that promote the reproductive, economic,
social and political rights for girls are in place and fully implemented
so as to minimize gender based violence
• Advocate and Lobby for total elimination of harmful cultural practices
that impede the full development of the girl child
• Support girl child survivors of gender based violence and girls
at risk through emergency rescue operations, provision of emergency safe
shelter and referral to legal and medical aid and counseling services
in partnership with other stakeholders so that the girl child realises
her full potential
• Support and promote girls’ access to education through the
provision of school fees, sanitary ware, panties, exercise books and other
basic needs to the orphaned and vulnerable girls
• Register household and social transformation in attitudes, beliefs
and religious practices as far as they affect the girl child.
• Register media attitude change and gender sensitive reporting
on the girl child
Mandate
GCN’s mandate comes from the girls of Zimbabwe themselves, who in
joining girls’ empowerment clubs have signaled their desire for
GCN to lead the holistic empowerment of the girl child and to act as a
voice for vulnerable girl children through leadership training, confidence
building, advocacy for increased access to justice, for child friendly
laws and policies, community education on child abuse and the urgent need
for eradication of harmful cultural practices that hinder the full physical,
spiritual and emotional growth of the girl child
Values and Culture
GCN is committed to the following values:
- Innovation
- Integrity
- Excellence
- Passion
- Transparency
- Professionalism
- Empathy
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