By Marsha Sengwe
THE Ministry of Women Affairs, Community, Small and Medium Enterprises Development is in the process of establishing and constructing the Guruve Women Gold Milling Plant in Mashonaland Central Province.
The centre is now over 80 percent complete and will benefit more than 125 women in mining, according to the Minister of Women Affairs, Community, Small and Medium Enterprises Development, Dr Sithembiso Nyoni.
The Guruve gold milling plant is part of a number of projects across the country that the ministry is implementing in pursuit of the fulfilment of Vision 2030.
The projects include funding women, community and MSMEs projects through Zimbabwe Women Micro-Finance Bank, WDF, ZCDF and SMEDCO where more than 6 000 people benefited.
The beneficiaries of the various projects are in various sectors such as agriculture, value addition and beneficiation, tourism, manufacturing and trade sectors across the country, creating more than 10 000 jobs.
The Ministry is also working on strengthening the capacity of women, community groups, SMEs and co-operatives through trainings in business management, value addition and other technical skills throughout the country, more than 46 000 people have so far benefited from the trainings.
It is also working on the establishment of women empowerment clubs with more than 1100 women empowerment clubs so far formed.
The Ministry is also working on completing the 2021 MSMEs Survey Report;
“The survey results are critical as they will provide pertinent information on the dynamics within the sector focusing on formalisation, size, employment, business environment, access to finance and workspace provision.
“Statistics are also key to policy formulation and also help in identifying areas that need constant monitoring and evaluation,” Minister Nyoni said.
The ministry is working on the facilitation of market access to more than 7000 women and MSMEs through, local, regional and international fairs, exhibitions and shows and also through the COMESA online platform – the 50 Million Africa Women Speak Platform.
Minister Nyoni said this as she addressed staff including directors in her ministry during the ministry’s strategic review planning workshop last week.
She said: “A strategic plan is a critical tool to any organisation as it sets out parameters and defines our locus. Thus in order to keep the strategic plans in resonance with socio-economic dynamics; it is a requirement that ministries do annual strategic reviews to come up with annual strategic documents, Minister’s and Permanent Secretary’s contracts, Whole of Government Performance Management System documents at Programme and sub-programme level as well as at Provincial levels.
“We are here therefore to share ideas, reflect on our achievements, challenges and setbacks and chart the way forward as a team.
“As we are all aware, the achievements of the Ministry are measured by the extent to which we would have achieved our outputs and outcomes, hence the need to take stock of what we did last year and make improvements in 2023.
“Above all, it is important to reflect on the impact of our programmes and projects to the constituencies that we serve that is, Women, Communities, MSMEs and Co-operatives.“
