Open Society Initiative of Southern Africa (OSISA)

Development programmes work best when they reflect local realities and respond to both rights violations and lack of access to services. Basic and ‘beyond basic’ needs programming should be planned together from intervention design, with a clear step-by-step process to move from one to the other. A rights-based approach to programming is crucial for the achievement of long term and sustainable empowerment of marginalised groups.

FAWE is an organization that primarily focuses on challenges affecting girls’ schooling. Some of the constraints that FAWE National Chapters identified are school based, poverty related and the socio-cultural constraints. A notable barrier is that as girls grow older they engage in sexual relationships which lead to early pregnancy and subsequently they drop out of school. A study in Zambia by FAWE (2001) noted that girls who became pregnant were expelled from school and were not re-admitted into the school system.

The gender and women’s rights programme focuses on strengthening the women’s movement and ensuring that OSISA’s partners can address gender inequality in their own communities and social context

A new online publication by young women in Zimbabwe for young women has just been launched.

The first edition of The Web News came out at the end of March 2011. Produced by a team from the Web for Life Network, the first edition of The Web News focuses on a number of crucial aspects of young women’s development such as leadership, mentorship, life skills and of course our sexual and reproductive health rights.