500 women, youths undergo family laws training

MORE than 500 women and youths in Masvingo will undergo training in family laws and economic development in the province, an official has said.

Speaking on the sidelines of a training workshop on family laws here recently, Ministry of Youth and Women’s Affairs provincial development officer Mr Jospeph Mupinga said exposure of youths and women to family laws would enable them to actively participate in the development of their communities.

He said communities should be economically empowered to stem cases of domestic violence within families.

“As part of the 100 days plan pronounced by President Emmerson Mnangagwa, we are targeting to train at least 500 women and youths in Masvingo in family laws and economic development,” said Mr Mupinga.

Traditional leaders and judicial officers will be involved in the training to help trainees to appreciate basic laws that directly affect families and communities.

Most of the communities, said Mr Mupinga, were lagging behind in development because of family disintegration caused by domestic violence.

“Once the family is disintegrated due to family disintegration through divorce and domestic violence, there won’t be any economic development to talk about. We are therefore training our officers at both district and ward levels so that they pass on the skills to the communities.

“Communities should be aware of the laws that affect them like the Domestic Violence Act,” he said.

Mr Mupinga said peace was a pre-requisite for development within communities.

He said Government would soon start assisting communities to come up with Savings and Credit Cooperatives that are registered under his Ministry. The cooperatives in rural areas will get loans payable after 10 years at concessionary rates under the poverty alleviation strategy.