Professor Hope Sadza: The most inspiring woman
Congratulations Professor Hope Cynthia Sadza on your nomination as one of the 50 most inspirational women driving Zimbabwe to prosperity — a prestigious recognition by the Women’s Corporate Directors Network in the 2020-2021 Report. Women’s University in Africa Board of Trustees, the University Council, staff and students find great pleasure and pride in this accolade as it has managed to find its deserving recipient in the form of Professor Sadza whose footprints are indelible in this lifetime and the next in the academic and gender arena. Since the inception of her career, Professor Sadza has inspired others to strive for greatness. She demonstrated the courage to sail in unchartered waters. Her driving force has consistently been to address gender disparity and foster equity in university education. A goal she has achieved and demonstrated by establishing the first women’s university in Southern Africa that empowers women to access education.
Her drive and determination in providing women with access to tertiary education are what made her stand out as a distinct force to reckon with.
“Women often find it difficult to apportion resources towards their own education, because more often than not, they put their needs at the bottom, whilst they care for their families” – One of Professor Sadza’s famous quotes when narrating her drive to fill that educational gap in women’s self actualisation. This gender agenda would be the drive that resulted in the inception of the dream that was to be Women’s University in Africa (WUA ). In her own words, “improving the status of women is one of the most critical levers of international development”.
Professor Sadza along with Dr Fay King Chung, founded the WUA . She established the university in September 2002 driven by that passion to educate women at university level to be able to occupy leadership positions. The mandate of the university is to address gender disparities and foster equity in university education. Her resources, at inception, were just her dreams, civil service terminal benefits and an office furnished with her home furniture and library books. With the assistance of friends and various organisations buying into her idea, she has grown the university to a US$6 million asset base. The university was granted its Charter by way of a Presidential Proclamation published under Statutory Instrument 130 of 2004. The university had its first enrolment of 145 students. It has grown through the years and currently has 5 158 students in the three faculties of Agricultural Sciences, Management & Entrepreneurial Sciences and Social & Gender Transformative Sciences. The university has held 16 graduation ceremonies from 2005 to 2020 and produced 10 481 graduates where 8179 (78%) are females. It has campuses in Harare, Marondera, Mutare, Kadoma and Bulawayo with some students coming from across Africa.
The university is testimony of hard work, resoluteness, selflessness and determination of someone who was not satisfied being at the top alone. She stretched her hands to pull other women to be up there with her.
Professor Sadza has taken the gender agenda across continents and sensitised most women in positions of influence to ensure they do not leave any woman behind. The university has carved its unique niche and gained its notable share of the market. Her passion and determination to empower women attracted the attention of organisations like the Africa Capacity Building Foundation (ACBF), which became the biggest funder for technical support
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