HARARE, July 13, (Newsday Live): The Women's Academy for Leadership and Political Excellence (WALPE) says it has intensified efforts to promote women's leadership, economic empowerment and gender equality through a series of initiatives that have already benefited thousands of women across Zimbabwe.
In its latest activity update, WALPE said it has opened applications for a training of trainers programme on transformative feminist leadership, technology and artificial intelligence under the #EmpowerLead project, implemented with support from the Embassy of Switzerland through Oxfam Zimbabwe.
The organisation said the programme builds on achievements recorded in 2025, when it trained 200 aspiring women leaders, including young women and women with disabilities, in transformative feminist leadership.
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"Out of the 200 trained women, 117 received seed funding for income-generating projects aimed at strengthening their economic independence and supporting their leadership aspirations. To date, 76 percent of these projects have recorded profits and reached sustainability levels," WALPE said.
The organisation said economic empowerment remains central to increasing women's participation in leadership and decision-making.
"The organisation believes that no woman should be vulnerable to political manipulation, abuse, or exclusion due to poverty and limited financial resources. Strengthening women's economic power is therefore critical to ensuring their meaningful participation in political and public leadership processes," it said.
WALPE says it has supported 5 720 women leaders, with 3 410 now occupying leadership positions, mainly at community level.
It has also trained 4 830 women in entrepreneurship and economic empowerment, with1 007 women receiving seed funding for income-generating projects.
Beyond leadership training, WALPE is also involving men and boys in promoting gender equality and preventing gender-based violence (GBV).
The organisation also hosted intergenerational leadership training bringing together women, young women and women with disabilities to strengthen mentorship between established and aspiring women leaders.
In another initiative, WALPE and the Zimbabwe Gender Commission (ZGC), supported by the International Development Research Centre (IDRC), recently met officials from the Ministry of Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare to push for progress on unpaid care and domestic work policy.
In June, WALPE hosted an X Space discussion examining whether economic hardship is limiting young women's leadership ambitions.
WALPE said the discussions underscored the importance of mentorship, emotional intelligence, family support and continuous learning in strengthening women's participation in governance and public life.