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Flora Fadzai Sibanda, Chronicle Reporter

MR Tanaka Zinyengere (20) is young but is already fighting gender-based violence (GBV) by educating other youths from across Africa on the need to end it.

The co-founder of African Pro Active, Resilient, Independent Mindsets with Empowerment (AfriPrime) together with his friend, Ayanda Jele (21) the Mpopoma suburb teenager has recruited some young people in African countries in his initiative.

Mr Zinyengere did his Ordinary Level at Tshabanda Adventist High School, a boarding institution in Tsholotsho and finished Advanced Level at Msiteli High School in Mpopoma last year. He is the director of an agriculture company that he started with his mother.

His organisation has a WhatsApp platform, YouTube page and a website, joining the rest of the world in discouraging GBV through various activities.

Mr Zinyengere said their platforms bring together youths from across the continent as everyone shares their experiences on GBV.

He said this year as part of the “16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence”, an international campaign against GBV, they launched a challenge called #NotoGBV whereby youths from across the continent make videos talking about GBV through poems and short films.

The youth said they decided to have the challenges so that youths can also be fully involved in fighting against GBV.

“We realised that GBV was affecting a lot of young people and just teaching them was not enough. That is when we came up with the idea of including them in the fight. The challenges make the 16 days of activism become an initiative done by the youths, for the youths and to the youths,” he said.

The GBV activist said challenges are then posted on their social media platforms where people from across the continent view them.

“At the moment we have youths from Kenya and Cameroon who are also participating in the challenge. Our followers are still a bit low because we recently started posting the challenges but we are hoping they will soon grow,” said the young man.

Mr Zinyengere said this is also an empowerment strategy as a lot of youths have a hard time getting their talents to be appreciated across the continent.

“Chances are quite high that an influential person might see the challenges and like the work that is being done by the youth and decide to appreciate it. We understand most youths engage in GBV unknowingly because they have not been taught about it and others stay in abusive environments because they have nothing to do so that is where we come in and deal with both issues,” he said.

The youth said the challenges are not the only thing that they are doing to tackle GBV as they have an information centre in Mpopoma.

Mr Zinyengere said the centre was set up at Vulindlela Orphanage because they knew that a lot of young people who can easily fall prey to GBV can access the area.

“What the centre does is to educate people about GBV. There are books that we set up at the centre which educate youths about the dangers and signs of GBV. It is also a safe space for youths who might be abused as we have days where people meet and share their stories and just have fun,” said Mr Zinyengere.

He said the only challenge that they have is lack of resources to set up information centers in more suburbs across the city.

“We are planning on opening peace groups that will promote a free GBV environment in our country and continent,” added Mr Zinyengere. — @flora_sibanda