ZIMPOWER! Empowerment for the young women of Zimbabwe!

 CBF works with schools in Zimbabwe to provide sponsorship to attend school for 177 students as well as a feeding programme to provide daily meals for over 2,200 students. CBF aims to empower children to attend school and become successful. However, Lots of these children are made orphans by HIV and water related diseases and have little sexual health education and so CBF came to u, Enactus Reading,  to build our project around giving young women the best opportunity to become healthy and empowered. 

After conducting an initial needs and wants assessment, we found 30% of rural girls don’t go to school during their periods which equates to 4 days a month or 48 days a year! We also found that education in sexual health is limited in Zimbabwe, with young people being greatly affected, a 2014 study showing that  ⅓ of 15–49-year-olds were HIV positive. We worked closely with the CEO Dorothy Dix, and together decided that the best move forward was to open a skills centre in Domboshawa, Zimbabwe primarily for little girls and women. Once established, this skills centre would run classes in sanitary towel social enterprise and sexual health  as well as water sanitation and  a host of other classes for the community with the aim of improving the lives of 1,000 people in the next 12 months. 

The first focus is creating a sanitary towel co-operative where local women learn to make and maintain sanitary towels and sell them to earn money for their families. Women and girls in the community can access these towels at a very affordable price which enables them to continue their everyday lives while on their periods. Classes for young girls at school will also be available so the girls can learn how to make their own, which they can keep.

 A second big issue that we are helping to address is the issue of clean drinking water. Women and children in Zimbabwe spend 3-4 hours each day collecting water, walking an average of 3.7 miles (6km) every day to find water. Our solution is providing Lifestraws and educational classes on clean drinking water, to help reduce the number of illnesses and related deaths from drinking dirty water and therefore increase the health of children so they can attend school.

 And lastly- Zimpower is helping to provide sexual health classes for school aged girls to empower them to be more comfortable about their bodies and empower them to be more confident. Some of the topics covered in the class will be: an explanation of types of violence such as rape, abuse, female genital mutilation, incest and domestic violence, and what to do when it happens to you or someone you know. Lastly we will cover effective use of contraception and will supply them with condoms.

 Who are Enactus Reading?

 Enactus is a community of student, academic and business leaders committed to using the power of entrepreneurial action to transform lives and shape a better more sustainable world.

entrepreneurial—initiating business innovation with integrity and passion.

action—the experience of social impact that sparks social enterprise.

us—student, academic and business leaders collaborating to create a better world.

Enactus is in 36 countries, 1,710 Universities and has 69,000 dedicated student members across the world.

 Enactus Reading is the Reading University branch of the organisation. We have 40 student members and 5 community projects. 3 focused locally in the Reading area and 2 internationally based- Zimpower in Zimbabwe and CooCreate in India.

Why did Enactus Reading get involved?

In November, we met the lovely CBF team when they reached out and asked us to help advertise their annual Out of Africa Charity Ball. We loved their core purpose and felt the team’s excitement and passion which in turn got us all excited and committed. They had plans to expand their charity, adding a skills centre, but needed people on the team who could focus on the skills centre fully. That’s where we come in! Our Enactus Zimpower team is fully dedicated to the expansion ideas and are aiming to get our sanitary towel co-operative up and running by September 2017.

Please follow us - Enactus Reading and Creating Better Futures on Facebook to get up-to-date information on what we are up to!

We are fundraising and recruiting! We would love for any passionate and enthusiastic individuals to join our team and become an ambassador for change! Students of any year and any discipline are welcome. Any other interested parties are also welcome! At Enactus Reading we building our network and utilising expertise from all areas.

Zimpower is fundraising! We need materials like sewing machines, lifestraws, condoms, fabrics and soaps and so by donating, you will be directly contributing to our cause. Thank you.