News and Ideas (16)
Meet Bulawayo Vendors and Traders Association (BVTA)
http://www.bvtatrust.org
In 2016 BVTA trained over 600 vendors and informal traders on economic and social rights. BVTA has a membership of over 2000 informal traders in 29 Bulawayo metropolitan wards. In parternship with ZimbabweAlliance, BVTA has launched the Vendors’ Voices Project (VVP) to innovatively empower informal traders to effectively speak truth to power through existing informal social infrastructure including Stokvels, vendors investment clubs, house meetings, Community-Based Advocacy Teams (CoMBAT) to hold City Council accountable in 4 wards across Bulawayo. BVTA recently held its an Onsite Digital Age Vendors (ODAV) training, equipping over 50 vendors in digital literacy including citizen and advocacy journalism. VISET and BVTA are also coordinating and working together to strengthen the voice of the informal sector across the country.
Meet National Association of Youth Organisations (NAYO)
www.nayoafrica.org
The 2017-2018 Biometric Voter Registration (BVR) exercise in Zimbabwe has revealed an increase from 2013 registration figures of youth registration to 70% (or 3 612 039 out of the total 5 185 072)[1] registered between 20 and 44 years. Youth participation is going to be a determinant factor in the upcoming elections, and even more critical post-elections in shaping governance as young people seek to reclaim leadership at both the level of structure and policy in Zimbabwe.
Meet Vendors Initiative for Socio-Economic Transformation (VISET)
www.viset.org.zw
At Independence in 1980, Zimbabwe inherited a relatively small informal economy which accounted for less than 10% of the labor force. In 2017, Afrobarometer reported that only 26% of youth between 18 and 35 described themselves as in full-time employment. Voices of Zimbabwe (VoZ) recent poll of vendors the respondents indicated a lack of formal jobs as the recourse people have to make a living (see VoZ economic series report: www.voicesofzimbabwe.net, @Voices_ZW).
