RWA is an example of a movement that has through sustained growth, become a recognised pillar within women’s rights and land justice spaces. RWA maintains organic structures at the grassroots level which means that the movement continues even when funding ebbs and flows. Central to RWA’s sustainable movement is feminist leadership, intergenerational dialogue and mentoring, and expansion of the movement to new members across the country. 

Thandiwe shared a key highlight of WLZ’s work, “we are influencing policies. When the country was reviewing the constitution in 2013, we influenced Chapter 16 of the Constitution of Zimbabwe to say that whenever land is being allocated, it has to be allocated equally between men and women. We also influenced statutory instrument 153 in 2014 in which we said land under settlement should be registered in both names, the names of the woman and the husband. And then we also went further to say after divorce, each partner should have an equal and undivided share. That is, the land should be divided equally between the husband and wife at divorce. And when one of the spouses dies, then the surviving spouse should be the rightful owner of that piece of land. This was a key piece of work around women’s land rights. “ 

Another key highlight for WLZ, is changing the mindset of the traditional leaders, particularly the villages and the chiefs.  

“Our movement is continuing to grow and continuing to be very powerful. We have seen a lot of women’s voices coming to the fore. Women demanding answers from the traditional leaders, traditional leaders taking up women’s cases in their courts, participating, and also women being able to defend other women. Or to support women to get fair judgment in the traditional leaders court.” – WLZ 

In September 2025, WLZ held RWA’s annual national meeting. 

“We had six chiefs from different districts. Having interacted with our national meeting, it was a platform where we brought together over 2,000 women from all the districts that we are operating in. All the chiefs who were present, voted to give women more land. And for us, it’s a milestone, because they now understand the importance of giving land access to women, of giving space for women’s voices when they want and wherever they are in any decision-making platforms. Although we still have some who are yet to understand where we are coming from, but so far we are happy with the progress that we have made so far through the movement.” – WLZ 

This meeting was supported by Womankind’s Movement Strengthening Fund (MSF). 

MSF is a flexible fund that supports not just what feminist movements do, but how they do it. 

Since 2021, MSF has supported WLZ at multiple moments and has plugged into WLZ’s movement by funding intergenerational leadership and mentoring development, increasing feminist political awareness through feminist schools and bootcamps, and annual meetings. All of this serves to make the work of the RWA movement and WLZ sustainable.  

“In Cycle 1 (2021) we requested funding to expand the leadership base where we wanted to have the older women allowing the younger women to take lead in the movement. We noted that it’s a long process. It’s not an easy process. It takes time.” – WLZ 

“In Cycle 4 (2024) we held the National Learning Bootcamp with the aim of learning and sharing experiences, exchanging ideas. In the group of the leaders we had the the older leaders, who are mostly the founders and the young women. We took that opportunity for them to meet, with the older women sharing their journey, their experiences in as far as the movement is concerned. The younger women, the younger leaders who are the mentees coming in with their technological skills and exposure. There is cross-pollination of ideas from the younger generation between the older generation.”  

Additionally, in the Feminist School (supported in Cycle 1 and 4), WLZ started to talk about: what is feminism, who is a feminist, and what are the issues that we need to look at as we are feminist leaders. Together participants, explored how they can be feminist leaders as Members of Parliament, in churches, as counsellors and in other professions traditionally considered to be for men.  

“We also focused on the feminist principles of collective power. Because collective power is the one that can drive the movement. We looked at inclusivity and diversity of women in their expansive categories. Whether they are single, widowed, divorced, queer – feminist leaders are inclusive leaders. We also emphasised the issue of equity and justice, that in feminism, we are fighting for equity and justice. Overall, how can we utilise feminist leadership skills to keep and to grow and stand in the movement?” 

As WLZ’s movement continues, MSF continues to be part of its journey. In Cycle 5 which is starting at the moment, WLZ will use their grant to continue strengthening RWA. They hope to make the RWA more intergenerational and inclusive by building on the peer mentorship program between older and younger members as well as monitoring, gathering and sharing data, hosting regional leadership seminars, and a national feminist convening. Their aim is to enhance feminist leadership capacity, foster intergenerational collaboration and embed inclusive feminist principles while strengthening the movement in Zimbabwe. 

“We want to continue to get into all these districts so that each and every rural woman in Zimbabwe is a member of the Rural Women’s Assembly. We will change the narrative of Zimbabwe.” – Thandiwe Chidavarume

If you feel passionately about investing in stronger feminist movements, please get in contact with us at the following address wmsf@womankind.org.uk.

Photos by Charmaine Chitate for Womankind Worldwide