Families Day celebrations set for Gwanda
Kudzai Mupasi
MIRROR REPORTER
MASVINGO-The nation is marking the International Day of Families this Friday in Ward 14, Gwanda.
Minister of Women Affairs, Community, Small and Medium Enterprises Development, Sithembiso Nyoni, confirmed the development in a Press statement released yesterday.
The International commemorations are running under the theme; Demographic Trends and Families.
The main objective of the commemorations is to highlight the impact of changing demographic trends on the family unit and the importance of developing family-oriented policies that are adaptable to changing demographic realities, evaluate the social and economic impacts on changing demographic trends on the family unit and emphasizing on the importance of mainstreaming changing demographic trends in development planning, implementation and evaluation.
“National celebrations are scheduled for the 19th of May 2023 in Ward 14, Gwanda District in Matabeleland South Province. The National launch will open up to the holding of Provincial, District and Ward celebrations across the country. This will help to highlight and promote the need for strong families against the backdrop of the challenges and opportunities posed by changing demographic trends, to ensure sustainable socio-economic growth for the nation.
“Families across the rural and urban divide in the country are facing several social and economic challenges that can be traced back to family fabric disintegration and poverty. Child prostitution, early marriages, drug abuse and domestic violence are now rampant. This results in challenges that need to be tackled head-on by all stakeholders who need to make their interventions adaptive to the demographic realities on the ground”, she added.
She also said that one per cent of women at national level in the 20-24 years-age group were married before the age of 15, with a proportion of 1.6% being from the rural areas and 0.3% in the urban areas. The child marriage rate stands at 34% from 2006-2022.
