I am a Zimbabwean currently working and living in Johannesburg, South Africa. I call myself a feminist because I believe in the equality of women and men. I have and continue to fight for equality both in my private and public spaces. I believe and work for women’s empowerment and for ensuring that women’s rights are recognised and enjoyed as human rights. I also call myself a feminist because I fight the system that privileges men and presupposes that women are inferior. I therefore walk the talk in my own life.

I work for ActionAid International as the International Women’s Rights Technical Advisor. I support the global women’s rights work of my organisation and support organisational efforts to institutionalise women’s rights. Part of my time is also dedicated to supporting women’s rights staff with their work and also personal development.

In the organisations that feminists have created we need to re-value personal development, coaching and mentoring of young feminists. Partly due to donor requirements, most of the investments we make are in the content of women’s rights issues and not much on the “software” of sustaining activists, encouraging spaces for thinking and debate and for personal learning- even though it is what keeps us going. Increasing investment in young feminists is a vital way of passing on the torch for the movement to grow. We need more, new and energetic champions.

Furthermore, many of us are too caught up in the day to day work to take time out to properly write, document and analyse what we do and the nature of our struggles. This is vital for retaining the memory of our movements and for documenting the achievements that few others will be willing to recognise. We have always had to stay alert as activists, and to keep engaging with new and emerging issues on the global arena from our own perspective is important so that we are not left behind or have others interpret these issues for us.

I am inspired by feminist change agents. I believe in human potential and that if people are given the right nurturing and support they not only become good at what they are hired to do, but they can even achieve greatness. As a manager, I believe if people are helped to identify their heartfelt interests, align this with the right work focus and develop their skills, then they can expect wonderful, real and dynamic things out of that combination. Not only do you have an effective employee, but you also have a passionate person getting fulfilment from what they are doing, and in most cases going the extra mile.