Phenomenal Women Movement, an organisation that helps women in career and life guidance is sailing above covid 19 obstacles by making efforts in helping fellow women in the covid 19 pandemic through celebrating them on their social media pages. Our reporter Yeukai Chidemo got hold of the founder Miss Emily Mukanya and filed this report.
Yeukai Chidemo will be YC and Emily Mukanya will be EM.
YC. Can you please give us a brief background about yourself and your organisation.
EM. I am a 24 years old lady from Kuwadzana Extension. I am the first born child in a family of two. Phenomenal Women Movement ZW was formed last year on the 30th of March 2019 which is the day we hosted our very first Get Together in Harare, Zimbabwe.
YC. As a young woman, what inspired you to work in an organization that helps other women?
I have always loved the idea of women coming together, slaying and learning about how to better their lives. I thought to myself, what if I come up with a small event, invite a few of the ladies I know – invite speakers etc I told my friend who went on to grill me were I was going to get the money etc for a moment I was discouraged. Me being stubborn lol I went ahead and made a poster using canva, circulated it on whatsapp and posted it on Facebook as well, then a lot of people showed interested and I knew I was in the right path. Fast forward a month later, we held the event, got people to pay entrance fee…
YC: We all know how the corona virus pandemic has ruined many plans. Tell us how it affected your organisation in general.
EM. The covid 19 pandemic disrupted the programs that we were planning to roll out as an organization but nonetheless we decided to resort to virtual platforms in order to keep inspiring women.
Thus we decided to start by appreciating women who are working to inspire and help other women who are in their local communities. The emphasis was on putting a spotlight on ordinary women who are taking it upon themselves to be Sisters Keepers.
So the challenge achieved three things. It celebrated the efforts of ordinary women – that appreciation acted as a pat in the back and it indeed gave them a vote of confidence. It was a free advertising platform as we were able to connect the women who are offering certain services with those who need them.
YC. How did you conduct the challenge?
EM. How we conducted the challenge. We created a flier and circulated calling on people to nominate themselves or someone they know – who fitted in the criteria of our selection. Those eligible would have to be women, be doing something that empowers other women. We really pushed for ordinary women not famous ones. We themed it : ordinary women, extraordinary impact.
We then celebrated these women for 18 days on our social media platforms including our whatsapp group. We would post one woman each day and share their social media handles.
YC. Tell us your educational qualifications.
EM: I am a law graduate from the University of Zimbabwe, class of 2019. In selecting my dissertation topic I was careful to work under the women’s law department with Professor Julie Stewart. My topic was titled : A case for gender quotas for women on corporate boards. A Zimbabwean perspective. In carrying out my research I came across a number of saddening statistics concerning the role and involvement of women in socio-economic spaces.
Connecting this to the organization, I found that this organization is a step in the right direction in regards to getting women out of their comfort zone.
I also fused the life coaching expertise that I acquired from a certification program I did with International Coaching and Mentoring Foundation. That is how I narrowed the niche to the three Ps that I mentioned above.
YC. As an organisation, what have you managed to do so far in helping women to find their worth in a male dominated world?
EM. So what we have managed to do so far as an organization is to host three events. 2 in Zimbabwe and 1 in South Africa. One of these events was free and it was held at the University of Zimbabwe, it had an attendance of just above 50 young women.
Our main service is hosting networking events for women and that has been made an impossible task due to covid 19.
However, we have resorted to using this time to build our online community as well as using virtual platforms to still empower women. So in as much covid has been a difficult time, it has led us to embrace the power of social media in making a difference.
Phenomenal Women Movement ZW is a non-profit organization that prioritizes three key pillars – purpose / productivity and profit. It is there to assist women to discover their purpose, maximize their productivity and channel their efforts into realizing profits from their endeavors.