Zimbabwe News Update
newshawks
6 min read
When fungisai hangaranga, a ranger with akashinga, a zimbabwean all-female ranger group, fell pregnant, there were several complications that could hinder full productivity at work. “during the time that i was on duty as a pregnant ranger, i faced many challenges, one of them mainly being, patrolling longer distances this kind of work doesn’t really align with the being an expecting mother or worse still after giving birth because i should be strong enough to be at work,” she recounts. “worse still, after giving birth, i had to be strong to get back to work.” however, akashinga’s extended maternity policy gave her a lifeline, providing ample time with her newborn and her family. It also allowed her more time to heal and adjust back to her demanding work.
The all-female anti-poaching unit has redefined maternity care in the workplace by offering six months of paid maternity leave and an additional three months of flexible, light-duty work to help mothers transition back into their demanding roles. During this period, babies remain close to their mothers at camp, allowing both healing and connection to continue without compromise. For most working mothers in zimbabwe, the standard three-month maternity leave offers little time for recovery or nurturing a strong bond with their newborns. But the experience is different for female rangers at the akashinga anti-poaching unit.
Fungisai says the extended maternity policy has helped her so much, as she got to have enough time with her newborn and her family, and as well she had more time to heal and adjust back to her demanding work. Akashinga founder, damien mander, says they extended their maternity leave policy to support mothers and promote conservation. “the leave was extended because ranger work is too demanding and the national three months policy is not enough for a new mother to be back to work especially in this field of work, this period gives mothers time to recover well and gain their strength and their children time to grow stronger too,” mander says.
Maternal mental health expert, who is also the secretary and chief talent team leader at the society for pre-and post natal services (spans), linos muvhu, says an extension of leave days is important for the full recovery of female workers, and recovering from both emotional and physical traumas after giving birth needs time because it’s a process.
“if we are to look at the physical and emotional recovery of the mothers, of cause healing these varies with each individual but healing is a process and it needs time, for example, a thick forestry has burnt to ashes we cannot not rebuild it in one day, what it means is addressing both the physical and mental recovery for new mothers, needs time, hence the need to extend leave days to suit the person’s situation,” says muvhu muvhu also added that maternity policy-making needs thorough research, so as to come up with good policies that cater for each and every mother.
“maternity policies should be situational based, depending on the physical and mental health of a woman after child birth.” akashinga’s policy aligns with linos muvhu’s statement about creating situational based maternity leave that suits the context in which the women are employed, but, of course, may not be necessary for women in other fields who continue to live with their children. Akashinga’s policy was not only made because of the physical nature of the work, which requires women to be at peak fitness, but also because female rangers live at camp away from their families for 3 weeks of the month.
The standard zimbabwean maternity policy was created for mothers who are generally able to see their babies before and after work (and sometimes even on breaks) and are therefore able to continue breastfeeding, caring for their babies and strengthening their bond outside of work hours. This is impossible for women who are employed away from home and separating a mother and baby for extended periods at 3 months is definitely problematic for both the child’s development and the mental and physical health of the mother. Women’s rights organization, the economic justice for women project (ejwp) through their director margaret mutsamvi, says there is need for other organizations and institutions to extend their maternity leave terms, as has been done by akashinga.
“as a women’s rights defender, i would recommend that if possible there be an extension in the standard 3 month maternity policy, if every company was able to adopt akashinga’s maternity policy it will be wonderful, women need much time to heal after giving birth.” said margaret,” said margaret mutsamvi, ejwp director.
“most women suffer postnatal depression and if we look at the southern part of the world that type of mental health is not taken care of and within a period of 3 months with untreated postnatal depression, it means that a woman is to go back in the working environment without fully healing.” mutsamvi says increasing the maternity period could give women adequate time to heal both physically and mentally, putting them in their most productive state and boosting company performance. “akashinga has proved that it prioritizes people over profit with their maternity policy, where they show that their human resource the state of their human resource and security matters much more than their profit and productivity,” margaret says.
“the government should offer incentives to the corporate world for them to offer much time for the maternity policy (like increasing the maternity period time.” as mentioned by mutsamvi, that government should offer incentives to the corporate world and possible increase of maternity leave days needs more funding, akashinga’s policy does take funding into account, which emphasizes that the way it is done ensures the organization still has an affordable and fully functional work force: for fungisai, the maternity policy is more than just a morale booster, it is a source of pride in the work she does.
“i feel very happy that i am working in an organization that is supporting us as mothers, knowing that the organization prioritizes our well being motivates me to keep on working and it gives me strength to work towards the productivity of the company,” she says. Akashinga, meaning ‘the brave ones’ in the shona language, originated from the international anti-poaching foundation (iapf), founded by damien mander in 2009. Initially a pilot program in 2017, it became an all-women anti-poaching unit, many of whom were survivors of domestic abuse or impacted by hiv/aids. The organization’s approach focuses on community empowerment and creating a nature-based economy, with a particular emphasis on advancing women’s leadership in conservation.
Akashinga’s work in zimbabwe is centered on rehabilitating and managing over 140,000 hectares of former trophy hunting land in the zambezi valley in way which returns and retains the dignity of both people and wildlife.
