FLEAT: Nyorowai Mutsago represents the Zimbabwe Council of Churches at the Alternative Mining Indaba

On Tuesday, 9 February 2021, our FLEAT 2 member Ms Nyorowai Mutsago in Zimbabwe represented the Zimbabwe Council of Churches (ZCC) at the Alternative Mining Indaba (AMI) on the topic of Debt, extractives and inequality.

Nyorowai’s presentation reads: “One of ZCC’ work in trying to reduce inequality is dialoguing in communities. As communities they should be able to convene in dialogues in their own capacities as shareholders within that community and discuss the issues in their own strategic ways in which they could try to reduce or policy advocate for policies that helps to reduce the gap between the rich and the poor.

Theology in itself also gives them more of a leverage in the dialogue of economic issues because people of faith in Zimbabwe it constitutes more than 90% and this on its own gives them so many opportunities and platforms to reach. As faith leaders they can try and raise awareness on different issues that are happening in their communities. They have leverage in actually convening as faith leaders themselves to convene dialogues because they are more respected so they do have mobilisation skills, organising skills within their communities to sit and dialogue on the issues that affect them and then try to move forward on how they could advocate and how they could influence policy and also being part of the policy engagements that happen at community level, provincial level and also district level. As ZCC we also then support our faith leaders to attend to this and to be able to be engaging with policy makers themselves.