The Nhanga Revolution: Cultivating a Feminist Future in Zimbabwe

By Nyasha B. Dube

Zimbabwe continues to face a crisis. 1 in 3 young girls are married before the age of 18, a statistic that tragically confirms child marriage is one of the most pervasive forms of Gender-Based Violence (GBV) in the country. Yet, in the heart of rural communities, a profound and quiet revolution is taking place, led by the very girls whose futures are at stake.

The revival of the ancient tradition of Nhanga (a traditional space for girls’ education) is not just a cultural curiosity; it is a masterclass in feminist innovation and primary GBV prevention. Through transforming a custom that once reinforced patriarchal expectations into a "safe space" for discussing sexuality, rights and economic empowerment, girls are dismantling the foundations of gender inequality that drive violence.

Bertha’s Legacy recognizes the new Nhanga model, championed by organizations like Rozaria Memorial Trust, as the template for a sustained, culturally intelligent approach to eliminating violence against women and girls nationwide.

Child Marriage: The Climax of Gender-Based Violence

Child marriage is not merely a social problem; it is institutionalized, chronic GBV. For the young girls, marriage before 18 means:

1.    Sexual Violence: 

The marriage grants a man, often significantly older, full access to a child's body, which legally constitutes rape and sexual exploitation. Research confirms that child brides face dramatically increased risks of physical and sexual violence within the marriage.

2.    Psychological Abuse and Isolation: 

Stripped of her agency, education and peer support system, the girl is isolated. She is expected to assume the complex roles of wife and mother. This immediate, crushing pressure constitutes severe psychological abuse.

3.    Economic Violence: 

Early marriage traps a girl in a cycle of poverty, denying her access to the education and vocational skills necessary for self-reliance. Since poverty is a primary driver of child marriage (families marry off daughters to reduce economic burden or gain lobola), this practice ensures poverty persists across generations.

The Nhanga model directly attacks these violence pathways by cultivating knowledge, empowerment and economic independence, turning potential victims into future leaders.

The Genius of Culturally Flipping the Script

The power of the new Nhanga lies in its radical cultural legitimacy. Traditional approaches to preventing child marriage often face resistance because they are perceived as foreign or anti-culture. By flipping an existing custom, the girls achieve cultural ownership and neutralize opposition through:

●     Establishing Trust and Safety: The dedicated space becomes a sanctuary where nothing is off-limits. This is crucial for GBV prevention because it teaches girls to name and articulate violence in a confidential setting, giving them the language to disclose and seek help.

●     Engaging Custodians of Culture: The movement’s success relies on winning over village heads and chiefs, the custodians of local customs. When a village head declares that offenders must pay a cow as a fine for a girl’s education, this becomes a normative shift. It integrates protective laws into the local justice system, ensuring that community structures themselves are accountable for enforcing the ban on child marriage.

●     Intergenerational Mentorship: By grouping sessions from age five to women over 35, the model institutionalizes resilience. Older mentors validate the girls' experiences, reducing the isolation that predators thrive upon, and providing living proof that another future is possible.

Scaling the Nhanga Model

For Bertha’s Legacy, the Nhanga revival is not a once-off project but a scalable national strategy for GBV reduction. To move this powerful model from rural pilot to nationwide standard, we must focus on these four pillars:

1. Policy and Statutory Alignment

The Zimbabwean government has laws banning child marriage, but enforcement remains lethargic. We must advocate for the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education to formally mandate and resource the Nhanga model as the standard life skills and GBV prevention component in all rural and high-risk schools. This guarantees sustainability beyond NGO funding cycles. Furthermore, we must lobby for the harmonisation of traditional by-laws created by chiefs with the national legal framework, giving their community-led accountability efforts greater legal weight.

2. Deepening the Economic Empowerment Component

Poverty is the root cause. Scaling the Nhanga must include mass investment in economic skills training (poultry rearing, soap making) and micro-financing. When girls are economically empowered, when they can start their own projects and contribute to their family's income, they are no longer viewed as an economic liability to be "sold off" for lobola..

3. Formalized Mentor Training and Certification

The success of this project depends on mentors. There is need to establish a national certification program for girl mentors to ensure consistency and quality of education across all districts. This program must train mentors not only in SRHR and legal rights, but also in basic psychosocial first aid and GBV referral pathways, effectively turning every Nhanga tent into a crucial community-based referral point for survivors.

4. Challenging Societal Attitudes

Scaling means using the girls' voices to preach the gospel of equality to their parents and community leaders. This requires targeted campaigns aimed at adult literacy (both male and female), emphasizing the economic and social benefits of keeping girls in school and recognizing early marriage as a violation of the Constitution.

The Nhanga model is proof that the most effective solutions to GBV do not come from outside, but are cultivated from within the community, using local wisdom to fight modern injustice. We must champion this grassroots movement until every young woman and girl in Zimbabwe can safely look forward to a future of her own design.

Watch this video to see how this ancient custom is being transformed to combat child marriage and fight for gender equality: Ancient Traditions in Zimbabwe Become Tools for Fighting for Equality and Opposing Child Marriage