BY DELISA THWALA
MBABANE– The Deputy Prime Minister’s Office (DPMO) Department of Gender and Family Issues in collaboration with Umhluma Women and Youth Foundation is engaging 30 traditional leaders.
The traditional leaders will partake in a residential training workshop to build capacity for protecting the property and inheritance rights of widows and orphans.
This was revealed by the office, and the first phase of the workshop took place yesterday and is ongoing today.
The training also aims to sensitise the leaders on their role in protecting widows and orphans in communities especially from land grabbing and inheritance property.
Topics that have been and will be covered include the Child Protection and Welfare Act of 2012, The Traditional and Roman-Dutch Law, the SODV Act of 2018, and Women’s Customary Land Rights in Eswatini.
The Deputy Prime Minister (DPM) Themba Nhlanganiso Masuku said orphans are an increasing problem in developing countries, particularly in Africa; due to the HIV/AIDS pandemic; and needs collective effort in intervention processes by including all stakeholders right from the grassroots level.
He said this workshop attempts to present the role of traditional healers in psychosocial support for orphan children with a special focus on those whose parents have died because of HIV/AIDS.
“Traditional leaders have the power and ability to provide psychosocial support allowing children to cope with orphanhood life with ease.
“The leaders are living within communities at the grassroots level; and appear unnoticed hidden forces, which are involved in taking care of orphans. “This role of traditional leaders in taking care of orphans needs to be recognized and even scaled up by empowering them both in financial terms and training in basic skills of psychosocial techniques in how to handle orphans and widows,” he said.
Pics sourced from UNFPA Eswatini
