From October to November 2024, Bekezela Home-Based Care (HBC) spearheaded a dynamic campaign across radio, social media, and community events to celebrate the International Day of Care and Support. Under the powerful theme, “Care is a Human Right,” the initiative aimed to elevate awareness about caregiving as a fundamental human right, crucial for sustaining societies and economies. “Unpaid care work is the mother of all work,” declared Edward Chigodora, Bekezela’s Executive Director, highlighting the campaign’s core message.

The campaign commenced with an engaging online discussion on the Community Podium WhatsApp platform, which boasts 505 members from diverse sectors including government, the private sector, academia, and civil society. The conversation delved into the often-unseen realities of unpaid care work, with women vocalizing their concerns about the unequal division of household responsibilities. One participant noted, “This whole culture ends up breeding suffocated women in marriages because men can’t clean after themselves. If there isn’t much awareness about care work as children grow up, the challenges faced in marriages around sharing of duties will still be an issue.”

Bekezela HBC further extended its reach by partnering with SKYZ Metro FM, a local radio station, to explore the disproportionate burden of care on women and girls, particularly within Bubi communities. The radio session emphasized the significance of multi-stakeholder support to alleviate this demanding labor. The broadcast, reaching an estimated 180,000 listeners, was notably well-received by men, who encouraged their peers to support women by sharing household chores.

At the community level, Bekezela HBC supported the Mdutshane Health Centre Committee (HCC) and Care Champions in organizing a two-day soccer and netball mixed-teams fundraising tournament. The event aimed to raise funds to address persistent water shortages at the clinic and in surrounding villages, while also celebrating the invaluable contributions of caregivers. Key messages on the importance of unpaid care work were disseminated throughout the tournament, which was attended by an estimated 200 people and raised USD 650 for the water initiatives.

A vibrant social media campaign, supported by Oxfam in Zimbabwe and Oxfam in Africa, further amplified the message, spreading positive affirmations about care work using the hashtags #RightToCare and #InternationalDayofCareandSupport. The campaign across Bekezela HBC’s X (formerly Twitter) and Facebook pages reached over 29,000 people, reaffirming the organization’s steadfast commitment to advocating for the recognition of unpaid care work and caregiving as a human right. These widespread initiatives successfully connected with a broad audience, celebrating the pivotal role women and girls play in caregiving and recognizing the inherent value of care work.