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The Gender and Media Connect (GMC) is mourning the passing on of its National Director, Rumbidzai Abigail Gamanya who was promoted to glory yesterday.
“Our hearts are shattered as we did not only lose a great leader and strategic thinker but a mentor of life and skills. She was a self-motivated media professional with vast experience in media freedom advocacy, media law, media development, gender mainstreaming, training, and research.
“Mrs. G, as we affectionately called her, had over 20 years of experience in media training – especially in training women(including young professionals just joining the profession, mid carrier ones, and senior journalists) in gender and media development. Her experience cut across different areas of media i.e broadcasting, print, digital and other forms of media. Through her work, several women media workers were elevated, and received recognition and protection in their workplaces where she conscientised, and created awareness among both men and women on issues of sexual harassment and gender equality,” the GMC said in a statement.
Gamanya leaves a legacy of being one of the very few media professionals who was committed to issues of media and gender equality training and development through strengthening the capacity of both men and women professionals.
Abigail Gamanya had been in the leadership of various media bodies in Zimbabwe including the Media Alliance of Zimbabwe (MAZ).
For the last five years, Abigail has been the Zimbabwe National Coordinator of the International Training Programme (ITP) on media development, sponsored by the Swedish International Development Agency.
“Further details will follow in due course. Meanwhile, our heartfelt feelings go out to her family, friends, and the media sector globally where she was influential.”
Abigail trained as a journalist at Harare Polytechnic in the early 90s. Among other organizations, she worked at MISA Zimbabwe, MAZ as well as the Federation of African Media Women – the forerunner to GMC.