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Betty Makoni one of the 2007 TOYP honorees
Junior Chamber International
November 08, 2007

http://www.jci.cc/news/home.php?news=9638

At the JCI World Congress in Antalya, Turkey, you'll have the opportunity to meet Betty Hazviperi Makoni of Zimbabwe, one of The Outstanding Young Persons of the World of 2007. Chosen by a distinguished jury in the category "Humanitarian and voluntary leadership" Betty Hazviperi Makoni will be honored at The Outstanding Young Persons of the World (TOYP) Ceremony during the JCI World Congress in Antalya, Turkey, on 6th November 2007.

Betty Makoni was born in the spring of 1971 in Zimbabwe. Having influenced by her background of childhood abuse and poverty, she initiated the Girl Child Network in 1998 where she continuously fights for gender equality and equity so that what happened to her, her peers and women in the past will not continue to happen to other women and girls today. In her capacity as the current Director of Girl Child Network, Ms. Makoni has designed programmes that have succeeded in reducing the vulnerability of the girl child to HIV/AIDS and also prevention of the pandemic through girls clubs in schools.

Though she was putting her life many times into danger and had to overcome political intrigues, Ms. Makoni intervened in several rape cases and gave a possibility to several little girls to have a life with more dignity. She thinks she'd rather let all bullets shoot her than watch women and girls languish in pain as a result of rape. Ms. Makoni's unrelenting efforts to ensure the eradication of the harmful religious and traditional practices saw the establishment of the widely publicized HIV and AIDS Policy, instituted by the Union for the Development of Apostolic Churches, an association that sought assistance from her to raise awareness within its members on the undesirability of their practices as regards the rights of girls and women.

When Ms. Makoni took over the chair of the Women's Coalition of Zimbabwe, domestic violence as a gross violation of women's rights has suddenly become the centre of attention. This has culminated in the initiation of the Domestic Violence Bill, which has caused a stir in the Parliament of Zimbabwe and was recently enacted into law. Ms. Makoni participated in several regional and international forums and, as a consequence of her devoted work she was rewarded with several Awards and Honors, among them the UN Red Ribbon Award in 2006.

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