ZANZI
HALF is an international standard sporting and cultural event featuring
a half marathon 10 km and 5 km to be staged for the first time in the
East African archipelago of Zanzibar highlighting women´s empowerment
and gender equality.
The
race is a response to the 2030 agenda for sustainable development with a
call out for action in the world, and is organized by the local
interfaith women´s program Upendo Means Love and the Danish NGO and
running community Right to Movement in collaboration with ZIFF, Zanzibar
International Film Festival (ZIFF) and Zanzibar Amateur Athletic
Association (ZAAA).
Women
and girls are at the very heart of the agenda in an acknowledgement
that their participation is crucial as a pre-condition for the
achievement of sustainable development, says one of the organizer,Ms
Lotte Bredholt. The race will bring together women and men from the
grass root level united in a movement that will translate into further
action, transforming gender norms by challenging existing traditional
roles, taboo and break down stereotypes showing women and girls as
active agents of change and peace. However, sustainability and equality
is only achievable if women and men work together.
“Running
is empowering” continues Lotte Bredholt, “when women and girls realize
their potential and strength on the track and on the streets, there is a
spillover effect to other areas of life”. Running is a tool as well for
inter-community dialogue continues Lotte Bredholt. Besides the race
event, ZANZI HALF encourages local society, rural and urban, to take up
running and to be part of a running community. In the meeting between
people, sharing experience and passion for a common activity, socio
cultural, religious and gender barriers diminish. “It´s a commitment to
enhance diversity and inclusion, and is part of the global agenda for
sustainable development”.
Fumba
Town Development, a project by CPS (FTD),issponsoring the event as part
of their support for socio-economic development in Zanzibar. Fumba Town
Development combines state-of-the-art residential properties, based on a
modern and sustainable infrastructure, with commercial, educational and
recreational areas to create a new, modern lifestyle in Zanzibar.
As
part of our community development initiatives, we are proud to have
teamed up with Zanzihalf for their initial half-marathon on February
4th. We are very excited about the upcoming event and are already
training as Fumba Town Team to take part in the race. With regular
participants of about 30 runners from our company and the villagers
around, we already make an impact towards bringing the communities
together.
The
Zanzibar Amateur Athletic Association welcomes a race which brings
awareness to the role of sport empowering women, however as MlingiBwire
points out, a proper half marathon also should have cash prices to
attract the elite runners. Though not big, the tree first runners from
the two distances 10k and half marathon will be rewarded with a price.
All participants will receive a medal.
About the partners
Upendo Women Empowerment is
a non-for-profit faith based womens program and social enterprise
established in 2005 with the mission of bringing women and girls of
different faith together to promote solidarity, trust and peace and to
fight poverty by empowering women through vocational training and
employment. The vision is a Zanzibar where empowered women and men of
different faith contribute to an equal, just and peaceful society, a
society where women and men are ready to stand up for human rights,
social and economic prosperity and thereby increase equal opportunities
in life. In doing so, women and men in Zanzibar become an example of
peaceful coexistence and respect between people of different faith.
Right to Movement is
a global running community with a growing number of runners, races and
communities all over the world running to claim their human right to
freedom of movement. RTM is a non-profit, non-religious and non-politic
social movement.
Right
to Movement came into existence in April 2013, as a conceptual
bi-product of the inaugural event Palestine Marathon. Under the slogan
“Right to Movement”, RTM held the first ever Palestine Marathon to
promote the basic human right to freedom of movement as stipulated under
Article 13 in the Human Rights Charter – and to tell a new story about
Palestine.
Building
on the success of the inaugural Palestine Marathon, Right to Movement
establishes running communities and races primarily in countries where
the right to free movement is threatened – either for citizens in
general or for women in particular. Communities of running activists
engaged in the world, with a global and humanitarian outlook who use
their love of running to claim their human rights – either for
themselves or in solidarity with others. And to inspire others to do the
same via their story-sharing on SoMe using the hashtag #righttomovement.In 2016 Right to Movement was awarded as NGO of the year by the organization Sports and Peace in Monaco.
Zanzibar International Film Festival ZIFF also
known as Festival of the Dhow Countries is an annual film festival held
in Zanzibar. ZIFF is a non-governmental organization established in
1997 and has developed into one of the largest multi-disciplinary art
and cultural festival in Africa dedicated to films, music and different
form of arts. Over the years, ZIFF has used their platform Women
Panorama as a medium of women´s power and visibility to highlight and
address pertinent gender and social issues. The Women´s Panorama
commonly comprises of a series of workshops, parades, cultural
activities, seminars and symposia organized and centered on the
visibility of women in and through medium of cinema, the arts and the
media.
Registration for the race have started for international and regional participation on the website zanzihalf.com and locally in Stone Town at Upendo Means Love located at Kiponda area, at the heart of the historic stone town.
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