Day 3 - Friday 29 September - Health, Wealth, and Peacebuilding
4:30-5:30 | Keynote Address
Presenter: Dr Sekai Holland
Chair/moderator: Dr Kearrin Sims

Abstract: Zimbabwe takes its United Nations membership seriously, as it does that of the African Union (AU). Our country’s policies and programmes are influenced by those two organisations. In the context of the above theme, the national vision for Zimbabwe, as espoused by our country’s Head of State HE President Emmerson Mnangagwa is to move our country towards a Prosperous Upper Middle-Income Nation by 2030. Billboards with his message on the theme state: ‘Every country is developed by its own Citizens’ and in this process, ‘No one will be left behind’. President Mnangagwa’s era has achieved identifiable, quantifiable, and measurable development successes in many spheres around the country despite the prevailing difficult environment. In this paper, she discusses the work of the Zimbabwe Peacebuilding Initiative (ZimPi) in contributing to Zimbabwe’s commitment to leave no one behind by bringing Zimbabweans together to resolve our common challenges. The focus of ZimPi’s work is, always, towards development that emphasises synergies of Peace with Justice, Safety and Security, Happiness, and Prosperity for all. In line with these commitments, this paper will both outline ZimPi’s work and consider persistent challenges of power, discrimination, and systemic injustice within Zimbabwe.

Researcher Biography:
Dr Sekai Holland is a member of the Zimbabwean government and formerly Zimbabwean Co-Minister of State for National Healing, Reconciliation, and Integration. She has dedicated her life to campaigning for human rights, democracy, and the empowerment of woman. Her courageous spirit was recognised in 2012 with the Sydney Peace Prize, Australia's only international prize for peace. Holland was a founder of Australia’s An;-Apartheid Movement in the late 1960s. She also helped to establish the Murrawina Child Care Centre in Redfern and was active within the Aboriginal community during the land rights movement. UTS awarded Holland an honorary doctorate in 2013 in recognition of her outstanding contribution to human rights and the fight for democracy.

* Public event with livestream
https://jcu.zoom.us/j/87096826508?pwd=b0cvZWNqU0o3NWxNcVBMTXRXeWg5QT09