Melody Chikono
Bio:
Melody is a Zimbabwean journalist working for Zimbabwe Independent. She has also worked for the Herald and Financial Express. Her beats range from business to humanitarian, and she has been under the Humanitarian Information Facilitation Centre (HIFC) mentorship scheme publishing with Newsday.
Continuous attacks by machete-wielding gangs against artisanal miners in Zimbabwe disproportionately affect women miners, highlighting longstanding impediments for women to access the sector and threatening the government's target for an annual mining revenue of $12 billion by 2023.
Zimbabwe's maternal mortality crisis is pushing the debate on abortion, but the current economic crisis and stigma stand in the way of legalization.
Zimbabwe's economic crisis has forced women working in informal setups to the fringes, where they're often rendered vulnerable to physical and sexualized violence.
