Interestingly also is that the gap between male and female respondents is narrow and perhaps indicating that programmes on gender are taking effect in the communities. The Councillors and the Traditional leaders noted that the programme of creating spaces to meet the communities were positive. They cleared some of the misunderstandings about their roles as community leaders and also get the expectations of the people they lead. As a result the communities are comfortable when it comes to ―speaking with leaders‖. This is despite the fact that the male respondents are more comfortable (3.8) compared to female respondents (3.1). This level of ―comfort‖ has been created by increased interaction with local leadership through the various platforms they have created to engage with the communities. Perhaps the FGDs provided perfect opportunities to vent frustrations about the Councillors as it was discussed that the reasons for not attending community meetings called by the leaders was because they find ―nothing beneficial in those meetings so they would rather look for jobs to sustain them than to sit in fruitless Councillors’ meetings‖. An interesting conversation sprang up with participants in the FGD for Gweru (Urban) Ward 5 which has a ZANU PF Councillor. The participants revealed that they had decided to sabotage meetings because promises which were made to them during the campaign period were never fulfilled thus they see it as a waste of time to sit and participate in those meetings. They claim that they campaigned vigorously for the Councillor to be elected but there was not even a thank you celebratory party. For that they felt used and won‘t attend meetings. During the campaign they were promised jobs and now they have become a laughing stock of opposition members. The wider capacity in civic capabilities is also shown in the ability to generally ―Discuss politics” with an average 3.8 for male respondents. Interestingly, though the response for women is lower than that of male respondents (3.1), this is relatively surprising given the commonly held perceptions that women shy away from politics even discussing it with their friends. This could be a symptom of the general state of the underperforming economy where even the very loyal of supporters are feeling the effects. The level of trust increases for the respondents in discussing politics with their family members (4.1 males and 3.8 females). In the FGDs even though women are slowly coming of age and participating in discussions at community level, there are still challenges associated with their gendered role in society. There are still concerns that women struggle to get space at public forums to speak and express their opinions. In the rural areas, where the public meetings are mandatory for every household, they are attended mostly by women, thereby raising their chances of participation by default. However, we need to continuously look at the realities as gender-based violence is a global epidemic, affecting women across all regions of the world and women are subjected to physical or sexual violence or both at the hands of their husbands, boyfriends, or partners11. Unequal power relationships within households and in society as a whole have broad-based effects. Gender-based violence, for example, is associated with social norms and expectations that reinforce inequality and place the choices of women and girls outside their realm of control12. Levels of Competency We also looked at the level of competencies that is available within individuals and how they use these competencies to interact with their peers in the community. 11 Jeni Klugman et al - Voice & Agency: Empowering Women and Girls for Shared Prosperity; World Bank Group, 2014 12 ibid 9