The Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) and Gender-Based Violence (GBV) project focused on the role of traditional leaders as champions in the prevention of GBV in the three districts. The project shared good practices on how traditional leaders could be empowered to support their communities to prevent GBV. In Zimbabwe, traditional leaders are governed by the Traditional Leaders Act (Chapter 29:17) and have an obligation to protect children from traditional harmful practices and to channel criminal cases, including cases of sexual violence and abuse to the criminal justice system. Traditional leaders were empowered on the role and jurisdiction in handling GBV related cases. “We have a role in ensuring timely reporting of cases by our communities. We also have the ability to establish strong linkages with service providers from which we can request for legal aid and legal education.’’ Traditional leaders play a critical role in supporting the overall child protection system by: • Advocating for the prevention of, and appropriate response to, child abuse and sexual violence in communities, including through community awareness and grassroots campaigns. • Promote positive values in society and advocate for the protection of women and children through prevention of harmful traditional practices and social norms. Senior Headman Moyo said the project has transformed his life. “Personally, I have learnt a lot through attending meetings, such as community dialogues, ‘’ he said in an interview. “I now treat all child sexual abuse cases as priority cases. In the case of sexual offences against children, if a family is refusing to report the case to the police, it is my responsibility to ensure that the case is reported on the day that the information comes to my attention,’’ said Senior Headman Moyo. He has also used the training to raise awareness on child protection and GBV issues resulting in improved knowledge within his community. He, together with other traditional leaders engaged under the project, is referring criminal cases reported at his court to the formal justice system while ensuring that the survivors of GBV also receive other services from different stakeholders, such as the legal aid organisations in the project. “When we started the project, we didn’t anticipate the successes that we have so far achieved. Our work with traditional leaders transformed them (traditional leaders) into grassroots ambassadors for the project,’’ said Makanje-Aalbaek, adding that the project engaged the traditional leaders through the development of specific action plans for their areas. 3.5.3 Legal Services Advocacy The project has been actively participating to reduce child marriage in the three districts through awareness raising at relevant fora and participating in solidarity marches by the Ministry of Women Affairs, Gender and Community Development, JCT and ZWLA have worked with other organisations to advocate for changes in the law on child marriage, for example. This is critical as the current laws perpetuate child marriages. These include the Marriage Act, the Customary Marriages Act, Section 70 of the Criminal Law (Codification