13 000 women receive entrepreneurial training
A TOTAL of 13 000 women in rural areas throughout the country have received entrepreneurial training as part of the Government’s efforts to enhance economic empowerment.
Last year, 609 clubs with a target of 7 159 women were trained. Speaking in the Senate last week, Minister of Women Affairs, Community, Small and Medium Enterprises Development, Monica Mutsvangwa, pledged to continue providing support to women’s empowerment clubs in rural areas that have been under-performing due to financial constraints.
She stated that they have initiated a programme of forming women empowerment clubs in all 10 provinces by providing training, revival and support to groups of women.
Over 1 109 clubs have been created and trained in entrepreneurship, record keeping, business management and development, leadership, group dynamics, group formulation and formalisation, conflict management, transforming Internal Savings and Lending Schemes (ISALS) into Savings and Credit Cooperatives (SACCOs), financial literacy, growth strategies, group constitution making, gender-based violence and prevention of child marriages.
Minister Mutsvangwa added that there are extensive programmes for training women on hygiene protocols during product processing, product certification, product packaging and marketing, detergents, toilet and dishwashing liquid manufacturing, floor polishing, value-addition, baking and more.
This training programme operates in partnership with the Zimbabwe Women’s Microfinance Bank and Small and Medium Enterprises Development Corporation (SMEDCO).
The main purpose of the programme is to empower women and to strengthen the capacity of clubs leading to the formalisation and growth of clubs into SMEs and cooperatives.
The ministry expects to enhance the capability of 500 clubs in registration as cooperatives.“The thrust of this programme is to economically empower women to strengthen the capacity of clubs and formalise, as well as grow clubs into SMEs and co-operatives.
“My ministry issued a call for project proposals for funding of women and community projects in all the 10 provinces and we expect women empowerment clubs to apply for funding.”
She said women empowerment clubs were the vanguard of development as all other ministries and stakeholders can channel their development programmes through these clubs. It is also an inclusive approach to development in line with National Development Strategy 1 (NDS1) and Vision 2030. —-herald
