Genet Malawi champions women’s economic empowerment

With funds from UNFPA, one of the country’snon-governmentalorganizations, Girls Empowerment Network (Genet) Malawi has rolled outa women’s economic empowerment project under Gender Equality and Women Empowerment (GEWE) initiative.

This follows another successful implementation of women’ssocial-economic empowerment scheme for rural young women in the areaof Traditional Authority (T/A) Chitera in Chiradzulu, which is fundedby African Women Development Fund (AWDF).

Tamara Mhango, who is the Projects Coordinator for Genet Malawi saidthe new project has been implemented in the six GEWE Impactdistricts of Dedza, Mangochi, Mchinji, Chiradzulu and Nkhatabay.

She disclosed that the project is currently being implemented alongside partners like Women’sLegal Resource Centre (Wolrec), Youth Net and Counselling (YONECO),Creative Centre for Communality Mobilization (CRECCOM), Development Aid for People to People (DAPP) and Nkhatabay’s CivilSociety Organisations.

“Following a successful planning and skill transfer orientationworkshop with implementing partners in the area of Gender Equality andWomen Empowerment, held in Blantyre in July thisyear, Genet has implemented a skill transfer and Menstrual HygieneManagement [MHM] project,”explained Mhango.

Mhango indicated that the project seeks to achieve two main objectives ofcontributing to rural women’s economic empowerment through developingtheir technical, entrepreneurial and vocational skills that willenable them to venture into profitable and sustainable incomegenerating activities, as well as increasing school enrolment, attendance andcompletion of rural schoolgirls through proper and improvedMHM.

Genet Malawi suggests that adolescent girls face MHM relatedchallenges as they transcend to adulthood.

The organization says most girls do not haveknowledge on puberty, hence exposed to cultural realms of secrecy,anxiety and uncertainty with regard to how they manage the regularoccurrence of their period effectively.

As a result, many of the poorgirls that are menstruating tend to remain at home, missing out on classes in the process, a developmentwhich contributes to poor performance in school.

As poverty continues to wear a female face in Malawi, most womenneither own nor have access to profitable resources that assist themto improve their livelihoods.

“It is against this background that Genet Malawi implemented thisskill transfer and MHM project to build the economic capacities andskills of rural women (mother groups) so that they are able tosustainably address this challenge through MHM related self-incomegenerating activities.

“These activities are also aimed at increasing schoolenrolment, attendance and completion of adolescent girls,” saidMhango, adding that the project sees the mother groups producing affordablesanitary wear for adolescent girls.

According to Mhango, the project has targeted poor rural women in one Traditional Authority per district where a totalof 100 women through five women groups have been targeted.

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