NGO in a drive to empower young men, women: ‘We can make it again’
A Dowa-based Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO) called We Can Make it Again is empowering young women, girls and men through training in tailoring and designing in order for them to attain financial independence.
In an interview, the organisations founder, Rosten Pwando, said he thought of coming up with the initiative to help women and girls attain skills which will enable them become financially independent.
“We are helping women and girls to find a source of income so that they can be independent. And at the same time, we are preventing them from indulging in bad behaviours such as prostitution.
“We have mechanisms in place where we select a person who seems to be serious and needs help. After the selection, we train them on how they can make any kind of clothing professionally,” he said.
Asked why he opted for the name “We Can Make It Again”, Pwando said he settled for that name because the initiative is targeting the underprivileged.
“Our organisation deals with single mothers, orphans and widows because they face a lot of challenges in their lives. We tell them that there is a certain chance let’s do it, that’s why we call it We Can Make it Again,” he said.
One of the beneficiaries, Black Ntawigane, described the initiative as important saying it has enabled him gain skills on tailoring and designing.
“I teamed up with my friends and opened a shop where we design and tailor different kinds of clothes for different occasions such as wedding suits, engagements clothes, church choir dressing among others,” he said.
Ntawigane is looking forward to expanding their business by designing quality cloths that can be exported to other countries.
Another beneficiary, Blandine Lili Lokendo, is looking for support of a sewing machine from well-wishers to boost her skills and knowledge.
“I am glad for the skills I’ve obtained from We Can Make it Again and I’m looking forward to use those skills to teach others. I believe it will change my financial status once I start the tailoring business,” she said.
The training takes six months for the beneficiaries to acquire the skills and knowledge.
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