01 Sep 2015

About 600 unemployed and unskilled women are expected to benefit from the new women empowerment programme that is to be implemented by the House of Hope trust.

Speaking during the women empowerment programme meeting in Palapye, the project coordinator for House of Hope, Mr Laone Van Vuuren said the objective of the programme is to improve the socio-economic outlook of women in Palapye and increase commitment to academics and academic performance of female students in Palapye.

He said the action is expected to contribute to the overall and specific objectives of the project by producing results in two key areas among target groups. Among out of school women in Palapye, the action is expected to produce improved capabilities of female business owners, skilled female workers and unskilled, unemployed women in Palapye. Among female students, the action is expected to produce improved commitment of young women to education and career goals.

He noted that Botswana has a chronic issue of unemployment and the general disadvantage is among female citizens. He said figures show that in Palapye Sub- district, women comprise more than 70 per cent of total registered as destitute. “Women head 46 per cent of all households, including 53 to 57 per cent of poverty-level households, they have the highest unemployment rate at 24 per cent  and they are the most disadvantaged in terms of access to and use of economic resources,” he said.

The project is funded by the Empowerment of Non-State Actors (ENSA) programme through the European Union. The project comprises three-pronged approaches which are; mentorship, apprenticeship or skills sharing and business skills development.

The project is designed as two-nine months cycles occurring over a span of eighteen months. Each cycle would launch with a trade fair open to all women of Palapye, as a means of introducing the subsequent activities to the target groups and to gather names and details of women not previously identified as interested participants. 

The first activity will consist of a six month programme of business courses offered, at no cost, to interested women who either currently own or manage a local business or equipped to begin a business.

Local parastatal organisations such as Gender Affairs Department, Local enterprise Authority , and Citizen Entrepreneurial Development Agency , which operate under the mandate of developing business knowledge among local citizens, will be engaged to provide the classes, which will be designed to educate participants on the resources and practices required to run a successful businesses from conception to long term sustainability.

The second activity is a six month apprenticeship or skill-training programme for those who are interested in learning income generating craft trades. The third one will consist of a six month mentorship programme. Local female professionals, including doctors, nurses and professors will be engaged to participate as mentors to local female students.

Mentors will work to encourage those they mentor to make small but significant, lasting behaviour changes that will improve their abilities to continue pursuing and achieving their goals.

Representatives from different organisations such as Barclays Bank, Kopano Rehabilitation Foundation, and Friends like this social club and some community members showed eagerness to becoming mentors to the beneficiaries of the programme. Ends