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Tendai Gukutikwa
Post Reporter
IN a bid to economically empower young women, a local organisation, Concord Young Women and Business Global (CYWBG), has trained 600 young women from across Manicaland in Information Communication Technology (ICT).
In an interview on the sidelines of the graduation ceremony in Mutare last week on Friday, founder and president of CYWBG, Ms Apphia Nyasha Musavengana said the move is in line with Vision 2030 as it helps in ending child marriages, poverty and the abuse of women.
“We saw that the world is now digital and most of our women do not know how to navigate in the digital world. They need to understand how to use technology when doing business, so we were teaching them how to market their businesses online.
“If they are empowered, poverty, child marriages and domestic abuse will be reduced because poverty is the major cause of such social ills. We want women to be successful in business. We will also offer them business management courses,” said Ms Musavengana.
The young women were trained in basic skills of operating a computer in five days.
The programme is being conducted in every province, with Manicaland having the most trainees so far.
Ms Musavengana said they are targeting to train 6 000 young women across the country and at least 4 000 have already been trained in four provinces, including Manicaland.
“Manicaland has been the best province in terms of the numbers trained so far. While we anticipated training at least 300 women from Manicaland, we ended up training double that number.
“We believe we will surpass our anticipated target and train more women,” said Ms Musavengana.
She said the programme is open to all young women, women with disabilities and all those eager to learn more about ICT across all of Manicaland’s seven districts.
“We are hoping that women will understand the importance of this programme since the certificate can also be used as a qualification for employment,” said Ms Musavengana.
A beneficiary, Ms Barbara Matare thanked Concord for training her.
She said the skills she acquired will help her in the professional world.
“I am very grateful to be afforded this opportunity to undergo this ICT course. We were trained in Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint and many more and I believe these skills will help me in the digital and professional world.
“It has empowered young women who did not have the knowledge on how to operate a computer. Most of us who are from peri-urban and rural areas did not know how to operate a computer, but we are now empowered,” she said.
Another beneficiary, Ms Winnie Chakuvinga (19) whose aspiration is to become a lawyer, also applauded the organisers for training them, saying the skills will become handy during her studies at university.
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