Online Reporter
Fairness Moyana in Kamativi
A poultry project spearheaded by Kamativi Mining Company (KMC) is transforming the lives of women in Kamativi, bringing new hope and economic opportunity to a community long on the margins of the area’s mining economy.
The initiative forms part of the company’s Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) programme and specifically targets women who have historically had limited access to employment in the mining sector, an industry traditionally dominated by men due to its physically demanding nature.
Under the programme, KMC donated chicks, feed, roofing sheets and water storage tanks to women’s groups in Ward 11 to support poultry production aimed at improving household incomes.
Thirty women, organised into three groups under the Kamativi Women Association, are participating.
The company donated 1 000 chicks in the first phase last year, followed by a second boost of 450 chicks with feed.
KMC also went a step further by linking the women to a guaranteed market, the service provider running the mine’s canteen, which feeds employees on site.
The association is expected to supply 450 birds under that arrangement, giving the project a reliable commercial foundation from the outset.
Ministry of Women Affairs, Community, Small and Medium Enterprise Development Ward 11 empowerment officer Ms Michelle Nyoni commended the initiative, saying it was directly addressing economic inequality in the community.
“As a ministry we are happy with what KMC is doing in the empowerment of women in Kamativi. When you empower a woman, you empower the country and the community. The coming in of the company has been instrumental in bringing economic activity and this time around women are also being involved,” she said.
Kamativi Women Association chairperson Ms Malita Mudenda said the results were already visible in households across the community.
“This project has economically empowered me and many women in my community. I was one of those people who was not handling money in my own hands or able to assist my husband, but this all changed with this project,” she said.
Ms Mudenda said the project had done more than boost incomes.
“By easing financial pressures, it had also contributed to greater peace in homes, reducing the domestic disputes that money stress so often triggers. As women, we are now planning to reinvest part of the profits into expanding the poultry business while directing the remainder toward families,” she said.
KMC’s CSR administrator Mr Mehluli Moyo said the project was not conceived in a boardroom but grew directly out of consultations with community leaders and the women themselves.
“Our community also has many elderly women. So after discussions with community leaders and the women themselves, we agreed to start with a chicken project. In future we will have more cooperation with the community because our goal is to achieve sustainable community development,” he said.
Mr Moyo said the company hopes the women will eventually branch out into piggery and gardening projects as their confidence and capital grow.
