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George Maponga in Masvingo
Over 600 girls and women drawn from across Masvingo province have successfully completed training in the use of Information Communication Technologies (ICTs) as part of a nationwide drive to empower the girl child by a women empowerment group, Young Women in Business Global.
The training saw 630 girls and women aged between 15 and 45 years undergoing intensive drilling in the use of ICTs with the finale being an examination where top students were rewarded with employment stints at local grocery stores and also taking home computers and laptops to enable them to advance their learning.
Trainees were drawn from all the seven administrative districts in Masvingo with the exercise being oversubscribed as Young Women in Business Global made the province the 6th leg of the ongoing nationwide training.
Young Women in Business Global founder and president Ms Aphhia Nyasha Musavengana joined the closing graduation ceremony this afternoon at Charles Austin Theatre in the city.
Spokesperson and media director of Young Women in Business Global Ms Rebecca Muchenje Kucherera says the training of the girl child in ICTs is meant to give girls and women a voice.
She says the training dovetails with President Mnangagwa’s vision of making Zimbabwe an empowered nation by 2030.
“We are saying our training programmes for the girl child are in sync with the President’s mantra of leaving no place and no one, in fact no woman behind,” said Ms Kucherera.
“We had intensive drilling of the trainees in ICTs and the curtain will come down today here at Charles Austin Theatre in Masvingo with an examination for the trainees. We are saying as Young Women in Business, a woman who has a voice in the digital space is empowered. We are saying a woman who knows how to function in a digital space is a woman with a choice and they can stand up and speak for themselves using their computer literacy.”
Ms Kucherera said training in ICTs is just one of the many areas her organisation intends to equip the girl child with saying there is future scope to train more women and girls in areas such as sewing, baking and detergents-making among other areas to empower the girl child.
One of the trainees Ms Keresencia Sikule (21) of Bondolfi Mission said the training in ICTs that she underwent was handy and had changed her life.
“I benefited a lot from this training (ICT) because I can now use a computer to do my own projects and also write business proposals. I am grateful and happy because of what Young Women in Business Global have done in my life,” she said.
Another trainee Yolanda Maregere of Saka said she will use the skills that she acquired to impart the knowledge to others back home in Zaka saying the training by Young Women in Business Global had opened new opportunities for most previously marginalised girls and women especially from remote rural areas.
The training programme will culminate in a national graduation ceremony for all trainees in Bulawayo.
Online Reporter