Online Reporter
Fungai Lupande
Mashonaland Central Bureau
Women in Mashonaland Central are upbeat following the rollout of empowerment projects under President Mnangagwa’s vision of inclusive development.
The projects, set to benefit individuals from the age of 16 upwards, include poultry, piggery, fruit tree production, nurse aid training and facilitation of Class 4 driver’s licenses acquisition.
Speaking at an inter-district women’s league meeting on Thursday, the league’s projects trainer, Mr Wise Chadambuka, said the programme will cover all wards in the province’s eight districts.
“Mbire was the first district to receive training. Women there have already received 25 000 chicks and 2 000 fruit trees. Pigs and driver’s licenses will follow soon,” he said.
“These are not group projects but individual ones. We are mobilising women to spread the information.
“As President Mnangagwa always says, a country is built not by politics but through development.
“Training begins next Tuesday and a week later, beneficiaries will start receiving the projects. We are starting with training because information is key.”
Mr Chadambuka said that empowering young girls would help curb early marriages driven by poverty, while access to driver’s licenses is also expected to create opportunities that reduce drug and substance abuse among boys.
Provincial women’s league chairperson, Cde Tsitsi Gezi, said the initiative reflects the President’s mantra of leaving no one and no community behind.
“These projects are starting at the cell level. Our secretary, Cde Mabel Chinomona, has sent teams to work with us in implementing them. They began in Mbire and are now in Bindura,” she said.
“I am excited because empowerment projects usually benefit a few, but this time, development starts at the household level.
“When women are empowered, they build families rather than abandoning them to start new ones.”
