Radical economic transformation must include women, youth
THE mantra of radical economic transformation will find credible meaning if it is inclusive of all the ordinary people, including women and the youth.
The support given to the Mzansi Rural Art and Craft Co-operative by the Department of Rural Development and Land Reform and other stakeholders, which include the Co-operative Banks Development Agency (CBDA) and residents, needs a pat on the back.
The department and its partners managed to put together an assistance package that started with training more than 800 women from the Eastern Cape, KwaZulu-Natal, Limpopo and Mpumalanga in rural arts, craft and design.
The initiative has seen ordinary women from rural areas hone their skills to manufacture works of art, including beaded jewellery, crockery and various pieces of art, which are sold to local and international markets.
From the spin-off of selling their wares, the women have seen a substantial transformation of their livelihoods, making it necessary to formalise the co-operative and establish a financial vehicle in the form of a Co-operative Financial Institution (CFI), which offers a platform for co-operative members to operate automated services and issue its members statements as well as back-office support that includes accounting services and training.
The CFI helps members to comply with the prudential requirements of the supervisor of the Co-operative Financial Institutes at the CBDA.
Furthermore, the CFI seeks to encourage a culture of saving and to transform the country’s financial sector by allowing community-based businesses to bank through regulated, community-driven financial institutions. In their development trajectory, the Mzansi co-operative has now set its sights on raising capital to open a co-operative bank.
Local municipalities in Utrecht in KwaZulu-Natal and Alexandria in the Eastern Cape have also allocated office space to the co-operative, not only to conduct its business but to grow a national footprint that will see an explosion of branches of the Mzansi co-operative bank.
This initiative is pleasing because it shows government efforts at play in turning women into self-liberators by offering them entrepreneurial skills and resources to create their own income.
These also play a pivotal role in curbing violence against women and children because if women are financially emancipated, they could care for their families and would be less likely to be abused.