NGO empowers L/stone women

A LIVINGSTONE-BASED Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO), which advocates for women’s rights has spent over K110, 000 on women’s empowerment programmes and training skills.

The NGO was targeting vulnerable women in the suburbs of the Tourist Capital.

Naleli Women Initiative Executive Director, Namakau Siyanga, said that so far, her organization had managed to train 30 women with skills in assembling bicycles.

Ms Siyanga said that the training which cost her organization K13, 000 was done in partnership with the Livingstone Institute of Business and Engineering Studies (LIBES).

She further said that Naleli Women Initiative had this year given out bicycles to 55 women who were doing business to help ease the cost of doing business.

The women, she said, cycle to and from their various trading locations and that an additional K 55, 000 was given out to more than 100 women as a revolving fund.

Ms Siyanga was speaking during the handover ceremony of certificates to the trained bicycle assemblers, 55 bicycles and cash to the deserving women in Libuyu Township over the weekend.

She said that the primary objective of the organization was to make a difference in the women’s lives.

“The objective of this organisation is to make a difference in the women’s lives. We realized that so many times the perception of society is that what we need is financial empowerment of women in order to peak. But then maybe it is not the only thing that we need.

“As Naleli, we realised that it is very important to empower women with basic principles of doing business, allowing them to understand how to manage their businesses, finances and eventually grow their businesses

Ms Siyanga said the total cost her organization had spent on training, bicycles and the K 50,000 cash revolving fund went to K 118, 000.

“We empower women with entrepreneurial knowledge. We realise that since independence, there has been stagnation in women run enterprises due to lack of finance," Ms Siyanga said.

And Kazungula District Commissioner Pascalina Musokotwane commended Naleli Women Initiative for supplementing Government’s effort in uplifting the living standards of women in the Tourist Capital.

Ms Musokotwane said that Government was ready to work with such organisations, which she said meant well.