$50k shot in the arm for women

THE Ministry of Women Affairs, Community, Small and Medium Enterprises Development will disburse $50 000 for women’s empowerment programmes in Manicaland Province this year.

This was revealed at the ministry’s provincial gender and women empowerment third quarter coordination stakeholders meeting held in Mutare recently.

In an interview with The Herald, the ministry’s provincial administrative officer for Manicaland, Mr Confidence Mungayi, said: “Calls for proposals of the fund were made in May this year and we are still receiving applications from all the seven districts of Manicaland — Mutare, Mutasa, Nyanga, Makoni, Chipinge, Chimanimani and Buhera.

“Assessments are underway and funding will be released any time before December,” he said.

Mr Mungayi said the loans would boost production levels for women-led businesses and would contribute to macro-economic development.

“The fund comes as a revolving loan fund charged at 10 percent per annum and it is meant to support women income-generating projects,” he said.

The funding programme was set up in 2016 and has been running since then.

Mr Mungayi said that most women had been cooperating and the majority had managed to repay their loans.

Mr Mungayi said Manicaland province was a centre of excellence in terms of operating “one-stop centre” models in the country to promote gender equality and equity.

“One-stop centre (OSC) is an approach where service providers who are key in assisting victims of gender based violence are brought together under one roof to offer services for efficiency and effectiveness in service delivery.

“Three OSCs are operating in the province, namely Makoni OSC at Rusape General Hospital, Buhera OSC at Murambinda Mission and Chipinge OSC at Chipinge General Hospital,” said Mr Mungayi.

He said one challenge, however, was that sections of the Makoni district OSC — which is one of the county’s best — were recently gutted by fire. However, the ministry has prepared a bill of quantities in conjunction with the Public Works Department to source for funding to rehabilitate the centre.