Chitani Community Sustainable Development Organization (CHICOSUDO), a Rockflower partner based in Malawi has begun a new project in which they aim to empower disadvantaged and unemployed women through providing training in vocational skills. Rockflower has previously funded CHICOSUDO’s project, End Child Marriage Now!!! Promote Her Rights, which advocated for policies against child marriage and raised awareness around sexual and reproductive health issues in order to address the knowledge gap within communities.
The goal of the organization’s newest initiative is to empower the survivors of child marriages and single mothers by equipping them with skills, tools and support to become self-reliant. This project will help to break the cycle that pressures girls to leave school early in order to marry young or work in the home. This cycle leaves those women who have not completed school without any access to vocational training or forms of higher education, which often leads to complete dependence on their husbands.
CHICOSUDO is aiming to break this cycle with their new project which is specifically aimed toward helping 20 women who are both survivors of child marriages and single mothers to teens and young adults. They have also determined that this project will also indirectly benefit 105 additional people including children and relatives of the women. The organization will train these women in stitching, tailoring and embroidery. Additionally the women will receive business training and help from local businesses and agencies to support them and connect them to potential markets as they prepare to begin their own businesses.
Upon completion of the program, CHICOSUDO will introduce a Savings and Internal Lending Community (SILC) program to help the women start their businesses. At the end of the six month training period, the participants will take the Technical Education, Vocation and Entrepreneurship Training Authority (TEVETA) exam and receive official certificates. The group will also organize a number of market fairs to sell their products.
This project will lead to increased access to capital, reduced poverty, reduced unemployment, and an overall enhanced quality of life for survivors of child marriages. Not only will it improve the lives of the women involved, but it will help break the cycle of women being subjected to child marriages in the future.