P58m needed for women economic empowerment
Lesedi Mkhutshwa | Tuesday September 26, 2017 15:37
Officially opening the Northern Women Exposition at Adansonia Hotel recently, Nationality, Immigration and Gender Affairs minister, Edwin Batshu said the department of gender affairs received 3,825 applications for the WEE programme and that only about 292 projects were approved.
He said the funding of the approved projects is still pending due to lack of endowments.
“More women are interested in the programme, but the government does not have money to fund the projects,” he said.
Batshu, who is also a Member of Parliament for Nkange, said since 2015 the gender affairs office has managed to help up to 1,000 women with over P134 million.
He said the programme was then reviewed and expanded to increase its scope, noting that due to this expansion they received a large number of proposals hence causing budgetary limitation.
The minister said they had to suspend receipt of new proposals in February this year, explaining that the resumption of the programme will be dependent on the availability of funds.
“Let me urge those who have been lucky to benefit from the programme to use whatever they have been allocated wisely,” he said.
For those who have not benefited, Batshu encouraged them not to despair and keep trying their luck in case funds are available.
Meanwhile, the minister said the fifth Northern Women Exposition attracted over 150 exhibitors.
He said his ministry has a record total of 45 women entrepreneurs who were handheld through the exposition, adding that beneficiaries are able to battle on their own in the market. Batshu expressed gratitude towards an additional four women who graduated during the expo resulting in a cumulative 49 graduands.
The parliamentarian also said since the adoption of the National Policy on Gender and Development in 2015, there has been a noteworthy development including the establishment of the National Gender Commission.
He remained optimistic that the commission will ensure that the policy is effectively implemented thereby improving the current socio-economic status of women and the girl-child.
He said the theme for this year, ‘Be bold for change: Connecting women to greater markets’, reflects the direction and level in which the government wants to elevate Batswana women in the business arena. Batshu further indicated that it is therefore vital that women in businesses rise up to the challenge and grow their business to adequately compete in the international market.
He said it is critical for women entrepreneurs to assume bold steps to access all available opportunities presented by the current environment.
He implored women to shift gears and be rigorous as this is the only option for them to penetrate the challenging world of work.
He concluded by congratulating those who received prizes and urged those that did not to remain optimistic and work on improving the quality of their products and services.