Having identified that women are the most significant and vulnerable group in the community, and given that the bulk of family responsibility lies on their heads, we have concentrated our efforts and resources in developing agricultural programs to specifically target their needs. The project aims at assisting them to acquire resources to carry out large scale farming and agricultural diversification. We hope to empower them by strengthening their reach and level of engagement at both ends and develop programs that are continuous, consistent and compliment our objectives of delivering a lasting comprehensive solution to their problems the most pressing of which is providing capital and capacity building in an effort to improve access to equipment, inputs and marketing opportunities.
At a very minimal scale our efforts have proved worthwhile, for in our short four years of existence we have achieved considerable improvements within the families that have embraced our schemes. These improvements have raised living standards and income sufficiently for these poor women to be able to start sending their children to school, an opportunity which was not previously affordable. The social burden is huge for them to confront on their own and even though they work extremely hard, leaving homes every day at 6 a.m. to distant farms some as far as 12km, and returning at 6 p.m. and sometimes under heavy rains, they still do not produce enough to meet the mounting social burdens.
The main goal of this project will be to open up a micro finance initiative tasked with empowering the women by providing them capital and capacity building in an effort to improve access to equipment and inputs. This will offer them an enabling environment to start large scale farming and also to diversify production into areas that are economically more viable. In addition to this, cooperative sourcing of supplies shall equally be strengthened and they will not only get capital and inputs but will also be able to market their produce conveniently. They shall no longer feel the effects of price fluctuations since they shall be able to buy own produce and sell later when price stabilizes.
Equally important will be the fact that it will help them improve farming systems, new varieties of crops and animals, and commercialize their production as well as establish and manage farm business
It shall also help improve on their farm yields and income and assist them attain food sufficiency a much desired goal.
Many young girls within the community have been forced to the edge; result; unwanted pregnancies. This is because they rely on the men who have always treated them as subordinates. The project thus aims to empower these young girls in the area of their academic careers since one of our objectives is encouraging empowerment through knowledge and actively seeking to develop literacy and educational programs both within our organizational structure and in partnership with other governmental and non governmental organizations.
