Members at the Mondorosi Women's Solidarity Boma
Women's Economic Empowerment Programme
Maasai women have experienced high levels of marginalisation for many years. Examples of this can be seen in their lack of property ownership (including livestock), high mortality rates, low levels of education, forced marriages, heavy workloads and physical suffering. The Maasai community is very patriarchal, with minimal opportunities for women to challenge these circumstances or influence community decisions. For these reasons, Maasai women are among the poorest in Tanzanian society.
We have various projects aimed at empowering women and improving their economic circumstances:
Women's Solidarity Bomas (WSB) - The Women's Solidarity Bomas (WSB) project is the initiative that most defines the identity of PWC as a women’s empowerment organisation. The three WSBs in two districts facilitate their members to gain property rights and generate income through the ownership of property and revolving livestock projects. This is important in the context of Maasai society where women currently do not ordinarily own cattle in their own right. Each WSB functions as a revolving livestock exchange, where one woman receives goats and then later passes along an equal number of goats to another woman. The WSB also crossbreeds cattle to improve the health of cows in the area. The WSB promotes property ownership, income generation opportunities, and it helps gain community respect by demonstrating women’s abilities.
The WSBs are a testimony to solidarity among the women, and have become a basis for their mobilization for the purposes of development action. Women talk about increased respect from their men as a result of the boma, which has demonstrated to the men that women are capable of creating and managing wealth, redefining property relations within the community. According to one WSB member “... the solidarity boma has empowered the women and changed how they see themselves and even how the men relate with them. We are now able to stand up and talk in community meetings and be listened to.” Read Kimererio’s story here…
We have various projects aimed at empowering women and improving their economic circumstances:
Women's Solidarity Bomas (WSB) - The Women's Solidarity Bomas (WSB) project is the initiative that most defines the identity of PWC as a women’s empowerment organisation. The three WSBs in two districts facilitate their members to gain property rights and generate income through the ownership of property and revolving livestock projects. This is important in the context of Maasai society where women currently do not ordinarily own cattle in their own right. Each WSB functions as a revolving livestock exchange, where one woman receives goats and then later passes along an equal number of goats to another woman. The WSB also crossbreeds cattle to improve the health of cows in the area. The WSB promotes property ownership, income generation opportunities, and it helps gain community respect by demonstrating women’s abilities.
The WSBs are a testimony to solidarity among the women, and have become a basis for their mobilization for the purposes of development action. Women talk about increased respect from their men as a result of the boma, which has demonstrated to the men that women are capable of creating and managing wealth, redefining property relations within the community. According to one WSB member “... the solidarity boma has empowered the women and changed how they see themselves and even how the men relate with them. We are now able to stand up and talk in community meetings and be listened to.” Read Kimererio’s story here…
Microcredit Groups - PWC trains women in business enterprise and provides microcredit in two districts through Gender Groups, Women's Action Groups and SACCOS groups. Various projects have been initiated including: selling salt, sugar, cooking oil, etc.; buying and selling livestock; harvesting crops like maize and sorghum; and making beaded jewellery and crafts. The credit schemes have been so successful that today there are a total of 4,000 members over the many groups. Read Naiputa’s story here…
|
Revolving Goat Funds - PWC has implemented revolving goat programmes in 8 locations in 2012. Through this process women are given four goats each and pass on the kids to another marginalised women. This process not only provides fundamental economic support and makes women less financially dependent on men but provides social mobility through property ownership and assist in wider attitudinal change towards women. Watch the video below made by Anne Oswald, PWC Volunteer about our goat projects.
|
Food Security - PWC believes that all its economic empowerment work helps increase its beneficiaries food security. However, as the districts PWC operates in are increasingly affected by drought and restrictions on cultivation, PWC now also runs specific food security projects. These range from constructing grain stores in Longido district to the distribution of emergency food aid to children in response to the 2012 famine in Ngorongoro Conservation Area.
Adult Literacy - Adult classes are conducted in PWC nursery classrooms twice a week, enabling women to learn about issues such as healthcare and farming. These classes also serve as an opportunity to discuss other issues they consider important.
Water Projects - Our Water Projects, including the construction of earth dams, have had an instantly beneficial effect on the thousands of people who have been given access to safe drinking water.
Adult Literacy - Adult classes are conducted in PWC nursery classrooms twice a week, enabling women to learn about issues such as healthcare and farming. These classes also serve as an opportunity to discuss other issues they consider important.
Water Projects - Our Water Projects, including the construction of earth dams, have had an instantly beneficial effect on the thousands of people who have been given access to safe drinking water.
Water dam constructed by PWC
Copyright 2006-2016 – Pastoral Women’s Council (PWC). PWC is a Tanzanian registered charity SO.no.10180
