STAFF WRITER
WOMEN drawn from different parts of Lupane have hailed Ntengwe, a non governmenal organisation after it successfully rolled out a series of empowerment projects in the district.
The projects which have been running for a period spanning two years include, animal husbandry, agriculture, bread and ban baking among a host of others.
The projects which according to the beneficiaries have changed the face of their lives came to the fore this week when Ntengwe hosted a belated International Day of Rural Women in Lupanda, near Regina Mundi High school.
So emotional but exciting was the huge gathering as the beneficiaries who are mostly women narrated how Ntengwe pushed them out of poverty which had charectorised their lives over the years.
One of the beneficiaries Joyce Sibanda ironically thanked the Covid 19 outbreak which she said left her more empowered.
“I want to thank Covid 19,” she said leaving many in stitches.
“The disease was a big problem, it troubled us but it left us with love. I rejuvenated my love with my husband. But when Ntengwe arrived they adviced us to do self help projects, which we did successfully through their support. As you can see we are now happy because we have been making money out of these projects,” she said.
Edward Sibanda of Block O was full of praise for Ntengwe.
“Ntengwe really came to our rescue during lockdown, they virtually did everything to make sure that we are empowered as a community. They taught us how to bake bread and bans on our own. They taught us to drill our own wells, something which put in the past our perennial water challenges,” said Sibanda.
Several beneficiaries who spoke to this publication feted Ntengwe as a King for it’s sterling effort to rescue the marginalised community in Lupanda.
This reporter witnessed a number of projects that the women groups and individuals are undertaking which include animal husbandry, market gardening and baking among others.
Ntengwe programmes coordinator Innocent Isaac told The Zambezi Times that their mission was to empower women economically as well as making them know their rights.
Under their Pathway to Economic Justice for Women’s Land Rights programme, Isaac said it came about in a bid to address gender inequalities.
“The programme stems out of clear contest of unequal ownership of land and assets in communities. It is skewed more towards men than women. This is inspite of the existence of legislation and framework that provides for women to be able to own and control land,” Isaac said.
He added: ” As a result we did a research to try and evidence this unequal control of land. We also did a baseline survey as well as a gender and evaluation criteria whose outcome confirmed that indeed women did not control land. As a result we decided to support them by making them know their rights.”
