Small Business for Community Women
From Peace Corps Wiki
Info about the Small Business for Community Women
A district in Malawi has one of the highest rates in the world of AIDS infection. This is driven in part by the lack of opportunity – business, educational, and ownership—available to women.
One of the most effective means of combating this disparity is to provide women with effective means to generate an income, which allows them to afford school fees for their children and an improved diet for their families.
This project includes teaching both basic business skills, such as the ability to keep track of income and expenditures, and activity skills, such as how to manage a beehive, or use semi-sterile techniques to bottle fruit wine, or turn waste paper into marketable stationery. Finally, women in villages often have little or no capital, so this project provides the startup supplies and equipment needed to begin a variety of small businesses.
Women’s groups selected for this project contribute towards these startup costs – typically with labor, locally-available supplies such as wood posts and bamboo for mushroom houses, or with small amounts of money. Each women’s group will be engaged in only one or two activities to limit competition and to encourage the uptake of skills.
Note: This summary was provided by a Peace Corps Volunteer and the community administering this project.