Women leaders have been urged to play a lead role in fighting for their rights in the county.
Speaking during the celebrations to mark the International Women’s Day at Madende Primary school on Saturday, the Regional Director for Village Enterprise (a civil society that operates in Saami Sub County) Carolyne Wafula, noted that a section of women leaders in the County were promoting their personal interests instead of advocating for women’s rights.
“There is a gap in women leadership in the county.
The women leaders are not coming out to defend and share the challenges women are experiencing in the community.
We need to have more women representation in leadership in every category because it is women who know and understand better the challenges they go through.
It is time to have good governance and leadership from women who are there to advocate for other women, not those who are chasing their own interest,” she said.
Wafula stated that Busia County has remained behind in terms of empowerment due to the increased cases of gender-based violence and overdependence on casual jobs, factors that they are trying to eradicate.
“Women rely on casual jobs for them to sustain themselves. Gender based issues have created a lot of fear in women as they are not coming out and speaking for themselves. At Village Enterprise, we are trying to empower them so that they can come out very bold.
We are focusing much on gender and climate issues. Most of the women in our programs are now able to engage in small business to earn a living and even support their children in school.” She said
She added that her Organization has taken an initiative to empower women in Samia Sub County and give them knowledge on gender matters and climate change.
“We are working with 327 women in Samia Sub County. We put them in groups and support them with financial literacy, business skills, and matters on gender and climate change. We are determined to ensure women are empowered and saved from extreme poverty.
The manager stated the need to encourage climate smart sustainable business to empower women.
“We need to focus on climate adaptation so that we encourage women to start climate smart sustainable businesses. This will help to empower women by generating money in the wake of climate change.”
Wafula further said that women in Samia Sub County have embraced planting of short season crops and forming of saving groups, the intervention that are helping to eradicate poverty among women.
“Women are now planting short term season crops like vegetables to earn a living. They have also formed groups in which they pull their resources together to save and issue loans amongst themselves.
The saving groups have helped to develop education in Samia because through the saving groups, women are now able to get a loan and pay the fee for their children.
By Salome Alwanda and Rodgers Omondi
