Over 100 women from Kajiado County are set to benefit from a 5-day training and capacity building workshop on commercialization of beadwork.
The workshop, conducted by the Ushanga Kenya Initiative in partnership with the National Government Affirmative Action Fund (NGAAF), is aimed at empowering women from pastoral communities to convert their traditional beadwork and art into marketable commodities.
Speaking in Oloirien, Kajiado West during the official launch of the training, Culture and Heritage Principal Secretary Ummi Bashir said capacity building aims at empowering pastoralist women by transforming their traditional beadwork into an income generating venture and a source of sustainable livelihood, in line with the Bottom-up Economic Transformation Agenda.
Bashir emphasized the importance of empowering women economically to enable them to become financially independent.
She noted that women from pastoral communities have over the years made beadwork for decoration as a part of their culture and added it was high time they benefitted fully from the work of their hands.
“Women have been making beadwork as part of culture, it is now high time that they benefit from the sale of these products which are highly sought after locally and internationally,” she said.
The PS revealed that the women will receive training on value addition to Ushanga products, blending of traditional beading methods with modern techniques and how to add professional finishes to the bead work to enable the products meet international standards.
Bashir added that through the Ushanga Kenya Initiative, the women will be trained on how to leverage technology to sell their products online and expand their market scope.
She underscored the importance of establishing a physical market where the women can sell their beadwork, adding that her office was working closely with the county government to build a market for them.
Bashir urged the women to join cooperative societies which will provide them with a platform to collectively market their beadwork and access financial services thereby empowering them and providing them with an opportunity to secure a sustainable livelihood.
Kajiado County Woman Representative Leah Sankaire who accompanied the PS, lamented that women from Kajiado County were yet to fully reap financial benefit from the sale of their beadwork.
Sankaire noted that there were unscrupulous individuals exploiting the women and politicizing the Ushanga Initiative.
“Women from Kajiado County have not fully benefited from their beadwork and from the orders done through Ushanga Kenya Initiative, there are people who are exploiting the women by using their name to get orders and then source for the beads elsewhere,” she said.
The Woman Representative warned them against taking advantage of the local women to profit from their sweat and further called out brokers who buy the bead products at low prices from the women and re-sell them at high prices.
Sankaire called for the opening up of a market where the women can sell their wares adding that the absence of a market has enabled middle-men to continue exploiting the women and making a fortune from their sweat.
Gladys Moses, the Chairlady of Elaroi women group, reiterated Sankaire’s sentiments adding that brokers had infiltrated the bead work industry due to lack of a physical market in the county for the women to sell their products.
The Chairlady said women from the community depend on beading to earn income and support their families and establishing a market for them will ensure that they reap full benefit and uplift their livelihoods.
Ushanga Kenya Initiative is a national government flagship project established in 2017 to empower pastoralist women involved in beadwork by transforming their traditional art into tradable commodities for significant economic benefit and sustainable livelihoods.
The Initiative also seeks to strengthen business and production capacity for women from pastoralist counties, as well as improve the competitiveness of bead products in local, regional and international markets for sustainable livelihoods.
The project targets women from seven counties of Turkana, Samburu, Kajiado, Narok, Baringo, Marsabit and West Pokot.
By Rop Janet
