A short story from my workFor all those who are interested to learn more about the Interventions that Caritas Switzerland is undertaking in Somaliland (as you most probably know I have been working for this organisation for approximately one month by now).
The Skills and Knowledge Training for Young and Adult Women has been implemented by Caritas in Hargeisa since January 2006. The main objective of the EC funded project is to improve the standards of living and the societal status of the target population thus increasing their participation in development affairs. The target population are girls and women who previously participated in Literacy and Numeracy courses.
The project is achieving its objective through two complementary kinds of interventions: on one hand, approximately 150 newly literate girls and women got a chance to participate in an institutional based kills training program. The taught subjects included tailoring, tie and dye, secretarial studies and beauty arts. The activity was successfully completed by August 2006. The second intervention focuses on empowering women on HIV Aids, FGM and on building their understanding on human and women rights. It is expected that these two interventions will enable women to access sustainable and gainful employment and equip them with knowledge that empowers them to speak out on issues that are affecting them.
Amina, the lady that is shown in the picture above, is one of the 37 women and girls who graduated from the skills training program in August. Over a peroid of four months she was taught in basic tailoring skills, as well as small business management and relevant life skills such as health, nutrition, HIV aids prevention and FGM abandonment. We recently got to know that she opened a small business at the local market and decided to visit her. Asked where she got the sewing machine from, she answers: "I went around and collected small amounts of money from my relatives. With this money I bought the sewing machine and some other equipment". Her initiative is yielding fruits: each day she manages to earn an average of 30.000 Somaliland Shilling (aproximately 6 Dollars). It is not a lot of money compared to what people are earning on other countries. But for Somaliland, a country with an extremely high unemployment rate espacially among women, this earning can be seen as a success. And with six dollars a day she can buy food for her family, support the education of her children, pay medical bills, and sometimes even put some money aside for future investments.
She and several other graduates from the Skills training proved: equiping women with more skills and knowledge can contribute to an improvement of their livelihoods and the life of their dependents. They deserve to be rolemodels for future trainees and all organizations that are intending to involve in skills training.
