The Minister of Gender and Family Promotion, Dr. Jeanne d’Arc Mujawamariya, Tuesday, presided over the launch of a Women’s Empowerment Project organised by the Nzambaza Mariya Foundation.

At the launch, Minister Mujawamariya, announced that at least 300 women beneficiaries have been trained on how to set up and manage businesses so that they can become entrepreneurs in their own right with the ability to acquire wealth like their male counterparts.

The trainees were from Nyarugenge, Gasabo and Kicukiro districts of Kigali city.

"When a woman prospers, the whole family prospers and the whole country gets access to the wealth. We’re optimistic that this project will have an impact in changing lives,” Mujawamariya said.

Women Empowerment Project was initiated by the Veneranda Nzambazamaliya Foundation and is funded by an American project STARBUCKS, that deals in coffee and supports medium projects aimed at eradicating poverty in the country. This programme is supervised by AFRICARE, that has a two year mandate.

One of the trainees Predanciene Mukakabano from Kigali sector in Nyarugenge district said that, the one packed week of training focused on important basic issues of our daily life as far as business is concerned.

Among the topics covered were women in development, trade ethics, coffee planting, mushroom growing and vegetables, as well as Rwandan values and morals and market negotiation skills.

"We have been trained on Rwandan values and morals as an important topic to my view though we prosper but we should still be responsible parents,”explained Mukakabano.

The women empowerment training was conducted in four respective sites of Mageragere, Kanyinya, Kimisagara, Kigali, Rulindo and Rusororo sector. Every site trained fifty women with all of them have receiving a certificate.

Crescence Mukantabana, the executive secretary of Nzambazamaliya Venaranda revealed that the foundation has been involved in many projects like Itetero centre based in Muhanga, training teenagers girls on Rwanda’s moral values and drama locally known Buravurwa bugakira to fight poverty and now they are empowering the women for development.

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