NORTHERN PROVINCE

MUSANZE — Women in the rural communities have been urged to set up income generating projects as a way of fighting poverty.

Addressing women leaders from the Northern Province on Monday, the Minister of Gender and Family Promotion in the Prime Minister’s Office, J. D’arc Mujawamariya asked women to form groups through which they can get loans from banks and Microfinance institutions to support the projects.

About 50 women representatives, drawn from six districts in the province, convened for a five-day seminar on entrepreneurship. During the seminar participants got briefing on setting up micro business and investment plans.

The minister said that women’s economic empowerment was instrumental in not only accelerating general development of the families, but also fighting gender related domestic violence.

To fight poverty, she said, there was need for women to develop a culture of saving and forming business cooperatives in order to support one another. A similar seminar would be extended to other provinces, according to sources.

Speaking at the same occasion, Papien Hakizabera, the president of CAPMER (the organisation which provided trainers) said that they would later make a follow up evaluation on the implementations of the acquired. 

The seminar was organised by the Ministry of Gender, in collaboration with the National Women Council.

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