NORTHERN PROVINCE MUSANZE – Members of the National Women Council-CNF from Nyaruguru district this week visited Musanze in an effort to learn about the district’s development projects. The women who were accompanied by members of the National Youth Council-CNJ- visited the Abanyamurava Cooperative which is engaged in art crafts, making soap and growing Irish potatoes. The cooperative has accumulated assets worth over Rwf.30m from their activities. Miriam Ingabire, a leader of a local women’s NGO –PAGR – says women need to learn to work together in order to uplift their standards of living. Ingabire noted that women’s groups could fight violation of girls’ rights to family property and ensure that laws to promote gender equality in families are upheld. PAGR which emerged the best performing cooperatives at the national level has constructed a nursery school and two buildings where they process soap, while undertaking tailoring. Ingabire pointed out that the majority of women still face a number of challenges including lack of entrepreneurship skills and fear of taking risks. Beatrice Umamariya, another member of the group says that by joining associations such as cooperative societies helped orient women towards undertaking business activities. Ends
