November 9, 2024

Empowering Mozambican women for a sustainable future

International Day of Rural Women recognises the immense role played by rural women across the world in supporting their families and communities. It serves to highlight the critical contributions rural women make to agriculture, food security and sustainable development. At the same time, it highlights the myriad challenges they face, such as limited access to resources, education and healthcare.

As a roads infrastructure agency that operates across both South Africa and Mozambique through the management and maintenance of the TRAC N4 corridor, Trans-African Concessions‘ (TRAC’s) community upliftment initiatives have been designed to improve the lives of different groups of beneficiaries in communities where it operates, including women from rural communities.

For Mozambique, TRAC is deeply aware of the formidable challenges that rural women in this country face on a daily basis. In most cases, women in rural Mozambique are the backbone of their families, often shouldering the responsibility of cultivating crops and caring for livestock, which provides vital sustenance and income. They engage in diverse agricultural practices, utilising traditional knowledge to grow food, sell the products at local markets and even manage small-scale businesses.

However, the increasing challenges posed by climate change – such as erratic rainfall, prolonged droughts and flooding – are severely threatening their livelihoods. These environmental changes not only disrupt farming cycles but also undermine food security, forcing women to stretch their already limited resources further. As they grapple with the dual burden of sustaining their families and adapting to these climate challenges, their resilience is tested, highlighting the urgent need for support and sustainable solutions to safeguard their futures.

It is for this reason TRAC actively supports and finances initiatives aimed at empowering women in Mozambique to become self-sufficient. One of these initiatives has seen the concessionaire join hands with CAPAZ, a civil rights, community-based, non-governmental Mozambican organisation that supports victims of gender-based violence (GBV) as well as children whose parents have died from HIV.

GBV is a reality of modern society, with countries such as South Africa and Mozambique still prone to this social ill. Although in recent years the fight against GBV has intensified, the reality is that gender violence is a scourge facing women.

In line with the Memorandum of Understanding between this organisation and TRAC, a team of 12 women selected by CAPAZ has been employed to tutor the centre’s HIV orphans and collect litter from the V-drains along the N4 three times a week. They also assist with waste collection at some of the schools affiliated to TRAC’s corporate social investment (CSI) programme, thus ensuring a win-win for all concerned, as litter in this country is a major environmental and social concern.

Adri Fourie, TRAC’s executive for human resources and CSI, asserts: “We are proud of the fact that our interventions in Mozambique are transforming lives by empowering women to become leaders in their communities. Through skills development and entrepreneurship, we have instilled confidence that enables them to support not only their families but assisting others, and fight poverty.”

She says TRAC’s initiatives are not just about immediate support but about laying the groundwork for long-term, sustainable empowerment. “By investing in their skills and leadership, we are building a brighter future for them, where women can thrive and uplift their communities. Together, we are transforming challenges into opportunities, ensuring every woman can play an important role in shaping her destiny and that of her family and community,” Fourie concludes.

Image credit: Freepik

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