A Lilongwe-based organisation, Green Girls Platform, has groomed 5000 women in Lilongwe with skills on making environmentally friendly products using locally available resources.
The women, mostly from Bunda on the outskirts of Lilongwe City, have been imparted with skills on how they can make products such as charcoal briquettes, manure and bio-degradable bags.
Some of the women are also being trained in beekeeping.
Green Girls Platform executive director Joy Munthali said the training will, among others, minimise deforestation which has been on the rise in the area.
“We believe the training will also reverse adverse effects of climate change bearing in mind the fact that most of these women have been relying on forests for food and source of income,” said Munthali.
At the end of the training, participants are being given tailoring machines, money and beehives.
“We are offering them these incentives as a starter pack because most of them cannot manage to raise capital for business,” he said.
One of the participants, Agnes Alick has hailed Green Girls Platform for imparting her with skills on how she can produce biodegradable bags, saying the skills will help her financially.
“I believe with these skills, I will help in reducing the tendency of using plastic bags among people,” said Alick.
Participants under the project are being trained for two weeks.
Women rights activist and executive director of NGO-Gender coordination Network (NGO-GCN) Maggie Kathewera-Banda has thanked Green Girls Platform for coming up with the initiative, saying it will also help in empowering women.
