Govt lays emphasis on empowering women
PWANI: DEPUTY Minister of State in the President’s Office (Public Service Management and Good Governance) Mr Ridhiwani Kikwete said on Tuesday that the government is optimistic to ensure all programmes designed for empowering women are well implemented.
He said through its programme the government has plans in place to ensure women are empowered economically and socially.
He said various stakeholders have already been invited to stand with the government in bringing positive changes to women in the country.
He was speaking during the Women’s Day celebrations in Bagamoyo District, Coast Region.
“We are all witnesses of what our government is doing to support women in this area, all strategies aim at enabling women to engage in various development activities,” he noted.
He said the government has been working closely with various stakeholders who support women by offering them loans with affordable conditions.
The Deputy Minister who is also Member of Parliament for Chalinze Constituent said from the year 2016 to 2024 a total of 5, 270, 626, 673/- has been released to the groups of women, youths and people living with disability whereby 2,437,636,673/- was provided to 10,485 women through economic platforms in the district.
The loans are obtained through allocating 10 per cent of the council’s revenue collections annually. For her part, District’s Chairperson for the Women Empowerment Economic Platform, Ms Tatu Mpogo said the number of women owning land in the district is still low compared to that of men.
“In year 2022/ 2023 only 52 women were owning land out of 276 land owners in the district. This shows that we still need to put more efforts to change this situation,” she explained.
She added that from 2022/2023 to present, a total of 1,695 gender-based violence cases have been reported so far in the area.
“We have managed to apprehend the culprits of these ferocious actions and that are now facing the law, the victims have also received support and we are continuing to educate the public on the issues related to gender based violence,” she noted.
During the event, a total of 90 Community Health Fund (CHF) cards were provided to elders along with 166 sewing machines.They were offered by a private financial firm- BRAC.
