Empowering Alex young women through training
ALEXANDRA - Black African young women suffer the most from unemployment with 52.9 percent of them languishing in desperation for work opportunities.
Black African young women are mostly affected by unemployment with 52.9 percent languishing at home in desperation.
According to the 2011 national census, the overall youth unemployment rate of 35 percent for black African young women is followed by coloured women at 34.4 percent and then Indian women at 23 percent.
Following this, the Joburg City Council promulgated a women’s development strategy for five years, commencing this year, to empower socially and economically disadvantaged women who are unfairly prejudiced because of gender and racial stereotypes.
The strategy has been implemented through a programme that includes empowerment training. A total of 298 young women recently participated and graduated from the programme.
It was tailor-made to address challenges identified by young Alex women through reported cases and various dialogue sessions. The programme was also designed to give women skills to deal with their challenges in a holistic way.
The programme was conducted as a pilot from January to June and took the women on a journey of self-discovery by:
- Raising their consciousness about their identity as young women
- Instilling a sense of self-love, respect and pride of young womanhood
- Redefining their role in their own personal development
- Empowering women to stand up for who they are
- Identifying their needs and challenges
- Discovering their own qualities and assets to develop themselves
- Producing a well-balanced individual who is groomed for the country
- Establishing a young women’s network.
The council intends to assist the women in establishing a young women’s network to continue with the programme and provide support while mentoring new recruits to manage the network on their own.
Details: Nkosinathi Nkabinde 011 407 6477.
