Bole (N/R) Mar 23, GNA – An Islamic Charity Organization in the United States (US), Zakat Foundation, has been assisting to lift rural women in the Bole District out of poverty through technical and vocational skills training.
It has not only been funding their training in dressmaking, hairdressing and other vocations but also supplying them with the relevant equipment and tools to start their own businesses.
Mr. Salia Alhassan, Country Representative of the Foundation, said the aim was to empower them to become economically self-supporting - to cater for themselves and their families.
He was speaking at a ceremony to graduate 10 young women who had completed training in dressmaking at Bole. They were each presented with a sewing machine and accessories.
Mr. Alhassan indicated that women empowerment was at the heart of the activities of the organization, which had been operating in the district since year 2006.
So far, a total of 42 women had benefitted from the programme.
It marks a radical shift from giving handouts to the poor and the less privileged to providing them with employable skills and the tools to fend for themselves.
He underlined the commitment of the Foundation to work closely with district assemblies and the unit committees to bring hope to the under-privileged and improve their economic situation.
Mr. Ibrahim Mumuni, a representative of the district assembly, applauded the Foundation for the intervention alongside other initiatives to transform the lives of women in the area.
These include construction of school buildings, mosques, hand-dug wells, livestock rearing project, caring for orphans and providing food items to Muslims during Ramadan.
Mr. Mumuni urged the beneficiaries to put their training and tools to good use to overcome poverty.
Mr Jombo Iddisah, who represented the Bolewura, thanked the Foundation and appealed for the construction of a meeting place for the traditional council.