Skills acquisition key to ending gender-based violence—NGO

Engender Health, an organisation that aims at helping marginalised people in the country, says equipping women with vocational skills can reduce gender-based violence (GBV).

Speaking on Sunday during a graduation of 52 women who attained vocational skills training at Makata in Blantyre, the organisation’s programme manager Temwa Kasakula said rising GBV cases pushed them to come in and equip women with  skills for self-reliance.

“We did a survey which revealed that men tend to abuse women when they realise that they do not have any financial resources of their own.

“Due to this, women suffer abuse silently; hence, our intervention through trainings,” she said.

One of the women who got a certificate in bricklaying, Martha Petrol, said she is grateful to Engender Health for rescuing her from the GBV she used to experience due to dependence on her husband.

Shel said she will work hard and use the skill effectively to support her children and parents.

So far, the organisation has equipped women in Mzimba, Kasungu, Chiradzulu and Blantyre districts with tailoring, bricklaying, baking and hairdressing skills.

Apart from the training, the organisation also give the women start-up capital in form of materials.