By MARTIN MUSUNKA –
KALUMBILA Minerals Limited (KML) is happy that the women empowerment programme has successfully taken off, with the first-ever intensive tailoring and knitting course for local women in Kalumbila District.
Thirty women drawn from nearby villages underwent a four-week tailoring and knitting course at Sentinel Primary School, aimed at empowering them to do business with the mines and other companies in the area.
The course which was coordinated by Trident Foundation, the vehicle that drives Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) activities for KML, saw all the 30 participants graduate and were awarded certificates during the graduation ceremony last week.
Trident Foundation social officer, Nelly Lupyani said the concept of getting local women together and teach them various skills, was to ensure that they were empowered in order for them to be self-reliant and to remove the notion that they could only find employment in the mines.
She said it was an exciting process of seeing women from the local villages engage in meaningful course work to learn tailoring and knitting skills for the first time.
As a way of putting into practice what they grasped during the four-week training programme, the women managed to make mosquito nets and sample bags which are used by geologists.
North-Western Chamber of Commerce and Industry (NWCCI) president, Josephine Makondo, who officiated at the graduation ceremony at Kalumbila said, she was elated that the mining company was empowering the local women.
She said the fact that the 30 participants successfully completed the course, was indicative that they were committed to the cause and her association would do everything possible to complement the efforts being made by KML to empower  women in the province. – Story: Courtesy of SUMA SYSTEMS.