Policy on empowerment of women ready soon
Malawi government has said it is committed to have a policy on economic empowerment of women in place to help improve lives of women in the country.
Minister of Gender, Children, disability and social welfare Patricia Kaliati made the remarks in Lilongwe on Monday during a best practices stakeholder conference on economic empowerment of women.
Kaliati said the document is at cabinet level and she pledged to push for its passing so as to address the different challenges that women are facing countrywide.
The minister said already government is involved in a number of programmes to help build the capacity of women as well as empowering them economically.
“We have a program with UNFPA of Gewe [Gender Equality and Women Empowerment] which is being implemented in 13 districts. We also are working with Dapp and Yoneco and other organisations like UN women to have these women in groups so that they learn on how to be self-reliant and improve their families. Old women have also not been left out as we have special programs for them,” said Kaliati.
Kaliati also observed that women face difficulties in accessing loans from banks adding that even after getting the loan they are subjected to very strict conditions.
During the meeting, Opportunity International Bank of Malawi (OIBM), Malawi Union of Savings and Credit Cooperatives (Muscco) and Reserve Bank of Malawi (RBM) made presentations on how to reach out to the unbanked and macro-policies and programmes that address financial exclusion.
The conference was organised by Dan Church Aid, Tilitonse and the CCAP Church under the theme “Inclusive, accountable and responsive governance: Key to realising economic empowerment of women in Malawi”.
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