The Yemayá Nets project kicks off – Mozambique
7th of June 2021. Women for Africa’s new project has started today in the district of Jangamo, province of Inhambane, Mozambique. The aim of the project is to strengthen women’s leadership through the creation of a cooperative in the sustainable small-scale fishing sector, an important activity in this region of the country.
This project is carried out together with Aspegi, the Association of Professionals and Businesswomen of Gipuzkoa (Basque country) and the Duna Lodge Initiative, a local sustainable and responsible tourism project located in the area.
The project is financed by the Provincial Council of Gipuzkoa through its Gipuzkoa Coopera programme, and follows in the footsteps of the previous one, The Yemayá Nets – Senegal, which worked with a women’ cooperative in the fishing sector in the town of Thiaroye sur Mer in that same country, also carried out together with Aspegi.
The project presentation session was held today, with the participation of some of the twenty women who will be the beneficiaries. During the session the programme objectives were explained. Training in different areas and experience exchange will be used as tools to support Mozambican participants empowerment and their organisation into a cooperative.
The first few weeks will be devoted to health care training, which has been identified as one of the main problems facing these women, with the aim of turning them into leaders in their communities in this area.
This training will be given by Araceli Alonso, a lecturer at the University of Wisconsin with extensive experience in this field in various African countries.
This will be followed by a round of contacts and experience exchange managed by Aspegi with women’s associations in the Basque Country and other Spanish regions.
Then, and until the end of the year, a technical training in the fishing sector and its transformation will begin. The contents will be defined together with the beneficiaries according to the problems, needs and opportunities they consider to be a priority.
It is worth remembering that supporting and accompanying women in the fishing sector in Africa has become one of Women for Africa’s recurrent activities of in recent years. In addition to promoting The Yemayá Nets project in Senegal and Mozambique, it has also worked with women in the province of Nador, in Morocco, where the first net menders and algae farming associations in the country have been created.