BUBANZA, April 29th (ABP) – The organization of women into self-development cooperatives is one of the factors in their empowerment. Those are the words of women members of the “Garukirabakenyezi” women’s cooperative in Buhororo 2, in the commune of Bubanza (north-west Burundi).
Mrs. Jeannette Niyonzima, president of the cooperative, said that the cooperative is made up of 60 women, and is involved in agri-breeding, the broom trade, and has a soap, palm oil and cake manufacturing unit. She explains that the aim of organizing themselves into a cooperative, as women, was to supplement the income of their husbands in their respective households, to save widows from the temptations of all the adventurers, and to empower them.
Mrs. Niyonzima is delighted with the support of the CNDD-FDD party authorities in terms of capacity-building in project development and management. The “Garukirabakenyezi” cooperative started out in 2021 with a capital of 600,000 BIF, but has now reached a capital of more than 5 million of our francs.
Mrs. Floride Nzeyimana, a member of the cooperative, says that she is no longer totally dependent on her husband, and that she and her husband now complement each other in terms of household needs. As for Mrs. Jeannette Niyonzima, a widow and member of the above-mentioned cooperative, the cooperative has enabled her to support the education of her three children, to buy a plot of land and to raise goats, chickens and rabbits. She says she has at least 30,000 BIF in her purse.
The “Garukirabakenyezi” cooperative has already created three jobs in their palm kernel processing unit, but members cite the constraints of not having enough land for the project, as well as insufficient capital. In the future, they hope to acquire a vehicle and motorbike to transport their goods, and to extend their projects to other provinces of the country, according to local sources. Members of that cooperative, who were contacted, are calling on other women to consider joining and organizing themselves into self-development cooperatives, to empower them and help them meet the needs of their households. A total of 251 women’s cooperatives have already been registered with the provincial office of the cooperative and associative movement in Bubanza province.