Build Hope and Skills for Refugee Women, S. Africa

Thanks to the recent success of the opening of the Economic Empowerment Center, WWWA is able to further enhance the development of refugee women by providing income-generating and educational projects that will lead to an improved life-style.

 Far too often in Africa, refugee women and girls are tremendously altered by the wars and political conflicts in the continent; some even suffer from gender-specific and/or cultural forms of violence such as genital mutilation or forced marriage.  Fleeing their homes to seek solace and new opportunities in neighboring areas or countries, refugee women and girls become even more vulnerable, struggling to survive in a foreign area stripped of all support systems.

 At the Economic Empowerment Center, WWWA mobilizes refugee women and children to engage in social and economic empowerment activities that will lift them out of poverty and enable them to live in dignity and peace, free from violence and discrimination.

 With just a small donation you will be supporting The Economic Empowerment Center’s efforts to continue providing services such as technical garment-making and computer literacy workshops; health education, counseling and childcare support; job skills and leadership trainings; and employment services.

 Not only will your contributions give women and children hope, but it will also help showcase their development in their host communities, the continent, and in the world at large!

WWWA is carrying forward its mission to provide skills based training for refugee women in South Africa. Having opened it's center to trainees learning how to teach others in vocational skills such as beading, sewing, dress making, hair dressing, and working in child care, the Job-Skills Training Project (Economic Empowerment Centre) is fully open to female refugees. Finding work as a refugee can be difficult, requiring fluency and literacy in local languages and English. For many of the women that WWWA serves, finding employment is prohibited by this requirement. WWWA's goal is to train women in skills they can use to generate an income despite language limitations in the job market, in an environment that is supportive and provides counseling to help women cope with  their experiences of violence and war as refugees.

The project recognizes that in order to effectively address trauma, domestic violence, as
well as poverty it needs to include job skills and training programmes with the counseling, healing of
memories, accommodation legal advise, leadership training , and other services its partners provide for its
clients. Refugees are often viewed as helpless victims of war. The reality is that they are dynamic, social and
economic actors who have the potential and desire to control their own lives, livelihoods, and futures. In
a bid to restore self dignity and a better self esteem the centre will enhance the skill and capacities of
refugees women while they are in south Africa (Western Cape), the skills gained here will be used both
in long and short term survival strategies to help them rebuild their post-conflict communities when they
return home, and to help them seek gainful employment and compete equally in the job markets while
they are still in the country of refuge.

Thanks to donations and support from donors like you, WWWA is has been able to open the Economic Empowerment Center's doors to all of its members for vocational training. The trainers participating in the Center's work were even able to take a computer class!