Village Women ’s Clubs

The Village Women ’s Clubs is an initiative that was established by Councillor Patricia Vito for Ward 21 in Goromonzi South Constituency. This project was established to uplift the standard of living of marginalized groups in the ward focusing particularly on women and youth.

How the network works is that women are organized into groups of 10 to 20 individuals. The councillor then sources capital for each group to start an economically viable project. On the maturity of each project, the benefitting group then uses part of their proceeds to contribute to the establishment of a new group of women who in turn start their own project. The result of this initiative is that it then creates a cycle of economically empowered women who not only empower themselves but also have the responsibility of empowering others in the community.

The projects include poultry, agriculture, horticulture, garment manufacturing and fish farming. Training is then conducted for the groups to undertake their projects with expertise. As indicated above the project is not limited to women but has been extended to youth. This has helped create employment for vulnerable groups and uplift the standard of living in the community.

The councillor has also set-up a village-banking model whereby the groups of women and youth that are undertaking these projects also participate in village banking. Under this model, each individual contributes at least $2 per person creating a pool of funds. From the pool the members are able to borrow at nominal interests rates to fund further projects in the community. The success of this village banking model has resulted in ensuring that previously marginalized communities play their role in ensuring financial inclusion.