Women participating in Climate-Smart Enhanced Pub-lic Works Programme in Karonga District have commended the safety-net initiative for helping them accumulate assets to improve their livelihoods.
They said this on Saturday during a media tour of Tra-ditional Authority Kyungu to inspect the impact of the initiative in the district.
Speaking in an interview, Tionge Kayuni, a member of Yorodani Village Savings and Loans group under Diwa Cluster, said she received K28 800 in January 2023 which she invested in a small-scale business.
“I saved K8 000 through shares at a village savings and loans group. I increased my shares by saving K55 000 every month. Now I have K500 000 shares, K200 000 purposive contributions and mandatory contributions of K50 000,” she said.
Kayuni said under Community Savings and Investiment Promotion (Comsip) Cooperative Union Lim-ited’s Legumes Enterprises Structured Programme, she received K110 000 as starter-up capital.
“I also added K150 000 to the K110 000 I received from Comsip and invested it in groundnut production. I realised K1.8 million from the sales. I bought two cows at K800 000 and a plough at K190 000. I spent the bal-ance on my husband’s school fees,” she said.
Another beneficiary, Ruth Msowoya, said she bought 80 local chickens she is rearing to diversify her income sources.
Karonga District Comsip coordinator Eliza Mwakilama said mentoring was key to achieving the successes.
In a separate interview, Karonga district assistant community development officer Simeon Ndhlovu said they mobilise participants into groups of 25 members which are later brought together to form clusters for effective monitoring and mentoring.
Comsip is working with Climate-Smart Enhanced Public Works Programme participants through Social Support for Resilient Livelihoods Project with funds from the World Bank and the Multi-Donor Trust Fund
