The executive director of the UN Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat), Prof Anna Tibaijuka
By Samuel Kamndaya
The executive director of the UN Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat), Prof Anna Tibaijuka, has challenged economically advantaged women in the country to play a leading role in emancipating those who are less fortunate from economic and social hardships.
Speaking in Dar es Salaam at the weekend, she said the best way of doing that would be for the better off ladies forming groups to help in empowering their disadvantaged counterparts.
Prof Tibaijuka was officiating the launching of the Maruku Women Group, which is made of women from Maruku village in Kagera Region living in Dar es Salaam.
She said such groups could play a leading role in finding lasting solutions to the economic hardships facing women in the country especially those living in rural areas.
"During my days as an economics lecturer at the University of Dar es Salaam, I came to realize that most women fail to do well in various aspects of life due to the environments in which they live.
I would therefore urge groups such as Maruku to find solutions of getting women out of this mess…we need many more women groups to liberate fellow women from social and economic hardships," she intoned.
The women groups, she added, should also aim at finding ways of helping girls get access to better education. Prof Tibaijuka agreed to the group’s request to be its matron.
"We at the UN will always be supportive of such women initiatives as Maruku for we also believe in women's (economic) empowerment," she said, advising women to involve men in their daily undertakings.
The group's chairperson, Dr Emeria Mugonzibwa, said the group, comprising women from various professional disciplines, aims at helping Maruku and other disadvantaged groups of society with various economic and social needs.
The group will be working with other interested organizations to donate desks and other educational requirements to Maruku and other places in the country.
The group, which has already mobilized Sh4 million for its operations, has plans to soon establish a savings and credit cooperative society.
