The Canadian Government through the Centre for Indigenous Knowledge and Organizational Development (CIKOD), has organised a capacity building workshop for female basket weavers at Sirigu.

Ms Elham Mumuni, the Programme Manager of CIKOD, a Non-Governmental Organisation, said the training would equip the women to produce good quality baskets of the international standards to enable them to attract ready markets and good prices for their produce.

She said the Economic Empowerment of Women through basket weaving formed part of “the Women Leadership for Economic Empowerment and Food Security in Africa Project”, being implemented in Ghana, the Zambia, and Ethiopia with funding from the Canadian Government.

Ms Mumuni said the project, which commenced in 2012, and was expected to end in 2017, had made a significant impact by empowering many women in the value chain additions on soyabeans, sheabutter processing, soap making, pottery and basket weaving.

She said the CIKOD did not rely solely on external support but empowered the communities to exploit their own indigenous resources to complement the external support.

She urged women to respect their husbands and never to discriminate in the upbringing of boys and girls at home to help bridge the gender gap, which was now against women.

Ms Bridget Adongo Akasise, the Executive Director of the Sirigu Women Organisation for Pottery and Arts (SWOPA), said the women were the managers of homes and expressed the hope that the training would open up more opportunities for them to be able to contribute economically to the wellbeing of their families.

She said some of the women who had been trained would be selected to become trainers to expose more women to the new basket weaving technology.