Happy Rwechungura
One of the suggestions that the United Nations made on what farmers and agribusinesses can do to help achieve food security was that âfarmers and smallholders should promote gender equality and the empowerment of women, indigenous peoples and youth, because Zero Hunger can only succeed in a society that is fair and equal for all.â
With this in mind, the Graça Machel Trust is running a series of stories that illustrate the various roles men, women and the youth can play to address the challenge of food security. We also draw our attention to what the government needs to do to complement these efforts by investing more in nutrition.
In this piece, we celebrating Tanzanian Happy Rwechungura, a fish farmer. Below is her story.
Happy Rwechungura
Fish farming is very important and a good source of protein. It is also more cost efficient compared to livestock farming. Happy Rwechungura is a fish farmer who is contributing towards ending Hunger by implementing effective conservation methods in fish farming at the same time promoting equality and making her voice heard by participating in different programmes. She sees herself as an entrepreneur with a vision of conquering the African fish farming market.
For 20 years, Happy was in a business that was not making profit until she decided to diversify into something totally different after she embarked on the Graca Machel Trust entrepreneurship development Women Creating Wealth Programme. Not having capital to invest in the new business was not going to stop her from achieving her dream. She had underutilized family land that had a pond.
Happy does not believe that a business needs a lot of capital to start off, she believes all that is needed is presence, a strategy and time to grow. Despite the lack of proper information on fish farming industries, she used traditional methods and defeated all odds and began her fishing project on the land. Happy raised funds for 200 catfish to start with. It was good to start because now she has two big ponds which accommodate 10,000 catfish and small pond which accommodates 2000 tilapia.
For Happy, the best advice she was ever given that has stuck with her from the Women Creating Wealth programme is âyou have to own the business you are in, make it part of you, make sure you have all important information before you enter, lack of information in business will kill it,â she said.
Happy is one of the beneficiaries of the Graça Machel Trust Women Creating Wealth programme which assists entrepreneurs to grow their businesses. It is refreshing to see how entrepreneurs like Happy are contributing to their countryâs food security goals through establishing businesses that foster nutritious food for their communities.
The Trust is also currently running a campaign that is encouraging governments to increase their investment in nutrition by three percent over the next three years. Zero Hunger is possible if we all play our part. Learn more about our nutrition programmes here.Â
The Trust supports and mobilises civil society networks on issues of ending child marriage, ending violence against children, ending female genital mutilation and promoting childrenâs rights, to carry out advocacy and action across Africa. Special focus is placed on Malawi, Mozambique, Tanzania and Zambia where child marriage continues to be a problem largely driven by poverty, gender inequality, harmful traditional practices, conflict, low levels of literacy, limited opportunities for girls and weak or non-existent protective and preventive legal frameworks.
Education is a fundamental right for all children, which is also a vehicle for social, economic and political transformation in communities, countries and the African continent at large. Recent studies indicate a lack of progress in some of the critical commitments aimed at improving education quality, access, retention and achievement, particularly for girls. In most African countries, girls may face barriers to learning, especially when they reach post-primary levels of education. By implementing multi-dimensional approaches to education which includes core education, personal development, life skills and economic competencies, the Trust partners with funding partners, governments, civil societies and the private sector to improve education access.
The Nutrition and Reproductive, Maternal, New-born, Child and Adolescent Health and Nutrition, (RMNCAH+N) of the Childrenâs Rights and Development Programme aims at promoting the Global Strategy for women, children and adolescentsâ health within the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) agenda. The strategy emphasises on the importance of effective country leadership as a common factor across countries making progress in improving the health of women, children and adolescents.
Through its Early Childhood Development (ECD) plan, The Trust will seek to put into action the new science and evidence Report that was presented by Lancet Series on Good and early development – the right of every child. This will be achieved by mobilising like-minded partners to contribute in the new science and evidence to reach all young children with ECD. The Trustâs goal is to be a catalyst for doing things differently, in particular, to rid fragmentation and lack of coordination across ECD sectors. In response to evidence showing the importance of political will in turning the tide against the current poor access and quality of ECD. Even before conception, starting with a motherâs health and social economic conditions, the early years of a childâs life form a fundamental foundation that determines whether a child will survive and thrive optimally.