The Graça Machel Trust team recently visited Mthatha, Eastern Cape, South Africa, to host a two-day capacity-building workshop for women-owned small, medium and micro enterprises (SMMEs). The workshop provided the space for an enhanced understanding of land ownership and essential skills in financial literacy and business planning.
Women engaging during the dialogue
Since 2021, the Trust has offered technical support to the Fair for All project, which focuses on establishing equitable and beneficial value chains, particularly for women in the agricultural sector. Implemented in collaboration with the Oxfam South Africa Consortium and the National African Federated Chamber of Commerce (NAFCOC), the project supports the women who constitute 60% of Africa’s economically active population in agriculture.
The workshop provided a platform for women in agribusiness, from small to micro-sized enterprises, to address the challenge of land access and explore new opportunities. Notably, women leaders from Pondoland pledged to assist the women business owners  to secure land, demonstrating a spirit of community and support. Nontombaxolo Eddie from the Eladini Municipality also shared valuable insights into the cotton industry, opening up potential avenues for growth for women farmers.
Financial literacy emerged as an equally important theme. The workshop, conducted in collaboration with the National Financial Literacy Association (NFLA), delivered essential training on budgeting, saving, and investing, which are key skills to business success.
The Trust’s Director of Programmes, Shiphra Chisha, acknowledged the significance of the Eastern Cape as a contributor to the agro-industry and as an exporter. However, she underscored that thereâs still a lack of access to land, as the majority of female farmers still cultivate on small plots. She added that “our Gender Analysis report revealed a lack of reliable markets for smallholders and limited land ownership, especially for women.”
Shiphra Chisha speaking during the Capacity Building Workshop
Ms Chisha also emphasised the importance of women farmers scaling their businesses, using land as a competitive advantage, and addressing food security. She highlighted the workshop’s collaborative nature, conducted in partnership with NAFCOC, as a significant step towards these goals. By harnessing the potential of available land, she believes poverty can be reduced, market access increased, and businesses scaled, leading to a thriving agro-industry.
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.