KUKU INUA

When it comes to marginalised groups, we can spend hours describing what type of assistance widows in Arusha, Tanzania, would need. Both old and young widows are unaware of their rights, their children's rights and if we go deep into the villages where cultural practices are still very present and practiced because patriarchal systems, (the man being the provider and the woman the caretaker), this leaves women and children helpless with temporary support and without proper help from their communities, families and the government.

With that being said, widows are still pushing to earn income for their children and they need support, recognition and enough opportunities to learn structured entrepreneurial ways of providing for their families.

Kuku Inua is going to be a 7 week project (in Arusha) aimed to educate and empower widows on chicken farming as a sustainable source of income, with facilitators who have been successful in the chicken farming industry. The women will be educated on how to incubate, feed, medicate, package and market chickens, all while balancing the books, so they can learn about business financing by getting a loan and getting profit in return. In our research we’ve found that plenty of widows that we’ve come across are willing to learn and do business, but what they lack are financial capabilities for implementation.

Having lost direction, after losing their sole house provider and lacking knowledge on how to strategise business plans, raise funds or even having an open platform to express their voices and feelings after losing a loved one, a growing number of widows find themselves losing hope of getting anywhere in their lives after being pulled into inhumane, illegal, demeaning ways to source income such as sexual work, selling scraps(old metal or plastic), or selling low profit products like grilled corn, greens and vegetables. The research showed that a-lot of these women suffered from depression, stress and suicidal thoughts for not being able to provide for themselves or their children.

We believe in giving opportunities, a platform, a network of peers and organized education to the widows community and push them to articulate their thoughts on the changes, challenges and disposition in their community through counseling and support. The plan is set to mobilize widows, activists, and community developers to come together and spearhead this project so we can financially empower widows through education, start-up capital and guidance/ counseling to uplift and stabilize economically through the chicken industry.

Kuku Inua is geared for a long term goal (to commence in July 2022) of training with the objective of grooming the disadvantaged into proper business women through step by step facilitation for chicken farming.

The dream is of reaching at least 5 widows (bi-annually) to give an opportunity and platform for self empowerment, socially and economically(through entrepreneurial methods in chicken farming) in Tanzania.

We all at Youth In Mind appreciate any and all support that we receive from anyone through this amazing platform. As a start up NGO it has been hard to get recognition and therefore funding, but we have been successful in raising funds for our hip hop for mental health project and our menstrual hygiene management project and we believe the KUKU INUA project will also be a success for these widows.