Vocational education for women
14.09.2020
Fatma is proud of her vegetable growing. She is almost equally proud of her recent pilgrimage to Mecca, which she announces on a banner outside her house in the West Bank. She has a husband, children, and, most of all, a roof that can be used for modern plant farming as soil in Palestine is a rare commodity. That is why she grows lettuce on the rooftop.
She does not need much water, another equally scarce resource here. Thanks to a Polish Aid project, Fatma learnt to use the hydroponic method where every drop counts. Little water, a proper fertiliser, and simple containers. A simple and cheap solution, provided that you are taught how to use it.
Fatma belongs to one of Palestinian cooperatives that are supported by Poland. The cooperatives are not only provided with technology and tools, but receive assistance in organising their work and selling agricultural produce and preserves. For many women, this is an opportunity to boost their home budgets in the context of high unemployment. It also gives women an invaluable sense of independence. So it is not surprising that the number of candidates often exceeds the capacity of aid programmes.
In the neighbouring Jordan, thousands of women, many of them single mothers, try to build new lives after fleeing Syria. In Jordan’s capital Amman, widows with children live in a shelter financed by an altruist from the Persian Gulf. Subha, who takes care of her comatose husband, also lives there. It would seem that their situation is hopeless, particularly taking into account that the families housed in the shelter come from cities where men traditionally provided for their wives and children and supported their parents and distant relatives who were in need.
Such places prove that vocational training is very important for both refugees living in camps and those who found shelter in cities. One of the programmes gave Subha an opportunity to live with dignity and at the same time make her dreams come true. A non-governmental organisation provided her with a sewing machine and enrolled her on a training course. She says that she has a knack for needlework and likes sewing, which helped her perfectly master the device in just a month. Now she mainly makes bed linen. Thanks to the money she earns with her new skills, she can support her family, slowly rebuild a normal life and become more and more independent from humanitarian assistance. Helping women who rebuild their lives to find a job and profession makes a difference in many places.
The Polish Embassy in India co-financed a project to teach female refugees from Afghanistan and Myanmar the principles of small computer printing and the work of a beauty therapist. On every continent and in every country, from India to Lebanon and from Ukraine to Tanzania, such projects have an almost therapeutic value, helping women cope with the sense of helplessness and overcome apathy and the feeling of hopelessness.
Education, including vocational courses, brings results not only in conflict zones. In many places in Africa women learn the basics of economics, professional childcare, cooking or sewing. In Senegal or Tanzania, where Polish Aid supports educational projects, such skills, confirmed by a certificate, are a ticket to a better job and greater independence. They help many women lift themselves out of poverty and stay at home instead of suffering exile in their countries or even migrating to Europe.
Thanks to the training courses, women also discover that they can be successful in jobs traditionally considered as male preserves. Susan Chengecha Waymune heads a watchtower in Kiambu in Kenya and is in charge of the local fire brigade. Women like her participate in courses supported by Polish Aid, and then put out fires, rescue victims of car accidents and pull people out of the rubble. Kenyan women, proud of their work, prove that a well-trained and well-equipped firefighter is not only useful for the local community, but also shows how to succeed in life.
Certificates of vocational courses that are supported or funded by Polish Aid open a gate to a better, sometimes simply a normal life. In 2018, Poland earmarked more than PLN 335 million for educational projects, and a year later this sum was raised to PLN 514 million. This means that 38%, and next year 60% of funds were allocated to education which is critical to the development of countries that struggle with the consequences of conflicts or poverty. Some of these funds were allocated directly to vocational training.
By Jarosław Kociszewski
