The Focused Workshop (FW) intervention in the Choice Disability trial supports groups of young women to work together to set up and maintain enterprises to provide themselves with an income.

Once such an enterprise is underway, some groups of young women host a community meeting, with a feast and activities to introduce their enterprise to the community.

In a small village in Namibia, the FW group realised their community needed a butchery – the nearest one was many kilometres away. So they came up with the idea of starting a business to sell meat, then approached the village leaders and negotiated for a piece of land to set up their business. They were given a small patch in a very strategic location. They then made personal contributions to raise capital. CIET gave them a loan to help them to buy their first cow and loaned them a freezer to store their meat.

One year down the line, their business, now fully registered, was moving from strength to strength. They even opened a bank account. It has not been all smooth sailing for them. As any with other business, they have had to handle many different kinds of challenges, but they have focused on their goals and are determined to see their business and their lives a success.

In November 2011 some 200 people gathered under the hot sun to enjoy the feast and to celebrate the achievement of these hard working young women.

The young women gave a presentation, describing how they started and asking for further support from the community. They also performed a short play about an ordinary day at work in their enterprise, highlighting gender violence at home, and sexual harassment at the work place. During the feast, they took the opportunity to network with the councillors, elders and businessmen in the community. There is surely potential for this enterprise to grow, and these young women are a role model for other young women in their community, in Namibia and beyond!

Visit the Focused Workshop page to read more about the Focused Workshop intervention in the Choice Disability trial.

Visit the Focused Workshop in Namibia page to read about how the FW intervention has been implemented in Namibia.