TİKA Supports Female Entrepreneurs in South Sudan

Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency (TİKA) supported the South Sudan Women Entrepreneurs Association in building capacity.

As part of the project, the association was provided with the equipment and materials it needed such as pottery-making machines, sewing machines, shoe-making machines, bead-stringing machines, and embroidery machines.

Thanks to the machinery and materials provided by TİKA; illiterate, divorced, and disadvantaged women with children will be able to generate income by selling the products they produce, such as pottery, dresses, shoes, handicrafts, and ornaments, at marketplaces, fairs, and charity fairs. Furthermore, the income they generate will be used to purchase new raw materials, ensuring the continuity of production.

In her speech at the opening ceremony of the project, Finella Iams, President of the South Sudan Women Entrepreneurs Association, thanked TİKA for supporting women. Iams noted that most of the beneficiaries of the project are divorced and single mothers who work with their hands and make pottery, embroidery, and ornaments to sustain their families, cover the medical expenses of their children, send their children to school, and ensure food security. She said that thanks to TİKA’s support, these women would now be able to use the machines to produce the products that they had previously produced by hand.

In her speech at the ceremony, Dr. Elizabeth Joseph Shadar, Director for Gender and Child Welfare at the Office of the Vice President of the Republic of South Sudan, thanked TİKA for the project, stating that the priority given to the education of boys due to the patriarchal social structure should be changed, that such changes would benefit the entire society, and that projects for women’s empowerment boost women’s self-confidence and ensure their economic independence.

Erdem Mutaf, the Republic of Turkey’s Ambassador to Juba, delivered a speech as well and noted that the Turkish mission prioritized the support provided for women and children, that TİKA and the Turkish Red Crescent have implemented many projects in the country in a short time, that these projects provided maximum benefit to the beneficiaries, that Turkish Maarif Foundation would soon start operating in the field of education in the country, and that the people of Turkey valued women’s economic initiatives.