My name is Sarah Likoto and I am a 21 year old from Mabvuku/Tafara.I am currently a second year social work student at the university of Zimbabwe. I would like to applaud this training as it is one of the best trainings I have participated in throughout my life and I’m certainly trying hard to put all the concepts i leant into practice. As a result of this empowerment training I have become more analytical, optimistic, ambitious and organized. The program has shaped my career goals as a social work student in that it has taught me that self awareness is the root of leadership. So since leadership is the center of social work, i have been equiped with skills to be more self aware which helps me to self lead and lead others hence a competent social worker.
From the empowerment program i am inspired to take up the space nomatter what. As I was growing up as a girl child i was always afraid to stand up for what I wanted because of the stereotypes that were attributed to the girl child. After the Lemhs program i have become more confident and my eyes have been opened for further learning and improvement for the betterment of my life. Above all i now believe in myself and my potentialities. With the financial literacy skills that i acquired during the training, I was able to improve my baby store in Mabvuku which sells clothing, accessories and toys for children. Right now i can feel that i have a clear vision of what i really want. I have improved in my budget planning, my consumption habits are now in order since i nolonger spend my money unnecessarily and being taught about different types of saving helped me to find a better way to save and secure my money.I have also been able to advertise my business online because of the ICT skills that i acquired during the training. There are still gaps in my business but I’m thriving and i am seeing the benefits of the financial literacy skills that we were taught during the training. Therefore, the program has definitely become an investment in my future since it equiped me with the important skills i need to become a successful entrepreneur in my area of investment .
From all the thematic areas in the Lemhs program which includes SRHR, advocacy and activism, economic empowerment, climate change, ICT among others my passion lies in economic empowerment.I feel it promotes women’s ability to achieve their rights and well being while reducing household poverty, increasing economic-growth and productivity. So on the second stage of the program(Youth Engaging with local leaders) i am going to go into my own community, gather a group of 20 in which 80 percent would be female and i am going to use social media to reach out to a larger number also. It is going to be my duty to educate them on different areas of economic empowerment that i learnt during the 10 day bootcamp training that is gender equality ( women participation in the labour force, women contributing to the economic growth also), financial literacy skills, entrepreneurship, creation of decent work for women and strategies to grow our own businesses . We are going to point out problems we are facing in trying to become economically independent and the solutions of what we think is right for women to participate in the economic arena. We are going to then engage with the local leaders to get legal permissions to advocate for our economic rights. We are going to present our issues and our solutions to the leaders so that they get to know what we need as young women because without financial independence, it is more difficult to escape poverty, we can’t be getting married inorder to escape poverty as young women.
As a trained, skilled and empowered Alumni of the LEMHS programme, in the next 10 years i see myself as an economic activist fighting confidently for equality in all economic sectors and advocating for meaningful economic growth strategies. And of course i see myself as a flourishing business women as it is my wish to invest in commercial properties in real estates. Lastly i see myself as a leader the world wants, respects and understands.