The aspirations and hopes of 22 women of the Navakalama Women’s Club in Naqumu Village, Macuata to provide a better life for their families and community will soon be realised through money generated from a solar freezer handed over by the Minister for Rural and Maritime Development and Disaster Management, Inia Seruiratu, this week.
Funded under the Ministry of Rural and Maritime Development and Disaster Management’s Self-Help Programme (SHP), the Navakalama Solar Freezer Project is an Income Generating Project (IGP) envisaged to promote women participation in economic activities at Naqumu Village.
Navakalama Women’s Club leader, Ms Tupou Wasailau, said the club planned to extend their existing cooperative village store to help contribute to improving the lives of families within Naqumu Village.
“We are grateful to Government that the provision of solar freezer will help us achieve our goal. Although it is small, we are still thankful because we need to start small and build up. We will use this freezer to sell frozen foods and treats and with sales generated for the first two days alone indicate that we will earn good money from this freezer,” Ms Wasailau said.
“With our plan in sight for the construction of a bigger cooperative store, we strongly believe that money generated from this project will help us achieve that dream.”
Speaking during the handover of the project, Minister Seruiratu urged the villagers of Naqumu to have a business expansion plan in place and work towards achieving the targets they have set out in the plan. He said this would help bring about economic prosperity not only for the club, but the community as a whole.
“This is part of the economic empowerment programme under the Ministry of Rural and Maritime Development. There are a lot of potentials here along the coastal villages in Macuata and Naqumu Village being one. Their livelihood is very much dependent on the sea and marine resources, and this assistance will greatly enhance the livelihood and the economic empowerment of the women here in Naqumu Village,” Minister Seruiratu said.
Minister Seruiratu added that the Government was committed to ensuring that rural Fijians had equal access to services provided by Government.