Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency (TİKA) provided starter kit support to be used in tailoring and soap making for 78 women members of Women For Change in South Sudan.
During the first phase of the two-phase project, women from Women For Change received four months of training from April to July in tailoring and soap making with support from TİKA. In the second phase of the project, women who successfully graduated from the training were given certificates and were provided equipment support to be used in their professions.
As a part of the support, 43 women who were successful in tailoring training were given sewing machines, 86 rolls of kitenge fabric unique to Africa, shears, needles and threads, machine oil, measuring tapes, rulers, and various materials to be used in soap making. The project is aimed at women contributing to the maintenance of their families through the clothes and soaps they produce and sell.
President of Women For Change, Anna Tazita Samuel, the Central Equatoria State Minister of Gender, Child, and Social Welfare, Bullen Amos Soro, Commercial Counsellor of Türkiye, Uğur Uzunay, Ambassador of Türkiye to Sudan, Erdem Mutaf, and TİKA’s Coordinator in Juba, Cafer T. Beşli attended the graduation and equipment delivery ceremony.
In her speech, Mary Nyoka, a graduate representative trained in tailoring, thanked TİKA for giving her the chance to be trained and stated that they were capable of tailoring and making soaps at the end of the training they started from scratch with support from TİKA and Women For Change.
Christine Mario, who was trained in soap making and qualified for graduation, indicated that she believes they produce the best liquid soap in the city and that they faced difficulties in making solid soaps and they need to work more on that. Mario continued by saying that they wish to establish a business center together with other women after the training and to change the lives of both themselves and their families by working here.
President of Women For Change, Anna Tazita Samuel started her speech by thanking TİKA and Türkiye for supporting the foundation and member women. Stating that they believe educating women means educating the nation, Samuel said, “Today we are witnessing the graduation of 43 women in tailoring and 35 women in soap production. I would like to express my gratitude to TİKA for supporting the process from the start to the graduation, especially during the training process. If it wasn't for the support of TİKA, we wouldn't have made it here, today is a special day, and these women here sweated over to get to this day. All of this is thanks to TİKA and the Turkish people. I would like to conclude my words with the motto of Women For Change: Together We Can Succeed!”
Afterwards, TİKA’s Coordinator in Juba, Cafer T. Beşli said that this project is not the first project they conducted with Women For Change, that the first phase of the project was in April, and that TİKA provided the necessary equipment to train women. Indicating that the women were trained for 4 months, Beşli emphasized that the women who are present today in the second phase of the project are women who successfully completed the training. Beşli noted that the second part of the project aims to help women who successfully completed the training to begin working by providing them starter kits and said that from now on much work falls on women who can produce and have the equipment, that they can contribute to the maintenance of their families and add value by putting the training into practice through the starter kits. Beşli concluded by stating that this project is not the first project for women in South Sudan and it will not be the last and that they will continue to support the women and children living under the most difficult conditions in the country in the next years.
Speaking at the opening ceremony, the Central Equatoria State Minister of Gender, Child, and Social Welfare, Bullen Amos Soro said, “You are now able to produce your own clothes through this training. As one of the graduated women stated in her speech, it is time to live on the products you have made. Within this framework, we expect TİKA’s support for agricultural training.” Soro stated indicated that they expect women who graduated from the program and received starter kits to educate other women around them in these fields and to help them acquire a profession as well. Expressing that they are pleased with the work done by Türkiye and TİKA in South Sudan, Soro said, “We are constantly invited to the activities done by Türkiye and we are grateful, we hope that the invitations will continue to arrive.”
In his speech, Ambassador of Türkiye to Sudan, Dear Erdem Mutaf stated that as Türkiye, they have been conducting several activities in many different regions of South Sudan through three different institutions, most recently helping the Ruweng region in this context. Reminding that he also attended the opening ceremony of the training phase of the project conducted by TİKA, Ambassador Mutaf said, “I am glad to be here today with the women who completed their training and received their starter kits.” Ambassador Mutaf noted that the women who are presented at the opening are entrepreneurs, that entrepreneurship means the business world, and that he expects these women to maintain themselves and the society they live in through the business they will start. Ambassador Mutaf concluded his speech by saying, “This has been a busy week in terms of Türkiye's support for South Sudan. We came together again last Monday for the support from TİKA to Divine Mercy Action Orphanage through medicines and the refrigerator for the preservation of those medicines. I hope to be with you next year, in line with similar projects.”
Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency (TIKA).
