Sixty women and youths in the province of Cakaudrove will be trained to improve their entrepreneurial skills by the Soqosoqo Vakamarama iTaukei Cakaudrove.
Member Sereana Kubuabola revealed this while receiving the economic recovery grant of $US22,740 ($F47,046) by the US Embassy in Fiji yesterday.
She said the grant would help them conduct training in the villages of the Cakaudrove Province to help women and youths upskill their entrepreneurial skills and knowledge.
“We will develop women and youth’s entrepreneurial skills.
“For them to be able to run a business, they need to know what it is that they want to market, so we are going to encourage the teaching and development of how to make things, whether it’s a craft or farming,” she said.
“We hope that this money will allow them particularly to run their businesses in the village.”
She said they would also help find markets overseas for the products produced such as masi, tapa and mats.
Women in the villages, Ms Kubuabola said, were usually left behind and the skills acquired through the training would help them earn for themselves and their families.
Another recipient, Fiji Beekeepers association president Nilesh Kumar said they would be conducting training for people in the area of beekeeping around Fiji with the grant of more than $US36,000 ($F74,480) provided.
“Since the pandemic has affected the farmers and there are people who had job losses, most are resorting to the agriculture sector and there are a lot of people who are also coming in beekeeping.
“We will be using this money to train those people before they invest in beekeeping,” Mr Kumar said.
A total of $258,615 in funding was announced for four beneficiaries of the US Embassy’s economic recovery grants program.
Charge d’ Affaires Elise Tokumasu de Silva said the US Embassy was proud to announce the recipient of the economic recovery grants for the second consecutive year.
“These civil society organisations focused on developing innovative solutions for mitigating the economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. We are grateful for their work and hope that the public benefits from their efforts,” she said.
The embassy awarded grants to the four civil society organisations, which included the Tasty Kitchen collective, Langfonaua Fafine A’ Tonga, Soqosoqo Vakamarama i-Taukei Cakaudrove and the Fiji Beekeeping Association.
