Days for Girls Enterprise

 

Days for Girls Enterprise / Kanyenyeva Wala

In October 2018, Days for Girls International approved the licensing of a Days for Girls Enterprise to be located within Kanyenyeva, Malawi. Since that time, this enterprise has been operated as a program under the umbrella of the Malawi Orphan Care Project and Kanyenyeva Ministries. DFG enterprises sew and distribute health education and sanitary kits to menstruating women and girls.

The Days for Girls (DFG) enterprise was named Kanyenyeva Wala (Kanyenyeva Shines) and provides the women of Kanyenyeva with a viable sustainable small business to supply their own needs and provide an income for themselves while helping female students remain in school.

DFG kits are truly life-changing for the school aged girls who receive them. “Days for Girls” literally refers to “School Days for Girls”. Currently, girls who menstruate without access to sanitary supplies are forced to skip school. They subsequently fall behind in their studies and are often forced to drop out of school and then into a forced early marriage.

Six women were chosen to attend the Days for Girls Leadership Launchpad that was held in Salima, Malawi in 2019. These women spent two weeks learning to sew the DFG kit components as well as learning how to market and distribute DFG kits within their surrounding region.

Kanyenyeva Wala has grown into one of the outstanding DFG enterprises in Africa and is housed within a new Skills Center building that was constructed using funds that were raised through the cooperative efforts of MOCP contributors. The enterprise has established a working relationship with DFG South Africa and has also received grant funding through a foundation of the First Lady of Malawi. Recently, an industrial overlocking serger sewing machine was purchased and is being put to use making professional style kit components.

The COVID pandemic is also present in Malawi. Kanyenyeva Wala was able to sew and provide over 700 cloth face masks for both adults and children which were distributed to the volunteer women and registered children within the Kanyenyeva Project.

Future funding donations will be used to provide water and solar power for the Skills Center.