ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Liz Squire is the Communications Advisor in USAID’s Office of HIV/AIDS in the Bureau for Global Health.

In the Lubombo region of Eswatini, a group of people under a shady tree waited and watched the road in anticipation of a truck that would soon deliver equipment for three young women to start their own small businesses in the community. 

The group included community leaders, the three young women entrepreneurs, their family members, and DREAMS program mentors and facilitators working with USAID Eswatini local partner, Cabrini Ministries.

Once the truck arrived, the group unloaded supplies needed for a beauty salon and baking business: a baking mixer, a stove with an oven, cake tins, sinks to wash hair, a hair dryer, a mirror, folding tables, chairs, towels, and other tools.

Hlobisile, 29, and a mother of three, received the tools needed to start a hair styling business and says she already has clients waiting for her services. 

Ncobile, also 29 and a mother of three, learned her baking skills from her own mother and looks forward to selling her baked goods door to door. She already has plans to expand her business venture. With the money she earns from the baking business, she plans to buy and raise chickens to sell their eggs.

This is just one of several deliveries that Cabrini Ministries will make this week to rural communities in Central Eswatini. Through the DREAMS program (funded by the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) and led by USAID), Cabrini Ministries provides young women with the business mentorship and equipment needed to start their own small businesses. The Determined, Resilient, Empowered, AIDS-Free, Mentored and Safe (DREAMS) Program is a youth-oriented, public-private partnership designed to reduce the transmission of HIV in 16 countries while protecting, empowering, and investing in adolescent girls and young women.

With youth unemployment at 58% in Eswatini, job opportunities for young women are scarce. The Eswatini National Skills Audit report revealed that high school graduates remain unemployed for more than ten years. Without a steady stream of income, young women in Eswatini are more at risk for engaging in transactional sex and transactional relationships for financial stability which can lead to gender-based violence, HIV, and unplanned pregnancies. 

USAID implements programs that empower young women to become financially independent and prevent HIV. USAID works with local partners like Cabrini Ministries to ensure that the tools and resources needed for financial independence and HIV prevention reach the young women who need it most. 

These are the individuals who make it happen.

Macetjeni Community leaders

Support from local community leaders is critical for the success of women-owned small businesses in Eswatini. If a business is successful, women will need to apply through local community leaders to expand their business by buying land.

“This will not only benefit the three young women here today, but this will also benefit the community at large. I hope that this type of assistance can reach other communities in Swaziland,” said a local community leader there that day.

Lomagugu Mamba, Home Visit Facilitator, Cabrini Ministries (USAID local partner)

Lomagugu is responsible for conducting home visits in the Tjedze community to help families stay healthy. “I like my job as a Home Visitor because I can help children and their families to take care of themselves.” Lomagugu says that when the families she works with struggle to provide food for themselves and their children, she helps them to start a backyard garden so that they can grow their own vegetables and encourages them to start their own small businesses selling their produce.

Gcinile Msibi, Business Mentor, Cabrini Ministries (USAID local partner)

Gcinile is responsible for helping young women in the Tjedze community to become financially independent. For women who express an interest in entrepreneurship, Gcinile provides them with the business mentorship needed to get started by helping them to conduct a market assessment for the area, create a business plan, and provide business management and skills training. “As a young woman entrepreneur, I am able to take what I learn and give that knowledge to the women I work with,” she says. Gcinile applies the lessons she’s learned as a business mentor to her own small business where she sells baked goods and cell phone minutes.

Temancele Mavuso, Life Mentor, Cabrini Ministries (USAID local partner)

Temancele meets regularly with DREAMS participants to discuss HIV prevention, gender-based violence, and strategies for financial empowerment. Temancele will also refer young women to health clinics in the area for services including HIV testing, HIV treatment, the HIV prevention medication PrEP, family planning and other clinical services.  

Adolescent girls and young women account for 74 percent of new HIV infections among all adolescents in sub-Saharan Africa and nearly 1,000 young women are infected with HIV every day. Financial independence reduces the likelihood of adolescent girls and young women relying on transactional sex, which spreads HIV among young women in Eswatini. USAID and its local partners create opportunities for adolescent girls and young women to rise to their potential and achieve financial independence.
 

 

Image
Ncobile receives the equipment needed to start her own small businesses through USAID support.
Ncobile receives the equipment needed to start her own small businesses through USAID support.
Cabrini Ministries
Image
DREAMS program mentors and facilitators are on hand to receive the equipment delivered by USAID local partner Cabrini Ministries.
DREAMS program mentors and facilitators are on hand to receive the equipment delivered by USAID local partner Cabrini Ministries.
USAID
Image
Nokukhanya receives the equipment she needs to start her own small business through USAID support. She is joined by one of the Chiefdom Leaders.
Nokukhanya receives the equipment she needs to start her own small business through USAID support. She is joined by one of the Chiefdom Leaders.
Cabrini Ministries
Image
Community leaders gather as young women entrepreneurs receive equipment for their small businesses.
Community leaders gather as young women entrepreneurs receive equipment for their small businesses.
USAID
Image
Lomagugu works with over 100 families in her community. “I enjoy knowing that I can help people living with HIV by encouraging them to take their medications.”
Lomagugu works with over 100 families in her community. “I enjoy knowing that I can help people living with HIV by encouraging them to take their medications.”
USAID
Image
Gcinile helps young women in her community to start and manage a business.
Gcinile helps young women in her community to start and manage a business.
Cabrini Ministries
Image
Temancele is responsible for conducting DREAMS sessions with young women in the Tjedze community.
Temancele is responsible for conducting DREAMS sessions with young women in the Tjedze community.
USAID