Agriterra trained 14 strong willed female (future) leaders in the first ever ‘Female Leadership in Agricultural Cooperatives Masterclass’, held in Kenya. The group is composed of Zambian, Ugandese and Kenyan participants, representing organisations that are active in coffee, dairy, sunflower or credit and saving.
Main purpose of the masterclass is to strengthen the leadership skills of these women. These highly motivated cooperative leaders return full of energy and ambitions back to their respective cooperatives, better equipped to take up their leadership roles and make a change contributing to closing the gender gap in agricultural cooperatives.
Anedy Nyirendra Soko, 44 years old, was born in the Ndola district of Zambia. Her parents divorced when she was still young and she grew up partly with her father and partly with her grandparents. She completed primary school but had to stop secondary education half-way due to a lack of resources. She married and got three children: 1 boy and 2 girls. When her husband died in 1998, she went back to her father where she stayed for 4 years.
Anedy Nyirendra joined the Chipata District Women Association, a women group in her village. Being one of the few that went to secondary school, she was elected as group secretary. In 2000, she was elected as vice chairperson, making her the youngest member of the board. In 2001, she was elected as district board treasurer of the Women Association. This allowed her to participate in several capacity building trainings such as business management, basic accounting and record keeping. The organisation saw her potential and sent her as their representative to various meetings, forums and external activities. In 2002, she remarried and her husband strongly encouraged her to go back to school, which she did in 2006. In 2010, she became the coordinator of the Association.
She has developed her leadership over the years and applies this at various levels. She runs her family farm and has improved a lot in this. She practises ‘sustainable agriculture’. Through the use of better inputs and farming techniques she was able to multiply the yields by almost 4. She also keeps livestock (poultry and pigs) for income and meat. All her children are going to college now, pursuing higher education.
“Through the use of better inputs and farming techniques I was able to multiply the yields by almost four.”
Anedy Nyirendra is a role model in her organisation and stimulates women to stand up for their rights. The women groups are now benefiting from Fertiliser Support Programmes, which was not allowed before. Members have expanded their farming production through extension services supplied by various organisations, including Agriterra. Anedy seeks contact with external organisations to get access to resources to further develop the members. She writes proposals and business plans. With one of them she gained access to funds to set up a sunflower oil processing facility.
After the Agriterra Female leadership training Anedy coordinated the rollout of sensitisation and motivation trainings in all the catchment areas, building the capacity of the leaders of 52 women groups. Now, the women are leaders in community development committees such as the Camp Agriculture Committee, Parent Teachers Associations, DDCC and Paralegal chiefdom committees. Realising that it would help CDWA to move forward, the organisation also included more young leaders and a man in the board.
The CDWA membership is growing and the professionalism of the organisation is increasing, thanks to Anedy’s improved leadership skills. She was invited to the Masterclass female leadership in Nairobi. Boarding a plane for the first time was an unforgettable experience and the exchange with 13 other female leaders has given her a lot of encouragement and energy to continue her role as coordinator but also as an example to others.