Cape Town - 750 women from across the Cape Flats have been honoured during a special graduation ceremony.
The Women Livelihood Graduation ceremony was held at the Muizenberg Civic Centre yesterday for women enrolled in the Whitaker Peace and Development Initiative (WPDI).
The initiative, founded in 2012 by actor and social activist Forest Whitaker, works with young women and men for the promotion of peace, reconciliation and social development within communities affected by conflict and violence. The WPDI operates in France, Gabon, Cameroon, Chad, Mexico, South Africa, South Sudan, Uganda and the US.
The 750 women graduated with a Basic Level Certificate in Business and Entrepreneurship programme, and 500 of them will also graduate with an Intermediate Certificate.
Forty-two of the Intermediate Certificate graduates will be awarded seed capital of $4 000 (about R70 000) to further support and develop their businesses.
The initiative was in conjunction with sponsors BNP Paribas and RCS, in association with L’Oreal.
A WPDI spokesperson said: “These women applied and were selected from a much longer list of applicants, bearing testimony to the need for more programmes such as these. Many of the women started the course as unemployed women. The course teaches skills for them to start and run their own businesses.”
Trainee representative Adelaide Moore said: “The programme has added real life benefits in the form of empowering me to run my own business and has helped me to become more confident in my own abilities and ideas.”