JAOF Female Staff Empowered on Economic and Life Skills

JAOF Female Staff Empowered on Economic and Life Skills

To commemorate the 39th edition of International Women’s Day (IWD) 2024, the J&A Oben Foundation (JAOF) organized a training to empower its female staff with economic and life skills. The training aimed at building their capacity for extra income streams through crafts and to teach them how to balance life as workers and women. This falls in line with this year’s IWD theme, “Invest in women, accelerate. The activities ran from the 6th to the 8th of March 2024 at the premises of the J&A Oben Foundation.

The activities brought together experts from different areas of training.

Training the women on healthy work-life balance, Dr. Belinda Assam, a pharmacist and entrepreneur, emphasized that women should be intentional about everything they do. “You must be intentional about setting boundaries between your professional life and personal life,” Dr. Assam said. She stressed the essence of time management by prioritizing tasks as a key element in maintaining a healthy work-life balance, among other points.

The women also received training on waste management from members of the African Wellbeing Academy, whereby they were trained on how to preserve and dispose of waste. “The woman, in most cases, is the primary generator of waste in every home, because of culinary activities. That is why we thought it necessary to train them on how to manage waste, especially in our current dispensation in Yaounde, where the problem of waste management is evident." Miss Malaika Doualla, Coordinator of the J&A Oben Foundation, said.

The JAOF female staff were also trained on how to produce hair bands, earrings, and bangles out of African fabric (Ankara) by students of the decorative and clothing trades at the JOAF Higher Institute of Science. This was aimed at empowering them with an economic skill through which they could generate extra income.

The activities culminated on the 8th of March in a grand closing event, which brought together the entire staff of the Foundation. During the closing ceremony, the role of women was highlighted in activities such as a spoken word on the “woman God created”; a satirical poem on why men need women; a sketch on “investing in a woman”; a quiz; and experiential advice from the President and Co-Founder of JAOF, Pr. Julius Oben. The event also witnessed the crowning of Miss and Mr. JAOF-IWD 2024.