IRD has been implementing the
Women First program since 2005 in
an effort to empower women through
a combination of small business development and focused peer education on health and HIV/AIDS.
The Women First program provides business and entrepreneurial training and creates a means for sustainable income generation and financial independence for women.

Program Objectives
- Improve the economic status of women through small business
skills training;
- the provision of rotational in-kind credit and the establishment of a sustainable supply chain of
marketable products; and
- Strengthen the knowledge of
women in regards to basic health
care and HIV/AIDS prevention, including skills to discuss
sexual and reproductive health issues with their children.

Improving the Economy
Through the Women First program,
IRD creates connections between the private sector and women’s groups in the communities it serves. In the Zambezia province, IRD has established product supply chains between provincial distributors of companies like Unilever, Africom, 777 and CIM and the women groups in Zambezia Province.

Through this relationship the sales network of the private sector expanded from the provincial capital of Quelimane to cover rural areas of the province. IRD has trained members of the groups on small entrepreneurial skills and provided them with start-up baskets of products on a rotational credit basis. IRD also established a system of prizes to stimulate growth of sales. Currently, the 200 participating women have achieved a monthly sales volume of more than $30,000.

Markets in the rural areas of Zambezia are usually located long distances from warehouses in the provincial capital; local traders in these markets take advantage of limited or non-existent competition in order to maximize their profits.

As a result, the majority of the households in rural Zambezia face inflated prices for products essential to daily life. The establishment of the Women First network provides these basic products — such as soap, detergent, oil, pasta, sugar, matches and candles — at reduced prices to benefit families in the target districts. The products are on average provided at prices which are 20 percent lower than the same products offered in the local markets.

Women support groups and peer education groups are used as a platform for the majority of nutrition, health and HIV activities in Mozambique. Some examples are mother’s groups providing peer education on nutrition, women’s groups providing peer education on HIV prevention and support groups at Prevention of Mother to Child Transmission centers.

Empowering Women
Increased knowledge and support from peers are highly valued by rural women in Mozambique, even as income generation continues to be the major concern in a woman’s daily life: “During the peer education sessions we learn about ways we can improve our health and the health of our children; we also touch upon social issues and gender inequalities in our communities. But when I don’t have food for dinner at home, I cannot spend time with the peer group.”

The Women First program takes a holistic approach to addressing these concerns by integrating gender-focused HIV/AIDS activities with the economic and social development of women. Women participating in the program have disposable income to improve food security, access to health care services and access to education. In addition, women who have their own incomes are economically independent from men and able to negotiate for healthy relationships with their partners.

Promoting Healthy Behavior
The work performed by IRD monitors and program officers is guided by manuals developed through participatory methodologies and based on the needs of the women in the communities served.

The curriculum on health and HIV covers the following topics:
- An understanding of good health, and how the body
functions to keep itself healthy;
- Basic health and hygiene;
- Nutrition for immune system enhancement;
- Prevention and identification of symptoms for
common illnesses such as malaria, TB, diarrheal
diseases and sexually transmitted infections;
- Sexual and reproductive health;
- HIV/AIDS and opportunistic infections;
- The importance of getting an HIV test;
- HIV prevention discussions on Abstinence, Be-faithful
and Condom Use; and
- Discussions on a range of social issues about gender
and HIV/AIDS, including sexual coercion and violence,
cross-generational and transactional sex, and stigma and
discrimination.

The entrepreneurial curriculum covers training on the rotational
in-kind credit, as well as the basics of operating a small
business such as market dynamics, calculating profit margins
and bookkeeping.

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