Female empowerment

As women in rural malawian families are usually responsible to cook for their family members, they are also the ones who predominantly collect firewood, as well as to pump and carry water. 
Women are therefore the ones whose training will have the biggest impact on how they perform these practices for example: If a tree is cut off at about 1m height above ground it will coppice, if however the roots are dug out to get more firewood, then a close to irreversible damage will incur, so training is very important. 
By training and hiring mostly women for all steps required to restore a landscape we give them the basic tools and education to bring sustainable change to their landscape - as well as changing the basic income structures as their work often becomes the main source of income for the family.

At Wells for Zoë we have women in leadership positions managing several project implementations from the Secondary Girl Student Project, and the Preschool Project where caretakers are being educated. They also visit reforestation and restoration projects and influence our hiring policy of local workers involved in the projects. 

Generally speaking, being able to hire local women and pay them is a majorly important factor to enable female empowerment. 

Female employees and workers are grateful and report that the payment and education they receive, changes their lives to the better as they can pay schoolfees for their children and provide a richer diet for themselves and their family or start small scale businesses with the income earned.