In her childhood, 40-year-old Zione Nyirenda used to watch women in her village in the northern region of Malawi joined forces to replace traditional thatched roofs with waterproof corrugated iron. Later, as an adult vegetable vendor and mother of six, this memory prompted her to form a women's group to buy farm produce in bulk from the farmers at negotiated prices that were previously too expensive to purchase individually. She and her friends pooled their money and hired a truck that took them directly to the farmers.

Since that time the group has shown what women can achieve with a little training and good organization. The success of the women's group called Tichezerane led Nyirenda to join an 18-member agricultural development cooperative set up by a of microfinancing company called Pride Malawi (PM) project in her township in Chilomoni in south Malawi. She is now respected as one of the key people involved in community development.

"When women come together, they are powerful. Because of our group, we have also been able to influence how our market is governed, so as to meet our female needs," she said.

Strength in numbers

Nyirenda said because of their organization they have been able to help their families send their kids to school and help pay rent when their husbands fail to do so.

"Women's empowerment benefits not only women themselves, but also their families and communities. We have seen that through our group we have been able to reduce malnutrition and mortality among both boys and girls as now our girls are obtaining greater access to primary and secondary education," she told ChinAfrica.

Fellow group member Zione Mayaya said that ever since the women banded together she has been able to boost her business as well as understand the dynamics of working in a group.

"Had it not been that we had a special day to celebrate women maybe our pleas would not have been taken seriously," she said to ChinAfrica, adding that the sense of unity had made her more conscious of the need to celebrate women.

Nyirenda said that women are dynamic organizers and participants in grassroots organizations, and are effective in promoting and sustaining local self-help initiatives. "We have also been told that there is a strong correlation between women's literacy and lower HIV/AIDS infection rates in our group."

When the group began, members were mostly illiterate, but they went on to encourage each other to attend adult literacy classes. Today many of them can read and write and calculate their business earnings.