Botswana basketry:weavers of happiness

A basketry project is quietly making inroads in empowering rural female heads of households to provide a future for themselves and their families. The master mind behind this project, Thithaku Kushonga runs training workshops for women in basket making at the headquarters of CARACAL-a non-profit organisation based in Kasane, Botswana's Chobe District. Many of the women are heads of households with no basic eduacation and a steady flow of income and CARACAL recognising the need to assist such women, developed a project to help provide opportunities for them to access sustainable natural resources and to market their products directly to the tourism industry. Initial funding for the project was obtained from the European Union and the Botswana Government, through the Non-State Actors' capacity Building programme.