1. The Department has launched four annual interventions to support economic empowerment for women, youth, and persons with disabilities in agriculture, sanitary dignity, trade, and the green economy. These efforts are tracked through performance reports and participant feedback. Each intervention targets specific barriers and opportunities, contributing to inclusive economic growth. The four interventions exposed women owned and led enterprises to economic opportunities such as market access, information on financial and non-financial support, networking and exporting opportunities.
The Sanitary Dignity Programme for instance, focused on information regarding local production and supply chain integration of sanitary products to build entrepreneurship skills and raised awareness on sanitary dignity​. There is a team working on a cluster model to expand local production capacity, enhancing the long-term economic benefits. DWYPD assisted Lindiwe Sanitary Pads to secure seed capital from Industrial Development Cooperation (IDC) to purchase machinery, equipment and infrastructure to set up the manufacturing factory of sanitary pads.
The Department also assisted 22 young women to be trained in solar installation. Currently the DWYPD is collaborating with the Department of Science and Innovation (DSI) through its agency South African National Energy Development Institute (SANEDI), in collaboration with Ministry of Electricity, together with three provinces (Limpopo, North West and Free State) where the learners come from, to further upskill them to be work ready and those who want to initiate their own business are being linked with Development Finance Institutions such as NEF and NYDA, IDC etc. They will also be assisted with development of business plans and access to funding to partake in business.
The Women Economic Assembly (WECONA) is also activating the 40% set-asides for Women-Owned businesses through tracking progress of the implementation preferential procurement legislation, for instance in the automotive sector, 30 women were trained. Furthermore, the Women Energy Sector report was launched to unlock opportunities in the energy sector under WECONA. Minister has also tasked WECONA during a webinar held on 31 October 2024 to assemble a team of experts that will dissect Public Procurement and Gender Responsive Supply Chains to ensure that a minimum of 40% of Government procurement goes to women-owned and led businesses in terms of the Public Procurement Act.
The Women in Trade Intervention prepares women-owned businesses for domestic, reginal and international markets, leveraging trade agreements to increase reach, while the green economy initiative equips participants with skills in renewable energy, aligning with future-oriented industry needs.
2. (a) The department assesses the impact of these initiatives through participant feedback, quarterly reports, and outcome-based performance metrics. Expansion efforts, including the national scaling of projects like the Sanitary Dignity Programme’s clustered approach, which ensure that women, youth, and persons with disabilities across South Africa access these opportunities. This expansion reflects the department’s dedication to broadening economic empowerment to underserved regions and aligning with the government’s inclusive growth objectives.
(b) Success is tracked through participant feedback, quarterly performance evaluations, and specific outcomes, such as participant engagement levels and reported growth in business sustainability.
3). In the Agriculture intervention for instance, the department hold meetings with DALLRD where they present progress report on agriculture interventions to WYPD.
4). DALRRD provides an annual report to DWYPD where the report depicts the WYPD reached across all the provinces and where WYPD benefited from these empowerment programmes.