Women Take Control and Show off Their Skills, As They Should!

Wednesday 9th of March 2022

Baa Kihaadhoo celebrated International Women's day in a very unique way. While most places had activities for their women or gifts and pampering, this island marked the important occasion in the way the founders of the day would've wanted. The women from Baa Kihaadhoo and Women’s Development Committees and council members from Dharavandhoo, Dhonfanu, Kamadhoo, Kudarikilu, and Kendhoo, took over the management and operations of the island's Eco Centro.

This meant handing them all the responsibility and allowing them to work together for a brighter future, very in line with this year's theme of 'gender equality towards a sustainable future.'

This was organized by Kihadhoo’s26 Zero Waste Champions, which aims to always provide opportunities for women to learn about household segregation, effective waste management as well as help women during their first steps in their professional waste management career.

A big thank you has to be said to Soneva Namoona for their support when the Island's Eco Centro built a well-organized and well-equipped space to process waste. Almost industrial-grade compactors and mobile glass crushers have assisted in making the waste more manageable, as well as helped them reduce waste up to ten-fold.

The 26 Zero Waste Champions of Kihaadhoo organized  various events engaging the community and acted as a conduit between the community and the Island’s council, with the goal of creating awareness towards more sustainable waste management practices., They were trained by Soneva Namoona.

“I learned a lot while working at the Eco Centro today. Today we proved that anyone can do this kind of work. Opportunities like this are important on a day like International Women’s Day to inspire young women to follow their passions whatever that may be,” saidRatheeba Moosa, one of the participants.

“It gives us great pleasure to see the Zero Waste Champions of Kihaadhootaking such initiatives on the island. There may be just 26 champions now, but they are inspiring the whole island to be full of Zero Waste Champions. What we are seeing here is a change in mindset around waste at a community level. We hope to see such change at the national level.” said Katarzyna Maria Izydorczyk (Kash), Director of Soneva Namoona Operations and Community Engagement.