Key Points

• As per the data published by the Department of Statistics Malaysia, Sarawak ranks as one of the poorest states in Malaysia.
• The number of households in the B40 category in Sarawak had also increased because of the Covid-19 pandemic.
• This campaign will train the women on capacity building and basic entrepreneurship in order to empower them in creating their own branded local products and to gain extra stable income.
• This campaign aims to prevent at least 1 ton food surplus going to waste across Sarawak.
• Donations to this campaign will aid in uplifting B40 women in the community with a special focus on single mothers and reducing edible surplus waste through food processing.

Campaign Story

Empowering someone means helping them have control over their life to participate in society fully and meaningfully. Sarawakian women living in poverty often lack the resources to lead empowered lives. As per the data published by the Department of Statistics Malaysia, Sarawak ranks as one of the poorest states in Malaysia. The number of households in the B40 category in Sarawak had also increased because of the Covid-19 pandemic.

This campaign aims to empower B40 Muslim communities (poor Malaysian families) focusing on local women with a special priority for single mothers who are skilled at making local traditional delicacies (i.e. kerepek, karipap, apam balik). 

This unique campaign is a two-fold campaign where on one hand the focus is on up-skilling and enhancing the skillset of the women and on the other hand the focus is on preventing food wastage. How does this work?

These female business owners usually sell their delicacies from outside their homes, at roadside stalls and bazaars, and even fulfilling house to house orders for catering. This campaign aims to enhance their skillsets in food processing to further increase their production efficiency and process. They will be guided in creating their own branded local products via training in product packaging, branding and accounting. With this, there is immense promise and potential for project upscaling to assist these small female entrepreneurs and their businesses to achieve Halal certification. This would help them to break away from the chains of chronic poverty and become independent to sustain their families. 

WormingUp will provide training on banana chips making standard manuals and procedures and basic entrepreneurship. They will facilitate and monitor the women on producing their own products along with helping in packaging and branding, together with the chip production from the other villages, to sell to the markets as local community products.

Worming Up will match these female entrepreneurs to work as affiliates with the local community non-government organization (NGO) such as Jawatankuasa Kemajuan dan Keselamatan Kampung (JKKK), Kawasan Rukun Tetangga (KRT), Persatuan Ibu Tunggal to further implement and support the local women and their businesses. 

 

Taking Care of The Environment

The second stage of this campaign is for the overall betterment of the community. Large amounts of fresh produce surplus from the farms end up going to waste for various different reasons. Even though this food produce might have been discarded because of changes in colour etc, it is still edible. Instead of wasting the surplus resources which can lead to having a detrimental impact on the local environment, this surplus produce can be processed by the women to make into shelf-stable products like banana chips.

The women will be given a special focus on making banana chips during their up-skilling classes. Their progress will be continuously monitored and guided by the relevant teams on the ground.

Many of the single mothers in this campaign have to support their families that are completely dependent on them. Many of them have to completely bear the financial brunt of the family expenses along with taking care of their children. 
 

Donations to this campaign will aid in uplifting B40 women in the community with a special focus on single mothers and reducing edible surplus waste through food processing. 

These single mothers and other female entrepreneurs are a living example of the hadith of the Prophet ﷺ regarding those who try to work to earn a Halal and respectable income instead of begging others. At GlobalSadaqah our mission is to empower such people so that they go from becoming beneficiaries to benefactors themselves. This is the core of our mission to Circulate Good.

Even the smallest of donations count. The donations from this campaign not only help a single mother set up a decent business but will also help bring smiles and mental peace to a needy family. 

The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: 'It is better for one among you to bring a load of firewood on his back and give charity out of it (and satisfy his own need) and be independent of people, than that he should beg from people, whether they give him anything or refuse him. Verily the upper hand is better than the lower hand, and begin (charity) with your dependents. [Muslim]