DWYPD and HEINEKEN Strengthen Women’s Economic Agenda
- BY MODERN OPULENT GAZETTE
- 7 hours ago
- 2 min read
The Department of Women, Youth and Persons with Disabilities (DWYPD), in partnership with HEINEKEN Beverages, successfully hosted a women’s economic empowerment dialogue at the Marriott Hotel, Crystal Towers in Century City, Cape Town yesterday.
Held in the lead-up to the State of the Nation Address, the engagement brought together government, private-sector partners and civil-society organisations for a focused conversation on strengthening women’s economic participation and advancing community-level empowerment.
The dialogue created space for listening, shared understanding and candid discussion about the realities facing women across South Africa. It also reinforced commitments under the Economic Power pillar of the National Strategic Plan on Gender-Based Violence and Femicide (NSP on GBVF), which seeks to improve women’s access to economic opportunities, including within public and private-sector procurement frameworks.
Deputy Minister in the Presidency responsible for Women, Youth and Persons with Disabilities, Mmapaseka Steve Letsike, underscored the importance of cross-sector collaboration grounded in lived experience.
She noted that meaningful opportunities for women require platforms where stakeholders can listen, reflect and work together. Dialogues of this nature, she said, strengthen collaboration in ways that are responsive to community realities.
Letsike further highlighted the importance of ongoing engagement to ensure that development efforts remain aligned with the needs and contexts of women across the country.
HEINEKEN Beverages Corporate Affairs Director, Millicent Maroga, described the engagement as an opportunity to contribute constructively to broader efforts aimed at advancing women’s economic participation.
She emphasised the value of collaboration and shared responsibility, particularly during a period of national reflection, and reiterated the organisation’s commitment to partnership and continued learning.
As part of the engagement, HEINEKEN Beverages handed over a R100,000 contribution to a women-centred non-profit organisation identified in alignment with DWYPD priorities and the NSP on GBVF. The funding will support programmes aimed at strengthening women’s economic resilience at community level.
The discussion centred on:
Women’s economic participation and entrepreneurship
The realities and burden of unpaid care work
Strengthening collaboration across sectors
The role of community-level initiatives in driving empowerment
The session was intentionally structured as a listening-led engagement, reflecting DWYPD’s commitment to centring lived experience in policy and programme development.
Both DWYPD and HEINEKEN Beverages reaffirmed their commitment to continued partnership. Addressing complex social and economic challenges, they noted, requires sustained collaboration, accountability and shared action over the long term.
