From Weaving to Wildlife Conservation

October 28, 2025

Greetings!

In the heart of the communities around Victoria Falls, women are the backbone of their families and communities. Their families depend on them to tend crops, care for children and elderly parents, and use their skills to pay for education and healthcare. Yet too often, they face limited opportunities to earn an income, access education, or plan for the future.

At Victoria Falls Wildlife Trust, we believe that thriving communities and healthy ecosystems go hand in hand. That’s why our Community Development Programme invests in women – equipping them with financial literacy, business skills, and practical training to help them generate sustainable incomes that support their families and strengthen community resilience.

2024 Launch and Training on Food Preservation: Last year VFWT piloted a small-scale training programme for 20 women in food preservation – teaching them how to best preserve meat, grains and vegetables so they last longer in Africa’s harsh conditions. These skills not only reduce food waste but also create opportunities to earn an income through the sale of smoked meats, soup mix, and breads.

Saziso Ncube, was one of last year’s training recipients:

” The training from last year has really strengthened our food security. We are eating healthier. We can now grow, preserve, store, and consume tomatoes, onions, and herbs year-round without losing their nutritional value. In the past, we lost large amounts of these valuable vegetables due to spoilage, as they were only available in abundance during their growing season.”

2025 Basketry & Weaving: This year we’ve been grateful to able to continue these essential trainings. We recently completed our second course with another 20 women – this time focused on basketry and weaving.

We selected women who were already weavers but were eager to refine and expand their skills. The training broadened their range of products so as to helping them reach new markets, and introduced weaving with sisal – a sustainable, locally available material that, when cultivated for weaving, also helps prevent soil erosion in the drought-prone areas around Victoria Falls.

Below you will meet Savee Ndhlovu, one of this year’s basketry and sisal training attendees. Savee has already sold her first basket

We have big plans for continuing this vital work.

But we can’t do it without you.

Will you help us ensure this life-changing

programme continues in 2026?

Each year we aim to introduce different skills to different groups from different areas – ensuring women complement rather than compete with each other.

Your donation today will help us train more women in financial management, entrepreneurship, and a range of practical skills such as mushroom farming, biodegradable product development, and household product value chains.

How will your gift help us? Every donation counts towards the following:

$5,500 will fund one 10-day training course
$10,000 will establish a family mushroom value chain with rural farmers, including equipment and links to the Victoria Falls tourism market.
$100 provides seed funding for two women to start an enterprise
$500 provides seeds for an entire nutrition garden

Above: Our most recent financial literacy and business training workshop attendees received their certificates after completing a course where the practical focus this year was on basketry and sisal and palm weaving. Our CEO Jessica Dawson was there to congratulate the weavers.

Photo: Mana Meadows

Each woman we train doesn’t just change her own life – she uplifts her entire family and helps build a resilient, diverse community that values and protects the natural world around it.

Together, we can empower women to provide for their families and contribute to conservation efforts that protect wildlife and the environment we all share.

Thank you for being part of our journey.