12 Nov 2015

Humana People to People has partnered with the European Union through the Ministry of Labour and Home affairs to assist 300 vulnerable women in nine villages being Mabutsane, Khonkhwa, Morwamosu, Keng, Sekoma, Khakhea, Kanaku, Kutuku and Itlholoke in the Mabutsane Sub-district to initiate their own savings groups.  

The project, to be implemented in the coming 18 months, will be executed with the help of the village development committees for the said villages, Dikgosi, headmen, local churches, District Multisectoral AIDS Committee  Department of Social and Community Development and the Department of Gender Affairs.  

The savings groups will create an internal micro-loan scheme, a financial service for poor and low-income individuals where members can take small loans to invest in family health, family education, family housing and startup of productions.

Through the help of Government loaning institutions the beneficiaries will be offered business training, the program called Grassroots Building Our Wealth (GROW) or the women empowerment program was launched to impact positively the lives of many rural disadvantaged women.

The GROW groups comprises a social component as well, “The members are discussing their issues and getting support from each other to solve them, the GROW group members also create an action plan for the issues discussed in each meeting which leads to the team taking part in other work on HIV, Gender based Violence and Sexual Reproductive health issues” Partnership director at Humana People to People Annedorte  Hojrup revealed in an interview.  

She said additionally, 20 community members from the nine villages will also be trained as para legals. “They will be able to assist community members with knowledge on legal proceedings and human rights related issues.” She revealed. 

She said men are also involved in gender norm discussions as up to 50 per cent of the GROW members are victims of domestic violence. Ends