Empower Women through the Self Help Group Approach

As mentioned in my previous report, we recently held another very successful Self Help Group Exchange Visit Day in the Mamabolo area. Tebogo is the Community Facilitator (CF) of that area and she and her groups, Rehogile and Tswelopele        hosted an exciting day. People came from Bolobedu and Capricorn to renew friendships, learn from one another and sell their wares while admiring and buying those of other group members (See photos below). 

I would now like to introduce you to our CFs from Bolobedu. They are Joyce, Dinah and Virginear. Between them, they are responsible for looking after 51 Self Help Groups  (SHGs) and one Cluster Level Association (CLA). While the Self Help Groups focus on Me and My Family, the CLA focuses on Me and My Community. Joyce, Dinah and Virginear are all very different personalities, but they are all passionate about Community Development and helping the ladies in their various Self Help Groups. They attend meetings to make sure that all the bookwriters are keeping accurate records and to give any advice that is needed. Each group is autonomous and is governed by their own constitution but the CFs are invaluable in keeping records of the total funds saved, loaned and most importantly, repaid. They have encouraged them to start businesses such as baking scones and vetkoek, sewing  traditional garments, raising and selling chickens and doing beadwork.

Next week, from 8-12 September, GlobalGiving will be running its Passport to Purpose Campaign. This campaign has $150000  available to be paid to organisations as matching funds. I would therefore like to appeal to you to consider donating to our project next week so that we can receive some of those matching funds as well. The direct link for our project is https://globalgiving.org/projects/thusanang-self-help-groups. We are very grateful for all donations as these are the only funds we have for most of this project. 

Links:

• Help Rural Women Help Themselves

In my report dated 26 May 2023, I introduced 2 of our Community Facilitators who live and work in the Sekororo area of Mopani District. Today I want to introduce 2 of the Community Facilitators who live and work in the Capricorn District. Tebogo joined Thusanang in 2012 and Locky in 2014 . They are both very experienced Community Facitilitators and between them they look after 27 Self Help Groups.  The oldest of these groups started in 2013 and two of them started in 2025 so they need different levels of support. I mentioned what the Community Facilitators do in my report of 2023 but in essence, they need to visit each group at least once a month to gather the data required by Thusanang and listen to any difficulties that the groups are experiencing and help them find solutions. 

When the Self Help Groups started, they were saving R2 per person per week, then it increased to R5 per person per week and now most groups expect their members to save R10 per person per week. Each group is individual and writes their own constitution which all members have to sign when the group starts. Members still take loans from the group as they need them, and they have to state whether the loan is for household or business purposes. When the groups start, the loan is usually for household needs but as they get older and are able to borrow (and repay) larger amounts, they usually start small businesses, and use their loans for their business. Many businesses involve buying and reselling items (such as snacks at local schools) and some bake or make different items (such as brooms and beadwork). Several people grow and sell vegetables or keep chickens. Usually the more successful businesses are individually owned and run, but one successful group project in Molepo was when the group bought chairs and they hired them out for funerals or any type of  function. Whenever the group had extra money, they bought more chairs and individual members each kept a few chairs at their homes so there was no storage problem. Another group started doing patchwork.

When Thusanang was affiliated to an organisation called Sinamandla, Locky won the award for "CF of the Year" once, and our Project Officer, Vivian once won "Staff Person of the Year".

We are all looking forward to, the exchange visit which is planned for July in Dikgale. I will report on that in my next report. 

Once again, I want to thank our recurring donors for their monthly donations. They really help us to keep this project going. If you are reading this report, and are not a regular donor, please may I request that you consider becoming one. Each donation is greatly appreciated.

Links:

• Help Rural Women Help Themselves