Bread baking, soap making, hair dressing
30 women all affected by Ebola
Spring 2016
The goals of this project were two-fold: to help the women begin income generating projects to support themselves, and also to give them training in business skills and education about Ebola and other infectious disease such as HIV/AIDS and Hepatitis. The three income-generating activities were chosen because there is a good market for them in the local community. The woman split into three groups of ten women each, and each group ran one business. Each woman received a loan of $123 to pool with the other women in her group to buy initial supplies, and then profits (after repayment and savings) were split equally.
The group initially experienced some setbacks when a truck carrying flour to the village overturned, forcing the bread making group to seek out a supplement to their business. However the group quickly started also growing vegetables to sell, and now have continued with a bread-and-vegetables business since it was profitable. As of the one-year report in June 2017 the initial group had all repaid their loans fully and the funds had been revolved to 38 new women to start businesses. The initial group members income have doubled or tripled from what it used to be. The group members are also now able to pay their children's school fees and buy supplies, access healthcare regularly, and have a regular savings habit within their households.
