SELH HELP GROUPS FGDs
As part of the Wadajir project, we conducted three Focus Group discussions on various dates in three different IDP camps; Digaale, Jimcaale, and Ayah 4.
Participants in the Focus Group Discussions included the directors of self-help groups in the three IDP camps whose members engage in running small scale business selling vegetables and meat, while another group is in livestock.
Some of the key messages from the FGD were: satisfaction, impact, challenges, and the way-forward.
Satisfaction
Before the project, the women in the IDP camps were destitute without many good prospects for the future, something that the project has changed with the provision of skills, mentorship, and capital to venture into business.
Impact
- Women have adopted a saving culture which enables them to save and expand their businesses;
- Women now have bank accounts which they didn’t have before
- The women gained self-confidence and esteem empowering them to do better;
- Women can save and invest thus growth and improvement in lives;
- The women have created a social fund to support those who are unwell or face difficulties;
- Sense of family and sisterhood created.
Challenges
- Some members in the SHGs hadn’t yet received the $165 as envisaged in the project;
- Members in the SHGs have little or no access to credit facilities
- Members in the SHG have limited knowledge of how micro-finance institutions operate
- Dara-Salaam Bank, where the women have bank accounts, has microfinance that isn’t operational
Way forward/ Recommendations
- The SHGs need to scale up their total savings, loans, and profits if they want to increase their impact;
- The women need to learn about MFIs and their conditions for offering loans;
- The Women suggested that those businesses that have shown exceptional leadership and business growth should get support to scale their business;
- Find ways to work KIMS and Micro-Dahab, which are the most suitable MFIs to partner with as they are more flexible and experienced.