Self-help Groups for 2000 poor women in S. Africa

Recently Sinamandla hosted a workshop to improve awareness of and access to socio-economic rights for SHG members, and their households. The workshop involved members from SHG Clusters from the communities of Swayimane and kwaMthethwa in KwaZulu-Natal province. It is planned that appropriate actions with be carried out by the Clusters, in the coming months, to support the realisation of socio-economic rights of their SHG members.

One key focus of the workshop was understanding how to assist vulnerable households to apply for social grants that they qualify for from the government. A supplement on various topics raised in the workshop will be included in the upcoming issue of UMAZISIZE, the SHG newspaper.

Many thanks for your interest in and support of Sinamandla and its work with women in SHGs. Please do consider a donation to support our work in 2016.

You can subscribe to our monthly E-newsletter via the Sinamandla website, like us on Facebook at sinamandlaselfhelpgroup or follow us on Twitter @sinamandlashg. Our SHG book, “Moving ourselves out of poverty”, is available for $30.00 including postage – to order directly from Sinamandla email info@sinamandla.org.za.

The second issue of 2016 of UMAZISIZE, Sinamandla's SHG newspaper, recently went out to 12 000 SHG members around KwaZulu-Natal (KZN). The aim of the quarterly newspaper is to raise awareness among SHG members on important issues and to share news of what SHG members and their groups are doing around South Africa.

The main theme of this issue was “Playing with Children” - encouraging SHG members to spend more time playing with their children or grandchildren. Play is the way children communicate and this begins right from birth. Play tells us how they are feeling and what they are experiencing. In the first 5 years of life, play is the way little children learn, communicate and explore their world. Play is not just “for fun” but it is essential to the development of the whole child. Through play, children grow physically, socially and emotionally. Dlalanathi, a networking partner of Sinamandla, provided material for the theme from their work with children.

Also in this issue of the newspaper, Sinamandla advertised a new Business Competition to find the SHGs that are best using their savings and loans to assist their members to start or expand a business that is profitable and can provide extra income for their household – first prize of R5,000 ($330) goes to the best SHG selected and the runner-up receives R2,500 ($165).

Many thanks for your interest in and support of Sinamandla and its work with women in SHGs. Please do consider a donation to support our work in 2016.

You can subscribe to our monthly E-newsletter via the Sinamandla website, like us on Facebook at sinamandlaselfhelpgroup or follow us on Twitter @sinamandlashg. Our SHG book, “Moving ourselves out of poverty”, is available for $30.00 including postage – to order directly from Sinamandla email info@sinamandla.org.za.