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

At the end of every year Sinamandla hold their Self-help group (SHG) Awards which recognises and celebrates the success of SHG women and their groups around South Africa. There were dozens of submissions in various categories and two winners are shared for you to enjoy – a list of the main winners is as follows:

- SHG member of the Year: Mam’ S* of Siyaqhubeka SHG (formed by Umvoti AIDS Centre)

- SHG of the Year: Yibanathi SHG (formed by Umvoti AIDS Centre) and Thuthukani SHG (formed by Zimele).

- CLA of the Year: Sizanani CLA (formed by Zimele)

- Partner of the Year: Thandanani Children’s Foundation.

The winner of the SHG Member of the Year Award for 2015 is Mam’ S* (her full name is with-held). She is 35 years and is a member of Siyaqhubeka SHG, formed in 2013 in Dungamanzi in Umsinga, KZN, by Umvoti Aids Centre. After receiving training on income-generation activities in her group, she saw an opportunity for a food business in her community and started IDLANATHI (eat with us). She sells full meal plates with salads, fat cakes, fried chips, tea or coffee. Mam S* took her first business loan of R500 from her SHG to buy a 2 plate stove and a fried chips machine. Another loan of R600 bought a microwave and another of R800 was used for stock. In a good month she makes between R2,500–R3,000 after expenses; she uses R1000 to buy more stock, pays R300 towards rent, repays any loan to her group and the rest she uses or saves. She says "Having my own business has made a huge difference in my life and I no longer become stressed about where I am going to get money from".

One of the winners of the SHG of the Year Award for 2015 is Thuthukani SHG. This group is in Maswazini, near Winterton, KZN, and was formed in August 2009 by Zimele and it has 10 members. The group members are very hard-working and community-minded - they have started a home-based care project to help people who are sick at home and also started a project to assist orphans and vulnerable children in their community. To date the group has assisted 124 vulnerable children, has donated 81 food parcels to needy households, has assisted 10 households to access social grants, and has trained 33 children on how to do craft-work. The tribal authorities in Maswazini work closely with the Thuthukani SHG members to identify needy children in their community. In order to increase the amount of funds available for their community projects, the members opened their own guesthouse - they built a suitable house on land owned by a group member and provide accommodation and meals to tourists or visitors to the area. SHG members from groups in Mtubatuba visited Thuthukani SHG during 2015 to learn how to run a guesthouse. The profit from the guesthouse and from their craft work is used to fund their projects.

Many thanks for your interest in and support of Sinamandla and it’s 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.

Recently Sinamandla celebrated World Food Day and in 2015 the theme was “Social protection and agriculture: breaking the cycle of rural poverty”. This is what the Self-help group (SHG) project aims to do - assist women to move their household out of poverty and break their dependence on social grants. Women in SHGs are encouraged to start a back-yard garden at home to grow healthy vegetables for their family to eat - and some SHG members have larger vegetable gardens to grow vegetables as a means of income-generation.

 Improving the quantity of meals and the quality of food is critical to the improved nutrition of all household members. Sinamandla partners, such as Zimele based in Pietermaritzburg, South Africa, have linked an agriculture programme in with their SHG project in order to provide technical support and assistance with access to market for their SHG farmers.

During 2015 Sinamandla has impacted over 17 000 women in around 1 300 SHGs around South Africa through it’s partners. More than 113 000 children and adults living in the households of these SHG members are slowly moving out of poverty, which includes improved food security in their homes.

Many thanks for your interest and support during 2015. Sinamandla continues to work towards reaching its fundraising targets please don’t forget that GlobalGiving will be running their 8th Recurring Match Campaign from December 1 through December 31 2015. A generous anonymous donor has agreed to match 100% of new monthly recurring donations For example, if you set up a new $25 monthly recurring donation (for at least 3 months), GlobalGiving will donate a one-time additional $25 to Sinamandla. This offer starts next week on #GivingTuesday, 1^st December.

Sinamandla sends out a monthly E-newsletter, which you can subscribe to via the Sinamandla website and read more stories of SHG women. Please also do 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.