Use Soap to Empower 60 Rape Survivors in Mali

This report does not use real names

This update brings you the latest news from our soap program in Mali, which you have so kindly supported. There is, as usual, much to report.

As you may remember, the program helps survivors of armed sexual violence in Mali to regain their confidence by producing and selling soap. I visited Mali recently to evaluate the program and found a different context from earlier visits. The political and military crisis in the north has worsened this year. But this only makes the soap program more important, and its achievements more impressive. We are very proud of this program, and you can be too.

The political context

First, on the political and military context. As is well known, the crisis erupted in 2012, when Tuareg rebels linked up with jihadists across the north and imposed a reign of terror on civilians, especially women. The French intervened and suppressed the rebellion, but any sense of complacency has long since disappeared as the main jihadists groups have joined forces and launched a string of deadly attacks this year. The UN peace-keeping force MINUSMA has taken more casualties than any other mission in the world.

This background helps to put our program – and your donations – into context. First and most obviously, the crisis in the north makes it more important than ever to protect women and counter the misogynistic ideology of the jihadists. With this in mind, our Malian partner Sini Sanuman has opened two more centers for women this year and expects to take in 210 survivors in 2017.

One of the new centers is in Bamako, and caters to women like those seen in the photos below, several of whom fled from new fighting in northern town of Timbuktoo earlier this year. The other new center is in the north itself in Gao, which has become a gathering point for traffickers and migrants seeking to reach Libya and cross the Mediterranean. In short, this program is at the very heart of the crisis.

Program support

The current insecurity has not yet translated into the sort of mass sexual abuse against women that shocked Malians in 2012, but it has once again forced women into flight, poverty and despair. Sini Sanuman’s response is to send out animators into the community to identify those who are most vulnerable. Animators held no fewer than 1,112 meetings in the first six months of this year and reached thousands of women.

Of these, 120 women were invited to enroll at one of the four program centers. During their 6-month stay, beneficiaries have access to a psychologist and receive one cooked meal a day – a key form of support at a time when malnutrition is rising across the country. They also receive medical and legal assistance if needed.

The centerpiece of this program is training. Sini Sanuman offers three types of training, in soap, embroidery and tailoring. Our goal is to teach skills and help the women earn some money, while restoring their confidence. Soap is particularly important because it is easy to make and will always find a market. In addition to trainees, our program also provides an income the 40 village women who produce soap oil for the centers. (photo below)

The soap project made great strides last year. Using your donations and money raised by our 2016 Peace Fellow Rose, we bought new soap molds and a storage shed. This improved quality and productivity. Sini Sanuman also introduced new record-keeping. The program produced 27,258 bars of soap last year and all were sold.

This has continued in 2017. By July 2 the centers had produced and sold 16,452 bars of soap and are on track to exceed their target of 30,000 bars. The trainees are also benefitting more. They work in teams to sell soap in the local markets and keep 60% of what they sell. The rest goes into a separate bank account (named after our soap brand Sini Savon). By the end of June, the trainees had shared $2,050 in profits.

Added to this is the confidence gained by the trainees, as described in this news bulletin last year. Indeed, the team leader featured in the bulletin has since got married and moved back to the north full of optimism. That is what this program is all about.

Looking ahead

With the soap-making project now firmly grounded it is time to look ahead. One of our goals for this year is to take the soap-training out into the community, where it can benefit more women. We also hope to make it possible for trainees to continue using their new skills after their training ends. With this in mind, we have invested $1,000 and provided training for the 40-member Moussou Kalanso cooperative in Bamako, which produces soap. In return, the cooperative has recruited five former trainees from the Sini Sanuman centers. They include Fatimata, seen in the photo below.

I met Fatimata and the others in Bamako and was impressed. As we explain in this news bulletin, they earned $648 in the first four months of this year and put half aside for future soap investments. As Fatimata said to me: “It doesn’t matter how small the amount, this income is important.” They take nothing for granted and are grateful for everything.

This encouraging development points to the long-term strategy, which is to turn the soap-making project into a self-sustaining business. Sini Sanuman’s main funder, the German Foreign Ministry, will end support at the end of this year (as stipulated in the 2014 agreement). We are confident of finding new donors, but this is another argument for self-sufficiency in those activities, like soap-making, which are producing a serious income for trainees. This will mean doubling soap production next year to at least 60,000 bars.

We think it can be done. Your donations will certainly help, by allowing us to make important strategic investments. In the meantime, we can take pride in the fact that Sini Savon has restored hope to 540 seriously abused women since 2014. Our goal now is to see that it becomes a household name with consumers!

Let me end by sending best wishes to Luigi, our intrepid friend at the World Bank who helped to launch this appeal by climbing Mount Denali last year. Luigi has just embarked on a 6-month assignment with the UN in Sudan. We will be thinking of him.

Thank you!

Iain and your friends at Sini Sanuman and AP