AFTER a generous sponsorship by Bell Equipment, Amangwe Village has expanded their Self Help Group (SHG) project and also increased their staff complement.
The SHG concept which was introduced at Amangwe in August 2009 is aimed at providing easily accessible funds for group members in order to start new businesses in hopes that the members are able to meet the needs of their families.
With three groups in Makhwezini and three staff members, some of the initiatives that were started by the group include building and renovating of houses, running of tuck shops, crafting, catering for community activities and events as well as poultry and crop farming.
Income from the loans has also been used for school and tuition fees, uniforms, stationery, medical care and general assistance for group members to provide for the daily needs of their households.
‘The SHG attends to the needs of unemployed rural women and now after nearly four years the project has expanded to other areas such as Ntambanana and Sokhulu,’ said Amangwe Village manager, Erna Steynberg.
‘Amangwe Village currently monitors the activities of 110 formal groups and 44 informal groups which is a total of 154 groups with each group consisting of 20 women.
‘More than 3 000 women and families per month benefit from the activities of the groups.
‘In order to keep up with the demand of service delivery Amangwe has employed an additional 10 staff members consisting of one staff partner and nine community facilitators for Sokhulu, Ntambanana, Biyela and Sangonyana,’
‘A very generous donation from Bell Equipment enabled Amangwe to expand the programme and to reach out to more rural women and the training of these new facilitators by Sinamandla has been taking place during this week,’ said Steynberg.
