message from the secretariat - the self-help approach ...3. ras gez. master’s students from new...

Consortium of Self Help Group Approach Promoters (CoSAP)የራስ አገዝ ቡድን አሰራር ድርጅቶች ህብረት

Bi annual Newsletter of CoSAP Jan. to June 2019 Vol. V, Issue No. 10

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Dear Readers,

We are extremely pleased to share with you issue No. 10 ‘‘Ras Agez” newsletter covering January - June 2019. We would really like to appreciate W/ro Sisay Mekasha, a Self Help Group (SHG) member from Dire Dawa, Ato Bekalu Yemenu from Awash Bank and Prof. Mark Johnson of The New School University, New York for their contributions in this “Ras Agez” piece. Please forward your comments, suggestions and remarks to us at [email protected].

Enjoy reading ‘‘Ras Agez.”

Yosef AkaluDirector

Directors of CoSAP member organizations discussed major strategic issues of Self Help Group (SHG) approach promotion in the country. At this first bi-annual forum held on Monday March 11, 2019 at Ghion Hotel in Addis Ababa, participants from member organizations and representatives from Kindernothlife (KNH) attended. The forum mainly discussed the roles of different actors in SHG approach in Ethiopia, maintaining the basic principles and elements of the approach and updates on the efforts for legalization and recognition of the SHG approach in the country. During the meeting, KNH representatives briefed participants on the distinct roles of different actors with in KHN in the promotion of the approach and for their entire Ethiopia

program. In addition, CoSAP’s Director updated participants on legalization efforts and the plan to continue lobbying both at regional and federal levels until an appropriate legal framework is obtained.

In the discussions, participants recommended that the taskforce following the legalization efforts should come up with a draft framework to be presented for policy makers and lobby for enactment of a separate legal framework for SHG legalization. The forum was concluded by reaching consensus on the importance of strengthening promotion of the SHG approach in the country, taking quality issues into account.

Message from the Secretariat

Directors’ forum conducted

Directors’ forum in progress



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As part of its mandate of maintaining quality of the SHG approach, CoSAP organizes different capacity building initiatives for staffs of its member organizations. Accordingly, Federations Strengthening training was organized from June 4 to 6, 2019 in Hawassa, Ethiopia. The training covered topics such as the four roles of federation, important issues to consider before, during and after formation of a federation. The training was facilitated by KNH’s SHG approach regional mentor that came for the purpose from Uganda. Total of sixteen participants and CoSAP staffs attended the training session.

Federation Strengthening Training Organized

Training in progress



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Master’s students from New School University in New York City are working with CoSAP on Monitoring and Evaluation of the women’s Self Help Group approach in Ethiopia. The aim is to show the success women have in organizing and conquering multi-dimensional poverty through the financial and psycho-social benefits of SHG membership. The students are using a quantitative “scorecard” that tabulates a value for each woman’s living

conditions, tracked over several years and showing, hopefully, a rise in the score over that time. The first two years’ data shows many cases of a dramatic rise in positive indicators. (See below for a profile of Fiche SHG member Birhane Niguse.) Professor Mark Johnson is producing a report on findings from the last two years of data collection, which should be available on CoSAP’s website by September 2019.

CoSAP - U.S.A. University Partnership Continues

Monitoring of SHGs in progress



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Birhane Niguse, living in Fiche, Oromiya region, inherited the care of her eight nieces and nephews following her sister’s death. Her family sometimes ate less than three meals a day, slept on the mud floor of their house, and she had no savings. For most single women living in oppressive poverty, the addition of eight children to a household would have been a crushing burden.

But today Birhane and her family live prosperously, with a renovated house, abundant animal assets and a bank savings account. Her nieces and nephews have a comfortable life and promising future. She joined Self-Help Group Birhan Fiker (Light of Love) in 2011, and the SHG, as it does for so many women, unlocked Birhane’s potential. SWAAE - Society

for Women and AIDS Africa Ethiopia - conducted effective business trainings that showed her how to manage money and her liquid assets. “I had a dream and I knew I had potential,” she said, “but the business skills trainings pushed me. Now I feel confident.”

Her first loan was for Birr 70 (approximately $4 in 2011), which she used to re-stock her small house front store. The profit made from that effort encouraged her to take a second loan, for Birr 300, also used to buy more stock and from which she also made a nice profit. She then took a bigger step - a Birr 4,000 loan to buy a cow, and an iqub loan to buy a second cow. From these she began to sell milk and butter, generating a larger income. She easily repaid the loans, and took another for Birr

Birhane Niguse, Fiche SHG Birhan Fiker Member



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10,000 to buy a third cow, which later gave birth. Her next loan, for Birr 11,000, was used to buy three young sheep for fattening, which also produced more offspring. Besides the four cows she now has 11 sheep. Her latest SHG loan, for Birr 25,000, was used to rent grazing land for her animals and grow some food.

In her eight years of SHG membership, Birhane has taken six loans for an astonishing total of Birr 50,000, loans that not only allowed her to improve her existing shop but also expand into more lucrative efforts. Prior to the SHG, villagers were forced to take loans from a “local rich guy” moneylender who charged an exorbitant up to 15% interest.

Birhane, now secretary of her SHG, exudes the confidence that financial security provides.

The income has allowed her to not only renovate and furnish her home (including a refrigerator) and improve living conditions for her family, but now her nieces and nephews are getting higher education, and graduating from university. “I have all of this because of the SHG,” she said. She can even afford to celebrate a little, recently selling a cow to pay for a party for her niece’s university graduation.



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አዋሽ ባንክ ለሴቶች ራስ አገዝ ቡድኖች ያለውን የቅርብ አጋርነት የገለፀበት የመጀመሪያው ፕሮጀክት በቢሾፍቱ ከተማ ዋከኔ በሚል መጠሪያ የተሰባሰቡትን የራስ አገዝ ቡድን አባላትን እንቅስቃሴ በመጎብኘት ነበር። በባንኩ ዋና መስሪያ ቤት አስተባባሪነት የተለያዩ ክፍል ሥራ አስኪያጆችን የያዘ አንድ ቡድን ዋከኔ የሴቶች ራስ አገዝ ቡድንን አርብ መጋቢት 6 ቀን 2011 ዓ.ም ቢሾፍቱ ከተማ በመገኘት ጎብኝቷል። በጉብኝቱ ወቅትም ከቡድኑ አባላት ጋር በነበረው ቆይታ እጅግ የሚደነቅ ፅናት ያላቸው ሴቶች ቀደም ሲል የነበራቸውን የገንዘብ ቁጠባ ባህል ምን ይመስል እንደነበረ፣ በራስ አገዝ ቡድን ከመሳተፍ ከጀመሩ በኃላ በራሳቸውና በቤተሰቦቻቸው ህይወት ላይ ያመጡትን ማሕበራዊ እና ኢኮኖሚያዊ ለውጥ ከአዋሽ ባንክ ለሄደው የጎብኚ ቡደን በዝርዝር አስረድተዋል። በመጨረሻም በጉብኝቱ መርሃ ግብር መሰረት ቡድኑ ከኮሳፕ ኃላፊዎች ጋር በጉብኝቱ ወቅት ያልተመለሱ እና በቀጣይ በጋራ የሚሰሩ ስራዎች ላይ ተጨማሪ ውይይት አድርጓል።

ሴቶችን ማብቃት ልጆችን፣ ቤተሰብን ብሎም አገርን ማብቃት እንደሆነ ከዋከኔ የቡድን አባላት ጋር ከነበረው ቖይታ በግልጽ ማየት ተችሏል። በራስ አገዝ የተደራጁ ሴቶች ያለባቸውን ችግር ተቋቁመው ለለውጥ በመዘጋ ት የራሳቸው ግብ እና የወደፊት ራዕይ ያላቸው ዜጎች ሆነዋል።ይህንን ራዕይ ከግብ ለማድረስ አዋሽ ባንክ ከኮሳፕ ጋር በመሆን በዋናነት በራስ አገዝ ቡደን የተደራጁ ሴቶችን ተጠቃሚ ለማድረግ የመግባቢያ ሰነድ ተፈራርሞ ወደ ሥራ ተገብቷል። ኮሳፕ እና አባል ድርጅቶቹ በመላ ሀገሪቱ በሚገኙ ከ12 ሺ በላይ የራስ አገዝ ቡድኖች አባል የሆኑ 233 ሺ ሴቶችን ህይወት ለመለወጥ እየሰሩ የሚገኙ ሲሆን፤ አዋሽ ባንክም ይሄን ትልቅ አገር አቀፍ ስራ እያደነቀ አስፈላጊ ሆኖ የተገኘውን ማንኛውንም እገዛ ለማድረግ በጋራ በተነደፉ መርሃ ግብሮች መሰረት ውጤት የሚያመጡ እንቅስቃሴዎችን ለማድረግ ዝግጅቱን አጠናቋል።

አቶ በቃሉ ይመኑአዋሽ ባንክ የግንኙነት ሥራ አስኪያጅ

የከዋከኔ የራስ አገዝ ቡድን አባላት በጉብኝቱ ከተሳተፉ አካላት ጋር

አጋርነት ለሴቶች የራስ አገዝ ቡድን አሰራር



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የራስ አገዝ ቡድን ስንላት በዜማ፣ዝማሞ አላት ውበት ግሩም አላት ግርማ፣

ንገሪኝ አንቺ ሴት ትርጓሜ ካላት፣እንደማያትማ ለኛ አቅም ናት፣

ቁጠባ የምትለው ሶስት ፊደላት፣የስንቱን ገበና ሸፈነች በውነት፣

ተይ ስሚኝ ልንገርሽ አንቺ ሴት እህቴ፣በጣም ያኮራኛል አደራጃጀቴ፣

መደራጀት ስልሽ ትርጉሙን እውቂ፣ካንቺ ያነሱትን ያልተደራጀቱን፣

በቤት ውስጥ ያሉትን አውቀሽ አሳውቂ፣ቁጠባ መልካም ነው ተይ ስሚኝ ልንገርሽ፣

ትላንት ያስቀመጥሽው ለነገ ይሁንሽ፣ምንም የገቢ ምንጭ ባይኖርሽም እቴ፣

ከምጠጪው ቡና በፍሬ ቀንሰሽ፣በሳምንት አንድ ቀን ይዘሽ ትገኛለሽ፣

በድሜ ዘመናችን ይህን ብናውቅ ኖሮ፣መች እንሰማ ነበር የባሎችን ሮሮ፣አሁንም አልመሸም ገና ነው ሰዓቱ፣

በቁጠባ ዙሪያ በርቱ ተበራቱ፣በ10ቱ እድሚያችን ላይ ይህን ብናውቅ ኖሮ፣

አንቀጣም ነበር በችግር በሮሮ፣ቁጠባ ውርስ ነው ይሰጣል ለልጅ፣

እኔ ጥየውም ባልፍ አይቀርም በደጅ፣ጥላው ትሄዳለች እሷም በተራዋ፣እንደኔ ልትሆን ልትለቅ ከምድር፣

ለምትወልደው ልጇ፣ገጣሚ አይደለሁም ደራሲ አይደለሁኝ

ስለ ራስ አገዝ ግን ስለ ቁጣባ ግን፤ብዙ እላለሁኝ፡፡

ወ/ሮ ሲሳይ መካሻከየነገው ሰው የሴቶች ራስ አገዝ ቡድን አባል

ድሬደዋ

የራስ አገዝ ቡድን



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“Ras Agez” meaning Self Helpis a biannual newsletter published by CoSAP

This volume has been produced with the financial assistance of KNH and Tearfund Ireland. The contents of this document are the sole responsibility of the partners and can under no

circumstances be regarded as reflecting the position of KNH or Tearfund Ireland.

Special thanks to all our supporters listed who have invested significantly in our work this year. We value your partnership.

CONTACT US

The Consortium of Self help group Approach Promoters (CoSAP)Lideta Sub City, Woreda 10, African Union Area, Behind National Tobacco Enterprise

Tel: +251115525251/+251118959233/+251930014725Fax: +251115571290

Email: [email protected]@gmail.com

www.shgconsortiumeth.orgP.O.Box 26720 code 1000 Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

tearfundIreland

message from the secretariat - the self-help approach ...3. ras gez. master’s students from new...

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