Women

Female leadership pays off! In Africa, women are the cornerstone of many aspects of life, such as agriculture, processing and commerce. So long as the women do well, the family and eventually the larger society does well. Investing in the future of women means investing in a sustainable future.

Partners Pays-Dogon (PPD) stimulates and support Dogon women to improve the quality of life in their communities, mainly by facilitating them with the means to carry out their initiatives. The program is being led by Saïdou Teme and his team from ADI.

Women groups

The women have organized themselves in groups. They come together regularly to discuss their individual and collective plans. The leaders of these groups receive training and guidance to develop and improve their leadership role. Through becoming aware of the importance of their role in the improvement of living standards, they feel encouraged to actively initiate and carry out various projects. In 2016, four new groups joined the growing movement, which by the end of that year counted 6279 participating women. PPD has set out to reach at least 10,000 Dogon women, some 10% of the total female population among the Dogon. Together, they will be able to make a significant impact on local and regional socio-economical development.

Microcredits

PPD sponsors well-organized women groups with funds that can be used by the members, e.g. to establish small trading businesses of self-made products or agricultural produce. The income generated with these activities greatly increases the overall family budget. It allows for healthier diets, medical care, education for the children or saving money for later. In 2016, the total budget of funds was €xxx?. Nearly all the loans are fully repaid, and the interests paid over these loans is used to fund specific projects that benefit entire communities.

Skills and leadership trainings

Making a successful group requires leaders with vision, commitment and competence. We organize trainings to develop and improve the quality of leadership in the groups. In addition, we encourage the leaders to develop specific goals for their groups, such as buildings hangars where meetings can be held, toilets, shops or greenhouses. One particularly successful project has been the production of soap for local markets. But the groups have also taken up the growing of new crops, building vegetable gardens and learning to sew – an activity previously done exclusively by man. Our main objective is sustainable development, which is why our focus lies on empowerment and responsibility. We provide the means to enable initiatives without handing out presents.

Waka Waka lamp

In order to give the women access to sustainable sources of light, we sell them Waka Waka lamps against discount prices. The Waka Waka lamp can replace the extremely unhealthy, dangerous and expensive kerosene lamps that are widespread. Using the Waka Waka, children can make their homework or women can sew or weave in the evenings. The lamps are sold at €7,63 a piece. Broken lamps can either be repaired locally or sent back to The Netherlands. Since starting this deal, 6046 lamps have been sold and 1082 batteries have been replaced locally. At the end of 2015, the Dutch Waka Waka company has donated 1000 lamps in honor of Jacqti de Leeuw’s passing.

Empowerment

De vrouwen die deelnemen aan de programma’s van ADI hebben in de regel geen kans gehad om naar school te gaan. De groepsbijeenkomsten – elke groep komt wekelijks of tweewekelijks bijeen – zijn mede daarom een belangrijke manier om alsnog nieuwe informatie en ideeën op te doen. Vrouwen delen hun problemen, bespreken oplossingen, plannen gezamenlijke activiteiten en krijgen daarbij advies en ondersteuning vanuit de epicentra van ADI. De samenwerking met de animateurs en animatrices van ADI is voor de groepen een belangrijke stimulans om hun werk voor te zetten. Door hele concrete en resultaatgerichte programma’s aan te bieden en doorlopend te werken aan bewustwording en capaciteitsopbouw levert ADI een belangrijke bijdrage aan de empowerment van Dogon-vrouwen.

Sparen

Naast deelname aan het microkredietprogramma hebben vrijwel alle groepen ook nog een eigen spaarsysteem. Bij elke bijeenkomst leggen de vrouwen een klein bedrag in (10-50 Eurocent) waarmee de groep kleine noodleningen kan uitgeven bijvoorbeeld wanneer een van de leden ziek is of moet bevallen. Dit noodfonds wordt in de regel een of twee keer per jaar terug uitgekeerd aan de leden. Ook wordt door veel groepen collectief werk verricht. Middels het vervoer van water, banco of het stampen en malen van gierst wordt extra geld verdiend. Het inkomen hieruit wordt gebruikt voor specifieke doelen (bijvoorbeeld de aanschaf van uniformen) of wordt een of twee keer per jaar uitgekeerd aan de vrouwen die hebben meegewerkt.