Summary of project status and achievements:
This month, sewing and knitting classes continued at Road 44, the vulnerable community. Thirty women participated – 15 in the sewing class and 15 in the knitting class. Classes were held on Monday and Tuesday, and workshops were held Wednesday and Thursday. This month, the workshops covered Reproductive Health and Childcare and Nutrition. The classes are nearing their end and the graduation will be on October 2. The participants have formed a savings circle and those interested will continue to meet in that context.
The savings circles continue to progress and are quickly becoming a flagship program for the Women’s Centre. There are currently four. The Monday and Friday groups meet at the Women’s Centre with members from Blocks C and D. The Tuesday group meets in Block B at Road 12 with members from Blocks A and B. The fourth group meets at Road 44 in Block D with members from the surrounding area. This is the group that emerged from the knitting and tailoring classes.
No informal counseling cases were recorded this month.
The Women’s Centre has begun registration for a nursery program for young children not yet in school. The staff decided to start this program because the English classes were not attended and there did not seem to be a demand. Dyness, a part time Centre staff, has returned from her illness, and there is time to be filled with programming. Additionally, there are few activities currently occurring at the physical Women’s Centre. Only two savings circles meet at the Centre and the Centre is open for informal counseling, which happens rarely due to lack of demand. As a result, the Centre has lost some of its vibrancy. Therefore, the nursery program has the following objectives: 1) To address the lack of early childhood education in Block C. This is a need that FORGE programs have sought to address in other blocks, as well; 2) To attract people to the Women’s Centre, including parents who may seek informal counseling in conjunction with bringing their children to attend the nursery program. In addition to these objectives, the program will have the added benefit of making sure the Centre is open on time since classes will be held in the morning. Punctuality has been an ongoing problem. Staff have been reminded about the importance of punctuality to no avail. Based on experience and observation, however, the staff are generally punctual when there is a specific program occurring for which they are responsible.
The PM discovered that the Women’s Centre employees were not taking their bikes in for monthly servicing. This may help to account for the frequent expensive repairs on their bikes. Employees will now take their bikes in for monthly maintenance, and the PM will closely supervise to make sure this happens.
Future Activities and Projections:
The sewing and knitting classes will hold graduation on October 2. The next round will start in Block H in mid October.
A new savings circle will begin in October. It will meet at the Women’s Centre on Wednesdays, and it will have members from Blocks C and D. This group has emerged out of the Monday circle. The original Monday group saved for a year and just began saving again. There were women who wanted to join, but the group would have been too big, so it was split and those who wanted to join will make up the new Wednesday group. Additionally, one member from the original Monday circle returned to school, so she had to leave the group. However, she has started an independent savings circle for the women who live in the C Basic School compound. This appears to be the first savings circle to be initiated by refugees outside of FORGE’s auspices. It is a testament to the popularity and benefit of the savings circle concept that the Women’s Centre staff have been so tirelessly promoting.
The Road 12 savings circle will begin a cultivation circle in mid October. Every week, all of the members will get together and cultivate one member’s land. Each week a new member will have their land cultivated by the group. The women are very excited about this program, and it will be monitored. If it is successful, it could be another important step toward empowering women in the settlement and giving them more control over their livelihoods.
The two savings circles that meet at the Women’s Centre and the Road 12 savings circle each plan to begin cultivating ground nuts as a savings circle. The groups that meet at the Women’s Centre will use land near the FORGE compound, and the Road 12 group will use land donated by one of its members. The profits gained from selling the ground nuts will be put into the savings circle.
The nursery program will begin and will be held every day from roughly 9:00 – 11:00. Attendance will be monitored and the programs success will be gauged in the first few weeks.
An SGBV workshop will be held the week of October 6 at the Women’s Centre, corresponding with a visit from UNHCR officials focusing on SGBV.
In the long term, the staff of the Women’s Centre would like to begin giving workshops on business management as programming moves more into this area.
Indicators and statistics:
Savings Circle
Health & Knitting and Tailoring Classes
Informal Counseling
*The Monday group started over after disbursing the money saved over the course of the year. This is why the figure is lower this month compared to last.
Wishes or requests:
There is hole in the roof of the office in the Women’s Centre. Staff has requested that it be fixed. Augie, the head guard, examined the Centre and is concerned about its structural integrity. It may need to be rehabilitated. The PMs would like to get an estimate as to the cost of this.
