Julieth Godwin has been working with women in Mayega and Mikuyuni villages to establish two new groups, following our Sharing Christmas appeal last year. Julieth’s role is to assess women recommended to her by local leaders to see if their circumstances lend themselves to participating. The aim is to support women with dependent children who are burdened by low incomes. The loans provided through vicobas (village community banks) set up in partnership with the groups provides a modest opportunity for women to grow their small businesses.

As Julieth said about her assessments, ‘I am always looking at the whole family situation, such as what kind of house they have, do they have valuables in their home, are they residents of the area and what is their economic status? Is it a family having a woman with a big responsibility for caring?  Is she doing all the work of earning at least a family income?  This can be proof enough that this woman should be included in our project’. The assessment is a skilled job that is aided by a family circumstances questionnaire but a lot depends on Julieth’s experience and judgement.

Both groups have had their first meetings and Julieth will monitor attendance, group functioning and members’ savings into the vicoba before making the first Busega Scotland capital payment. If all goes well three payments will be made over a period of a year. The capital donation is equivalent to £25 per woman and groups have about 30 members.