Independence Day.

From the very beginning our Microfinance Program has had two main objectives. First, to provide access to credit to women in vulnerable economic situations and secondly, over time, to build a women-led community cooperative that functions independently from us and continues to provide access to credit to all women entrepreneurs.

Over the past 5 years we have been working tirelessly at achieving our primary goal and can confidently say that we have provided 1000 women with access to training and microloans and, by extension, contributed to the establishment of hundreds of successful businesses around our community. From urban agriculture to injera baking cooperatives our women have shown ingenuity, resilience and determination in creating businesses, running them successfully and providing for their families.

Four members (our program director on far right) of an injera baking cooperative set up by 8 women in our program.

Four members (our program director on far right) of an injera baking cooperative set up by 8 women in our program.

And the benefits are not just economic… time and again our women report increased self-confidence after completing our two-week intensive business skills training (designed specifically for illiterate and/or women with low education levels) and that is before they even take the first loan! Women have expressed that before the training they felt incapable or lacking in skills to be able to run a profitable business but by the end they've realized how much knowledge they already have. Through their daily activities these women have extensive knowledge of product quality, pricing, locations to sell items, gaps in the market and great ideas about new businesses. We simply help them to identify this knowledge and unlock their potential.

Kuri Tekele selling her products on a busy corner.

Kuri Tekele selling her products on a busy corner.

And there are wider, societal benefits as well… women report greater community engagement through the running of their business and, although many face challenges related to changing roles within their families, the success of women entrepreneurs has also opened up an important discussion with men about the key role that women can play within household economics. In fact, we have a growing community of husbands who strongly support their wives in starting a business and many who even work with them!

Eniye Dese and her husband at their stall in front of Kidane Meheret church.

Eniye Dese and her husband at their stall in front of Kidane Meheret church.

We are proud of our large community of women entrepreneurs but our work doesn’t stop here… the next step is to make our Credit & Savings Cooperative independent so the women who run it can continue their important work long after we are gone. The 16 cooperative leaders have been receiving regular leadership & management training from us over the years and, in 2017, we have stepped up the capacity building so that one leader is earning a salary and working along side our team full-time to learn the day-to-day running of the cooperative. Although the leaders have been involved in the decision-making processes of the cooperative from the beginning, our team has been running the daily activities.

Our director Abinet leading a discussion with some of the cooperative leaders.

Our director Abinet leading a discussion with some of the cooperative leaders.

By the end of the year, the cooperative will have it’s own office, 2-3 full time staff and the leaders will be overseeing the daily operations. And while we are funding the transition year, the cooperative will take over these costs in 2018. To fund the running costs, the leaders will invest a small portion of the large savings pool within the cooperative to set up and run community focused income generation projects. It is a big step but one we have all been working towards over the past 5 years. It is a testament to the hard work of all the women members of the cooperative and it will be a huge asset to the community – their very own Savings & Credit Cooperative run by women – for women.

A new chapter.

For students around the world the new academic year can be an exhilarating time. A new beginning, another chance to grow and expand the mind, and for those entering higher education, perhaps even a small taste of independence. Starting at University or College there is a sense having chosen a path, one that could profoundly shape a young persons future and hopefully open doors to exciting careers.

This excitement could not be more real for four of our (now grown) children from the Home who are beginning a new chapter in their lives as University students. To say that we are thrilled for them is an understatement; we are over the moon! Not only have each of them overcome incredible personal challenges in their lives but also they have, with determination, chosen to carve out a better life for themselves and take control of their futures.  

Ejeurse - Computer Science student

Ejeurse - Computer Science student

Ejeruse was accepted to Awasa University to join the Computer Science program. She is hoping that with strong results she might even be able to transfer over to Medicine or cross subjects and study Health Information Sciences.

 

Mesay has joined the United University in Addis to study Architecture and Design. His drawing skills have always been very good and he hopes to have an impact on the urban landscape of Addis one day.

Mesay - architecture student

Mesay - architecture student

 

Birke has joined the Accounting program at St. Mary’s University in Addis. She wants to learn a practical profession that will enable her to find a job when she graduates.

 

Kalkidan was accepted into the Computational Sciences program at Awasa University where she will chose a major in either Biology or Chemistry.  She is a strong student in both subjects so when the time comes she will choose based on interest.

Birke - Accounting student (left), Kalkidan - Computational Science student (right)

Birke - Accounting student (left), Kalkidan - Computational Science student (right)

 

We are all incredibly proud of their academic achievements and wish them all the best as they embark on this important chapter in their lives.

We hope that the foundation we have build beneath them enables them to step with confidence into the wider world but with the knowledge that our support is always there if needed.

There are no guarantees that higher education will lead to a better life, however, in our experience supporting University students to complete their studies pays huge dividends. To date, 100% of our University graduates are in full time employment with 6 months of graduation!

Dear Grade 8 graduates... the future is bright!

At the end of June our Grade 8 students sat the National Exam, an exercise that will largely determine their secondary school experience, thus shaping their academic future. This also represents the culmination of our work with the students, most of whom we have been teaching for the past 10 years. It is a huge test of the learning foundation we have built with our students and the first time they will have undergone independent testing outside our school walls. 

Our headmaster Aseminaw follows the Grade 8 students very closely and personally delivers Saturday tutorials to them in the core subjects, slowly but methodically preparing them for this test. To provide some perspective, only around 60% of students attending government schools pass this test.

When the results came in we were all blown away. Our top student, Tseganesh, scored 97.6% on the exam and she will likely receive the award for top scoring student in the city. Of our 16 students writing the exam this year FIVE scored above 90% and NINE scored above 80%. We had only two students who scored less than 80%. This was an incredible achievement by any standard and our teachers and students were thrilled at the results.

The 2016 graduating class... we wish you well!

The 2016 graduating class... we wish you well!

These results highlight the importance of good quality education and not simply high attendance or enrollment numbers. To enable real lasting change, the sort of change that lifts children out of poverty, you need to create a learning environment that nurtures the student and encourages the love of learning. You need to offer a platform from which they can launch themselves into a world that is uninterested in their future, a world that will offer up plenty of obstacles to completing a formal education. A world that is ambivalent at best and cruel at worst.

We aspire to build an academic foundation with our students that is not only based on learning the curriculum but that fosters self-esteem and provides them with the tools necessary to navigate the world outside our walls with confidence and determination. It is our hope that this strong foundation will support them through secondary school and beyond. If it does, we have done our job well.

Because what makes a good quality education such a great investment is that it can’t be used up, spent or taken away.

A good quality education lasts a lifetime.

 

Planting a seed

Sometimes it takes a momentous occasion to make you slow down, look around and take stock. Although we seem to be endlessly evaluating, quantifying and assessing the impact our programs are having on the communities where we work, it is at the smallest scale, the individual, where the real significance of what we do resonates most profoundly... where that little voice is the loudest.

On a recent trip to Addis I visited 16-year-old Abser, who started his academic career at the age of six when he joined our very first little school. After operating our school for one year we had to move locations due to government city plans to tear down the shanty area where we were located, sadly displacing our first group of students. When we re-located our school to the current location it was too far for the few students from that first year who remained in the original area to attend so we launched the Scholarship Program and funded them to attend a near-by private school. From the beginning we were determined not to loose track of individuals that we were supporting, because everyone matters.

Abser at home studying Amharic.

Abser at home studying Amharic.

When I arrive at Abser’s house I am amazed to find that he had been living the past 10 years in this one room structure, made from all sorts of materials in a post-shanty, shanty town with his mom and older sister. He gives us a warm welcome and immediately begins preparing the coffee and popcorn. Abser is a tall boy with a lovely smile and a gentle manner. Women have raised him and it shows. His mother arrives a few moments later to join the coffee ceremony preparations. She works as a cook nearby and earns 900ETB/month ($56, £29). The sister works as a daily labourer when work is available, although she is joining our Vocational Training program this fall. They barely scrape by each month but they are happy and generous. Abser tells us that he has just finished writing the Grade 10 national exam and he is anxiously waiting for the results, which will determine whether or not he continues on in Grade 11 towards university or leaves school now and does vocational training. He gives a shy smile and says he is confident that he has scored well and he doesn’t hesitate to say that he plans to study Mechanical Engineering at university.

Abser at home with his mother and sister.

Abser at home with his mother and sister.

So what have these 10 years of support meant for Abser and his family? Education is a long-term investment. If you want immediate returns, this is not the program for you. You begin supporting a child in Kindergarten and it takes years and years before you see what difference an education can make. Of course we all know the importance of education, how it has and will continue to lift people out of poverty, but looking at rising primary school enrollment numbers doesn’t speak about the individual struggle, the long agonizing wait to see the rewards. It doesn’t tell you about the mother who sacrifices because she knows if she is patient, if she lets the education seed get planted, if she nurtures it and protects it against the elements… one day it will bear fruit. One day she won’t have to watch her children live in poverty.

Abser's house against the back drop of a growing Addis Ababa.

Abser's house against the back drop of a growing Addis Ababa.

So in our 10th Anniversary year I was incredibly humbled to see just how our long-term investment in Abser was doing. Because while we have been busy growing in numbers and expanding our reach, Abser has been here going to class every day, doing his homework and, together with his mom and sister, nurturing the education seed that will one day lift them all out of poverty.

 

Little Voice is 10 YEARS young!

A grade 5 student at our primary school

A grade 5 student at our primary school

It is hard to believe that it has been 10 years since we opened our first Home for Children with 5 street children and offered 80 Kindergarten students free education. What a journey it has been. It is incredible to think that we have grown from the 3 of us co-founders to over 60 national staff and from a hand full of children to a community of over 2,500 direct beneficiaries. We have learned many valuable lessons during the past decade; some of those lessons have been difficult and others have enabled us to improve our programs and deliver better services to our beneficiaries. Here are a few key lessons we have learned:

1) Seriously disadvantaged children can thrive in a supportive educational environment - this is a lesson we have learned by running the TOP schools in our district, schools where ALL the students come from economically challenging backgrounds. The students at our schools out-perform both public and private school students in our district because we go the extra mile to ensure our students (and their families) get all the support they need.             

2) What drives the women in our microfinance program is learning HOW to run a business - time and again we have been told by the women in our microfinance program that the key ingredient in our program is not the loan but the training. Underpinning their successful businesses are the tools and skills acquired through our Business Training program and, even more importantly, is the confidence they gain because of that knowledge.

And most crucially...

3) We may have a LITTLE voice but we can make a BIG impact - our focus has always been on quality over quantity because we believe that enabling lasting change in a few is better than fleeting change for many. We set out to be a voice for those who were not being heard, to be that helping hand so many of US have benefited from and would not be where we are today with out it, to show that if we all had access to the same advantages (ie. quality education) in life then there would be little difference between the have's and have not's when it came to success.

And while there is still lots to be done, I do believe that on our 10th birthday we have much to celebrate.