Karl Marx would not approve of what we are doing. But Carl Jung would. Network for Africa and its local partners support survivors of conflict as they chart a path out of trauma and back to living a fulfilling life. Counselling is a vital part of the process. But without a way to make money, it is easy to slip back into feeling stressed, anxious or depressed. That’s why it’s essential to offer our counselling “graduates” a helping hand in setting up small businesses, otherwise known as livelihoods.
At our project in Sierra Leone, 238 members of our original set of nine self-help groups have increased their daily income by an average of 340 % since they received livelihood inputs in April 2022. That’s an average of £54 or $66 per person.
This is an astonishing result, given an inflation rate of more than 40% in Sierra Leone, as well as currency depreciation. Members say they now feel positive about being able to provide for their families’ needs. When we conducted a survey, 99% of them told us they now feel proud, whereas before counselling began, 99% said they had “nothing to be proud of.”
Another happy byproduct: the women taking part are now earning more than the men. This is significant in traditional societies where women have lower status than men. We hope this will contribute to a gradual change in attitudes, as well as increasing women’s self-confidence.
How Does It Work?
Network for Africa and our local partner, Conforti, support 15 self-help groups in Port Loko district. Of these, 9 received livelihoods inputs in 2022. All members are either people with mental illnesses/epilepsy or their caregivers, who have had support from Conforti and are ready for the next stage in their recovery.
Livelihoods support involves small grants, distributed through the self-help groups, to invest in business activities. These include travelling to monthly district wholesale markets to buy products in bulk (e.g. onions, tinned fish, soap, toothpaste) and selling them in their communities; buying ingredients to make food for sale (e.g. baking bread, baking ‘kanya’, a sort of biscuit made of groundnuts, rice flour, oil and sugar). One member set himself up as a mobile phone top-up merchant for his village, while an amputee member was able to return to tailoring.
The Future
We have six newer self-help groups in Sierra Leone, formed at the end of 2022. Following counselling and training from our partner, Conforti, they are at the next stage of their recovery. They are trained in how to run a village savings and loans group, and how to manage a small business. Some are already engaged in limited business activities on a small scale and are saving an average of £13.50 or $17 per person. We would like to offer them the same opportunity to start businesses as we gave our original nine self-help groups. This will cost a total of £3,428 or $4,215.
We also have a group of people who had limbs amputated by terrorists during Sierra Leone’s civil war. We will need £582 or $715 to start their self-help group and to provide livelihoods money.
If you, or someone you know, would like to contribute toward these costs, please visit our donation page.
Thank you for your continuing help as we plan the seeds of prosperity.