Project Title: Self-Help Group (SHG)
Donor: Kindernothilfe (KNH)
Project Location: Burao district
Project Duration: January 2014 to December 2026
Project Overview: Through SHGs, SOYDAVO seeks to empower women from low-income and vulnerable families and to help them mutually support each other. Ultimately, SHGs will provide a space for women’s long-term economic, social, and political development
Project Objectives:
- To build on people’s existing capacities so as to promote human rights for all vulnerable and marginalized people.
- Particular attention is given to the poorest women, children, and families.
- Target beneficiaries of SHG: Poorest community especially women in Burao
Background
The Self-Help Group approach is a four-year project funded by the Kindernothilfe – a German-based organization that promotes the SHG approach in 24 countries including Somaliland. Project implementation commenced in September 2014 and will come in Dec 2026.
The Self-Help Group Approach is a bottom-up approach that is aimed to empower the poorest sections of the communities through economic empowerment. The core principle of the approach is to provide the poorest women living in the IDPs or rural villages with the tools for changing their own lives based on their own priority needs and at their own pace.
The overall objective of the project is to empower the poorest women living in poverty through attitude change and training designed to challenge the women’s beliefs of seeing themselves as incapable poor. The approach provides women with the opportunity to utilize their God-given talents and potential without external support.
SOYDAVO launched the SHG project in September 2014. The approach has been effective and working in the right direction in empowering women and eradicating poverty in the IDPs. The approach starts by forming small women groups at grass root level created for the purpose of enabling the SHG members to obtain economic benefits out of their mutual responsibilities and benefits.
The benefits include mobilization of savings and credit facilities and the pursuit of individual and group enterprises based on agreed collateral-free loans and terms.