Published Mon, Dec 10, 18.
Written by Scott Chleborad.
“Give a man a fish, feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish, feed him for a lifetime.” Sustainability is of utmost importance in changing a community. Sustainability is at the very core of Adams Thermal Foundation (ATF) programs, integrated into every facet of the operation. This is especially true in ATF’s Self-Help Group (SHG) program.
A SHG is comprised of 10-20 struggling community members. These community members are most often widowed women who lack the basic skills required to sufficiently earn enough income to provide for their family. ATF provides skills training to the women, teaching them to sew, weave, cook, or otherwise create a marketable product. The group also receives financial and business training on how to run a business, how much profit to keep, how much to reinvest, how much to save, etc. ATF then provides the group with a small loan of, on average, $200, which acts as seed money to get the SHG’s business up and running. The group uses the loan to act on the training they’ve received by making products and selling them to the community for profit.
As last reported in 2014 by the World Bank, Ethiopia’s Gross Domestic Product per capita was $316 (USD). While the cost of goods (not including housing or labor) being roughly the same as it is stateside, the average person in Ethiopia makes less than $1 per day! This number is significantly lower in the regions where Adams Thermal Foundation (ATF) is operating. With ATF targeting the poorest of the poor, it is not uncommon for a family of five or six to be making $1
While the SHG training focuses largely on economic empowerment through entrepreneurship, training also includes life skills. The goal is to bring about holistic change in more than just the financial realm as life training is provided in the areas of sanitation and hygiene, childcare and reproductive health, social development, spiritual growth, and more.
The model does not take families from rags to riches overnight, but is a sustainable model that will continue to run long after ATF’s involvement. ATF has an administrative staff to oversee the SHGs, monitor the finances, help with business decisions, and have a system of accountability, but the goal of the program is to empower the members to be completely self-sustainable for decades to come.
Right now, there are 162 SHG members, comprising 11 Self-Help Groups. These numbers will inevitably grow as the community sees the positive impact the program is implementing. Current SHGs are interested in collaborating with other SHGs with hopes of combining a portion of their capital so that they could have a permanent market space to sell their goods. Most products are sold out of a residence and not in a commercial market setting.
Self-Help Groups have a very good foundation, coupled with the production and financial skills to mature as a business and lift themselves out of poverty. As the program continues to demonstrate success and impact the community, there is little doubt that more struggling yet ambitious citizens of the community will have interest in joining or starting a group of their own.
Adams Thermal Foundation celebrates the opportunity to reach out through the business world to show Christ’s love not only “with words or speech, but in actions and in truth.”
“If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need, but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in that person? Dear children, let us not love with words or speech, but with actions and in truth.” – 1 John 3:17-18.