By Teghen Bih | Project Leader
To increase household income of vulnerable populations, (single mothers, conflict-affected women and girls, women living with disability) through the creation of micro businesses, the economic security and livelihood department of Reach Out Cameroon worked tirelessly in 2023 to archive its goal. Through door-to-door identification, the department was able to identify and build the capacities of vulnerable women and girls on business management, bookkeeping, savings and sexual reproductive health and rights.
In other for a vulnerable woman to actively engage and sustain a micro business, she needs to master some business management skills such as finance management, marketing and human resources. These are crucial to the start and maintenance of good business.
Bookkeeping (stock recording) is also an essential part of a business on which the capacities of women are built. Working with grassroots women who face the challenge of illiteracy (85%) of project beneficiaries, a simple and easy-to-understand method of bookkeeping is taught during capacity-building sessions.
Savings is another great theme which we dwell on. Building their capacities on easy ways to save in a dangling economy is important.
Emphasizing on family planning under sexual reproductive health and rights is for the following reasons:
Building and strengthening their capacities for family planning helps prevent unintended pregnancies which can have significant social and economic implications. By building their capacities on how to reduce unintended pregnancies, this theme helps beneficiaries avoid the emotional and financial stress associated with raising more children than they desire or can adequately support.
In addition, family planning plays a crucial role in breaking the circle of poverty in that it can help individuals/families plan their pregnancies, allocate resources invest in education and pursue economic opportunities. Smaller family sizes can lead to increased household income, and improved living standards thereby reducing poverty.
Noticing an increase in the psychosocial trauma Internally Displaced women go through, it was necessary to integrate Psychosocial First Aid into our package. This helped beneficiaries as it facilitated their healing process from their conflict experiences back in their communities; this also helped them to focus on their business thereby improving their livelihood.
In 2023, Reach Out Cameroon identified and empowered 100 women and girls in 3 regions of the county (North West, South West and Littoral regions). To improve the household income and make them economically self-reliant and resilient in their communities, the women and girls were identified and empowered at different phases.
With over 30 on-site visits conducted in 2023, the team was able to track beneficiaries’ improvement in business and give recommendations where challenges were raised. Monitoring their monthly business capital and profits, a baseline midterm and end-line survey was conducted to ascertain the impact of the project. Indicators such as beneficiaries' number of eating times a day, their average monthly income/expenditure of beneficiaries, and average monthly consumption level of beneficiaries. During the end-line survey, it was discovered that beneficiaries' average monthly income had significantly increased to 75000 while the monthly average expenditure had increased to 60,000 comparatively to baseline which was 20,000 FRS for both income and expenditure. The number of beneficiaries who increased their number of feeding times a day to 3 times or more increased to 39 (end-line survey) compared to 91 who could feed just once a day (baseline survey).
This was how your donations helped several vulnerable women graduate from poverty in 2023. Thank you so much for the impact you create in the communities. While believing and hoping 2024 be a more impactful year, we continue to rely on your efforts to change lives and help vulnerable women and girls in Cameroon improve their livelihood.
By Teghen Bih | Project Leader
By Teghen Bih | Project Leader
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