Back in 2015 we started to support a project run by a partner (FESODEV) working in the south of Malawi. The initiative was focused on helping teenage girls in a remote rural village to continue with schooling. The first problem to overcome was that of actually getting to school - which was a long way away. The solution was buying bicycles, which the girls shared. Caroline Read and husband Andy were able to be present when these were first given out. Then there was a problem with studying in the evening, in a community with no electricity. The girls had been burning grasses for light! The solution was small solar lamps.
Roll the clock forward to 2024 when Caroline and Andy once more met up with FESODEV founders and heard that one of these girls had recently graduated as a doctor, and others were working in local government departments!
We have supported the work of Links USA in purchasing the freedom of a family caught in a slave labour camp in South Asia. Through the empowerment of their micro-business development program, they were also able to help this family develop a sustainable business to make sure they never have to return to this situation again.
One of the key inputs we have been involved in, working through Links Charity, has been funding and training linked to Microenterprise development. This is a scheme whereby partners in overseas communities are trained to give out and administer very small loans to start sustainable businesses - enabling recipient individuals/families to buy food, school uniforms, books and so on. Communicate-ed has given money for the loan ‘pots’. We recently received a report concerning the ongoing success of one such scheme. More than 10 years ago, Caroline helped with training setting up a scheme in an area of Malawi called Kalulu. Initially perhaps ten loans were able to be given out. The latest report is that 110 people have ‘graduated’ from the scheme and have sustainable businesses; 263 more are currently borrowing; a further 75 are borrowing from an offshoot scheme aimed at Agricultural projects!
Communicate-ed founder Caroline Read first visited UWCM in Uganda in 2007 and we have been supporting their work ever since. Their stated mandate is to “Empower the poorest, especially women and children, to transform their lives.” They concentrate on hard to reach communities and areas, working in the Elgon region of Uganda. Communicate-ed has provided support in numerous areas, including recently, micro-enterprise projects, financial aid to enable high school age children to complete education, food relief after flooding. Recently we have invested in staff development/training aimed at helping the organisation to become more self-sustaining.
