| Wanaziwi |
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"WanaZiwi" aims to create economic opportunities for a group of 7 deaf women from the Dodoma region in Tanzania. The SIFE University of Groningen team will help them to set up their own business in making hand-made goods such as purses, handbags, and pillow cases. These products will be sold in Tanzania, and later on in The Netherlands, and possibly Germany. The team will prepare series of workshops so the women can learn the financial, business, production, and market economic skills needed to manage such a business. By doing so, these women will have a chance to become financially independent. Indirectly, we will also contribute to the improvement of their family's financial situation.
The project is a continuation of last year's activities. During this academic year, we have made a big progress on the project. We got in touch with several Tanzanian citizens living in Groningen, as well as teachers from the university, who provide feedback and advice us on the next steps. We have been in constant contact with the women in Tanzania, who are already busy and prepare samples of the products and search for buyers in their local area.
Additionally, to finance the project we have been engaged in various fundraising activities. We approached a local Lions Club, had our project published on the 1%CLUB website, and applied for Building Bridges grant. Earlier this year, we set up a mini-project at secondary school Dingstede which was about micro credit and entrepreneurship. We gave 7 presentations about the WanaZiwi project and 8 workshops about micro-credits. After that, each of the 1200 students received 5 Euros as a loan. Their task was to multiply this amount by creative entrepreneurship. They came up with many good ideas. Some of them acted as street performers, others baked cookies and sold them in their community. It was a great opportunity for these young people to see how much you can do with as little as 5 euro's. In the end they paid back their loan, and the profit they made was transferred to the WanaZiwi project.
Overall, we have received the following funds:
The money will be used to build a sewing facility in Tanzania, buy sewing machines, fabric, furniture, etc., and also to pay the initial wages to the women.
At the moment, the team is preparing an 'inspiration booklet' to send to the women. Soon, we will finish developing the workshops (curriculum) which can be given to the women this summer. We, as a project team, during the year, participated in a variety of workshops about setting up a project in Tanzania, raising funds, and intercultural work. This summer, part of the project team will travel to Tanzania to give some workshops and assist in registering the business.
We expect that, by the end of 2010, the business will be up and running and the women will have a relatively stable monthly income.
To check our most-up-to date news, please visit:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/WanaZiwi/337572156503
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