“Micro credit for female heads of house hold", a cooperative project between "The Association for the Development and Enhancement of Women" and "The Japanese Embassy" to support the Fhhs in the slums and empower her economically”

Believing from "The association for the Development and Enhancement of Women" and "The Japanese embassy" for the importance of small and micro projects to provide job opportunities for the Female heads of house hold to improve their standard of living. The implementation of the project of " Micro credit for female heads of house hold" which started in August 2016 and will be finished in August 2019 in Al-Gaiyara area in Masr Al-Qadeema, continues in order to support the FHHSin this place, to start or develop projects for them, by providing them with micro credit which improves the standard life level of their families.

1341 women is getting benefited from the project until now

The project has exceeded its goal since it began, where the number of the beneficiaries reached 83 new beneficiaries since March 2019 until the end of May 2019, in total of only 2 million and 49 thousand Egyptian pounds, by providing them with the group loans, starting from EGP 2,000 to EGP 3,000 per each beneficiary. Therefore, the total number of the beneficiaries reaches from the period of August 2016 until now, to one thousand three hundred and 41 beneficiary, in total of only three million three hundred thirty thousand and five hundred Egyptian pounds.

Deliberated steps to insure the eligibility of the beneficiaries for the loan

To reach the targeted group, and to make sure of the eligibility of each recipient, there are some steps to be done. One of the main steps is conducting propaganda for the program, in Al-Gaiyara area "the targeted area for the project", by explaining and spreading the program for the targeted groups who already have an established projects in the mentioned area. Coupled with continuing the work with the natural leaders of Al-Gaiyara areas and the nearby places, because that they take part in inquiring the participants who are applying to the project. In the case of having initial approval for the applied group to get a loan, their field trips are done through the addresses listed in the application,and making sure of the initial information that has been got, in addition to doing a case study and an economic study for the client project, and finally, the loan is disbursed to the client, in addition to following up with her to ensure that she will pay it on the agreed upon dates.

Special trainings

For the success of the project and its continuity, the beneficiaries have been chosen upon a set of standards. Most important standard is that the beneficiary must be carrying a valid national ID, and her age falls between 21 years and 62 years old. She has to be known with the handiness of good behavior and good reputation. Making sure that the beneficiary lives in the specified area "Al-Gaiyara" and established her project there as well, with requiring that this project has to be already active and this beneficiary is the female head of house hold for her family, or contributing in it. Periodically, training sessions are being held for the beneficiaries to train them on "The way of presenting their projects", "How to save their products", and "How to calculate their revenues and expenses". Additionally, heeding that beneficiaries are sharing together their experiences within the similar projects. Also on a regular bases, the beneficiaries are being followed by the project coordinators, and providing them with technical support time by time to could properly manage their projects. Correspondingly, following up with the inflation and the purchasing value of the Egyptian pound and the effect of that on the beneficiaries' projects and their revenues, in order to keep the beneficiaries up with the market, and avoid any losses that might happen to their projects.

42 different project

The project insured on the importance of the variety of the projects that are going to be founded by the clients, where it reached to 42 different project, among various types like (commercial—industrial—craft—manual—food) as projects of ((Augury- beauty and Makeup Tools—sewing—grocery—electrical-devices—hairdresser—manufacturing house ware—leather goods—Mobile devices—distributing gas pipes—hardware—foods-- handicrafts).

One of the beneficiaries: the loan helped me to expand my project, pay for my lends, cover my house's essential requirements, and prepare my daughter for the marriage

My name is S.A. I am 48 years old, owning the prep certificate, I got married 13 years ago, and my husband works as a sculpture, I have a girl in her fifth grade, and we are living in Al-Gaiyara area, in Masr Al-Qadima's neighborhood. I love to work since I was young, as I was working before I get married, and I continued working after being married, but I have stopped because of my pregnancy. After giving birth for my daughter, I was concerned in educating her until she got older. I thought again that I have to work in order to help my house and my husband and buy what I and my daughter want. In that time, I thought of creating small project for me, and I have actually rented a small place and started a library as what I could, and the life was easy, but because I did not have a capital I was not buying goods for the library, and it was going less by time. Here I thought of applying for a loan, and when I asked in my neighborhood, all of my neighbors recommended the Association for the Development and Enhancement of Women, and it offers loans for women to expand their projects. I went to ADEW and I asked about the loan and its steps and conditions. I liked the idea and I made a group and went to receive the loan, which was EGP 3,000 per each one of us. And that helped me to buy the missing goods in my library and I enlarge my project by opening grocery-shop, and I got a revenue that helped me to pay the installments and cover my house's needs at the same time. And when I repay the loan, I will apply on a new one to buy a refrigerator.