The path to socio-economic emancipation of the “manjaca”
Report from Guinea Bissau: here's how Mani Tese focuses on micro-credit and new women's savings groups, as part of the project "Let's involve everyone to build our future", co-financed by AICS
Political borders, cultural barriers
In the early 1990s, the intensification of armed clashes between the Senegalese army and the independentists of the Casamance province, on the border between Senegal and Guinea-Bissau, led to the abandonment of many villages on the Senegalese side, whose populations took refuge in Guinea-Bissau.
Located 3 kilometers from São Domingos, in the north of Guinea-Bissau, Beguingue 2 is a village founded in 1994 by Senegalese refugees on the lands of Beguingue 1, with the support of the UNHCR and the Guinean government. Today, the village is inhabited mainly by the ethnic group mango coming from the village of Nhafena, in Casamance, but actually originally from Guinea-Bissau itself.
That mango is an ethnic group characterized by strong religious-traditional values, which presents a patriarchal society, in which women remain in a relationship of subordination and dependence. For example, women mango They have no right to inherit from either their father or their husband. In exceptional cases, a daughter may inherit some of the property acquired by her mother during her lifetime.
Only recently, the mango They have acquired the right to education, but continue to be relegated to household chores and agricultural work, dedicating themselves to small-scale trade or other income-generating activities which, however, must be approved by their husband.
Socio-cultural emancipation comes from economic emancipation. In this sense, Mani Tese's intervention in the territory of São Domingos, Cacheu region, aims to create 10 new savings and (micro)credit groups – in English Village Savings and Loaning Groups (VSLG) – thanks to the project We involve everyoneə to build our future: Policies, training and work for an inclusive business!, co-financed by the Italian Agency for Development Cooperation (AICS).
A booklet for economic emancipation
VSL groups are a sort of community savings bank, usually composed of a majority of women who can thus independently manage their earnings and apply for loans to carry out income-generating activities without having to seek the approval of their husbands, fathers or brothers.
Since last February, Mani Tese has been training new groups that will receive a fund from the project to activate the savings/loan mechanism, thus ensuring the self-sustaining of the group's cash flow and its sustainability.
In the community of Biguinge 2, training takes place, as usual, in the shade of a large mango tree, near the gnawed and potholed asphalt strip that leads to the border with Senegal and Casamance. In the sultry heat of the early afternoon, the women mango of the VSL group called “No djubi” (literally “let's see”, in the sense of “let's see how the experience goes…”), a little sleepy and tired from the morning's work in the fields or at the market, listen to the animator of Mani Tese, mamma Zanda, which illustrates the functioning of the fund, the group's statute and the role of the members of the management committee.
To make the training more dynamic, the facilitator gives practical examples by showing the kit that each VSL group has received: a portable safe, savings books, cloth bags (for the different “funds” of the cash register), calculator, notebooks and stamps.
The stack of yellow booklets stands on the little table in the center of the circle of colorful robes and headdresses of the mango. Each will receive a booklet on which the “shares” corresponding to the francs deposited will be stamped. One stamp for every 500 francs. More stamps mean more shares, or a larger slice of profit when the till is opened at the end of the year, when the interest rates will be distributed (Interest) accumulated by the group. But saving more also allows you to request larger loans, according to the ratio 1:3. For example, if you save 10.000 francs, you can request a loan of 30.000 francs.
General attention is reawakened when we move on to the saving test. One by one, the mango of the "No djubi” are called to deposit their savings for the week in the designated bowl. Tempers flare, voices rise, causing some confusion among the two accountants in charge of receiving the francs, counting them and announcing them to the rest of the group. Mama Zanda is good at restoring order, using a few jokes that make the corpulent women burst into laughter.
The minimum amount to deposit is 500 francs, but it is not always mandatory to save, it depends on the availability of the moment. To start requesting loans, however, you will have to wait for the disbursement of the fund by Mani Tese, at the end of the training cycle.
Three Women and a Safe
“I am a daughter of this community,” she says proudly. Aminata Mendes, 24 years old, referring to Beguingue 2. She is not yet married and is one of the few girls in her community enrolled in the twelfth grade of school, equivalent to our last year of high school. “In the community not all girls attend school, sometimes their parents do not let them go also because of poverty.” Due to her level of education and her abilities – during the training she was one of the most involved and receptive – the group “No djubi” he chose her as one of the two accountants.
Aminata is determined to study medicine, saving the money she earns from working the land during the rainy season and borrowing from the group’s cash to pay for her studies in Bissau. “I feel a calling within me, I want to dedicate my life to this.” Unlike many young people her age, she does not intend to emigrate. “I am proud to stay and work in my country.” When she is a successful doctor, she wants to help her people by building a school in the community.
The leader and president of the group “No djubi", Eli Mendes, 42, is married and has 6 children. Like most of the women in the group, she also works the land and sells her products at the São Domingos market. She shares a cashew field with her husband. “He is happy that I am part of this group. I had heard from other nearby communities that they already had a savings bank like this, so I expressed our interest to Mani Tese.” With the money she manages to save, Eli wants to buy things for herself, some land to leave to her daughter who, according to tradition, mango he will only be able to inherit what belonged to his mother.
Isaura Gomes, 30 years old, she is originally from Caio, in the Cacheu region. In 1997, three years after the founding of the village Beguingue 2, where Senegalese refugees in Guinea Bissau were resettled, little Isaura joined her aunt who was already living in the village. Later, she married a young man mango with whom he had 5 children.
Last year, her husband died after a long illness. He was a public transport driver. The car he used for his job was sold by her husband's brothers, supposedly to support Isaura and her children, who lost their father.
Previously, her husband had inherited a cashew field from his father and had another that he shared with his brother. However, these fields are now managed by her brothers and her late husband's family. Isaura cannot claim any inheritance rights and is excluded from managing the fields. During the cashew harvest, she is employed as a simple picker and is paid a percentage of the amount collected.
“I will continue to fight for my survival and that of my children, which is why I signed up for the community’s savings and microcredit program, so that I can benefit from financing for agricultural activities and for the small business of local products that I intend to start,” says Isaura. “This will help me not to lose my dignity and to assert myself among the women of Beguingue 2.”