By Alou Doumbia, Field Director
Mali Rising Foundation is trying something new to make sure our Girls Project is sustainable — micro-finance loans through our Mothers’ Loan Fund.
With this new micro-finance project, more than 30 mothers in our three pilot villages will benefit from credit to finance their small businesses. According to these women, no organization has done as much as Mali Rising Foundation to help them educate their girls because these funds will allow them to earn profits that they will save to finance the education costs of their daughters.
Mothers and grandmothers in the village of Beneko (home to Cliff and Nita Bailey Middle School) celebrate the establishment of the Mothers Loan Fund to help mothers pay for girls’ school fees in a sustainable way.
Women will use our loan funds to support their small businesses (for example, selling products in the local markets). Profits will pay back the interest-free loan while also allowing mothers to make enough to cover their girls’ school fees. School fees cover basics like chalk so only cost around $5 a year…but that’s a lot of money for most Mali Rising families.
Why is Mali Rising doing this micro-finance work? As part of our Girls Project, our donors pay for girls’ school fees in a village for 3 years while the Project is launched in a village. But after those three years, we need to move onto launching the project for new girls in new villages. By helping the mothers raise the funds themselves, we create a long-term, sustainable way for mothers to keep their girls in school.
Thank you to all the generous donors who make the Mothers’ Loan Fund possible!
