By Alou Doumbia, Construction and Administrative Manager

In most rural villages in Mali, women play a fairly important role in taking charge of children's school fees. But to save money, many men prefer to enroll only boys in school and prefer girls stay at home with their mother.

Yet who pays the students' tuition fees? In the majority of our schools, women pay school fees. To raise funds for the fees, women may cut firewood, pick shea nuts to make shea butter, grow vegetables in gardens to sell at the market, or grow.

To help women increase their income in order to pa children's school fees, we have established the Mothers’ Loan Fund to finance women's economic activities in the pilot villages of the girls project. The economic activities are decided by the women themselves, but we provide a group of village mothers with the seed funds to grant loans to members. Each member uses the funds to improve their small business efforts, with the profits going to girls’ school fees.

The Womens’ Loan Funds have been operating in the village of Beneko, Simidji and Kolimba for several years now. Almost one hundred women participate each year. Thanks to the Fund, some women recognize that they have the opportunity to save money up to 25,000 CFA (about $47) in six months. This may not sound like much money, but it can pay the school fees for anywhere from 4 to 8 students!

For example, currently in Simidji, women compete for the sale of orange, papayas and vegetables such as tomatoes. Three years ago, with the Fund the women were able to pay the school fees of all the girls in the middle school.

In 2021, we are expanding the Mothers Loan Fund to five new partner villages where the Girls Project is active – Sebela, Zambougou, N’Tentou, Tamala, and Diorila. We can’t wait to see what the mothers in these villages accomplish with their funds!