Dear readers, Mala

Mala, Women’s Economic and Livelihood Officer, CARE Vanuatu

Roslyn saves her community from disaster

“If this house was to fall down,” Roslyn says, “Everyone would be dead inside.”

It was April 2020 and Cyclone Harold was wreaking havoc through the Pacific Islands. In Vanuatu, it destroyed around 17,000 homes and tragically killed dozens of people. But on a small island called Pentecost, a woman named Roslyn managed to save the lives of her neighbours and friends.

The reason? Roslyn was ready. Luckily for her neighbours, Roslyn had become a member of CARE’s Community Disaster and Climate Change Committee, so she knew exactly what to do to save lives in a disaster.

“I told everyone, ‘Now we must get ready! Put the rocks on top of the houses! Get your torches ready! Check around your house to see what trees are close to the house and cut them down!’” says Roslyn.

In the morning, she immediately began assessing the needs of her community and started repairing the damage.

She organised deliveries of food and equipment to be transported from the mainland and managed the response until our emergency response team arrived.

“We counted on Roslyn to direct the distribution of the items to those who needed them most because she knows the community,” says Jessinta Natu, Shelter Assistance Officer for CARE in Vanuatu. “She knows the households, and who needs what.”

This is why CARE partners with local leaders like Roslyn — because no one knows a community like they do!

Empowering women through financial literacy and small businesses

A mother of two from Tanna Island in Vanuatu, Jacklyne always thought of herself as a full-time housewife. She knew how to sew but never thought it was a skill that could bring in money for her family. Despite the family’s spending habits meaning they often struggled to pay for their children’s school fees and other household items, the idea of Jacklyne getting a job or starting a business just didn’t seem possible to her. Nor did her husband think she had the right to contribute or comment about his financial management — it simply wasn’t how things were done in their community.

But when CARE visited her village and held a Family Financial Management workshop, things started to change. Men and women learned how sharing financial decision-making and supporting women to pursue paid work benefits everyone and can even be a way out of poverty.

Village Savings and Loans Associations (VSLAs)

In 1991, CARE launched a program in Niger that would change the world – at least parts of it. It harnessed the ancient practice of group savings in a concept called Village Savings and Loan Associations (VSLA). The premise is simple: VSLA members (mostly women) make a small deposit into the lockbox every week. Three senior members of the group are given keys and the box can only be opened when all three are present.

Members can then request small loans and then pay them back over time with interest (usually about 10 per cent). The interest comes back to the group as profit, which they can then invest into their families, their communities, and their businesses. It’s an incredibly sustainable, locally-led solution that empowers women who have previously been prevented from playing an active role in leading their families out of poverty.

And the best part is, it really works! Across the 200,000+ VSLA groups that CARE has supported around the world, these simple lockboxes enable an estimated 30 million transactions a month – or $350 million per year.

A member of the first-ever VSLA established in Niger in 1991, Fatchima has witnessed the powerful impact the program has had on her family and community. Over the past 30 years, Fatchima has found financial freedom in the peanut oil and home remedy businesses she runs, having started and expanded them with loans from her VSLA group — which she is still a member of today!

As a child bride who was forced to drop out of school at a young age, Fatchima didn’t think it was possible for girls to have dreams. But because of her involvement in the VSLA, Fatchima’s granddaughter Nana now dreams of becoming a teacher.

“The workshop made us realise our mistakes and our money misuse in our home,” Jacklyne says. “We never knew how to negotiate, and now my husband and I sit down together and have discussions before we do anything.”

After the workshop, CARE workers spoke to Jacklyne and other women in her community about starting a Village Savings and Loans Association (VSLA), so they could bring in their own money as well. When she mentioned her skills in sewing, Jacklyne was encouraged to start her own small business.

“This has greatly helped and benefited my small family and me,” Jacklyne says. “Money that I borrow from the VSLA I use to purchase material for my sewing business. I sew island dresses and shirts, modern dresses and many other products.”

Want to learn more about our work in Vanuatu?

To find out more about CARE Australia’s work in Vanuatu, click here to visit our website www.care.org.au/country/vanuatu or contact info@care.org.au