Story summary

Four girls and five boys make up Seada's family of nine children, who lives in the Harshin Somali region. Five years ago, Seada's husband passed away, leaving her to care for their children by herself. With funding support from Irish Aid, Save the Children established an income-generating activity group (IGA) in 2021, and Seada and her friends joined.

Seada is the chairperson of the IGA group. The IGA is a collection of 15 individuals who pool their resources to save money and offer small loans. An IGA's main objective is to offer straightforward savings and lending facilities in a community where access to official financial services is limited. The 21 women who make up the IGA group that Seada is currently leading have access to start-up financing, which enables them to participate in a variety of income-generating activities, start generating sustainable revenue, and support their families.

The IGA group has also provided Seada and her friends with an opportunity to spread knowledge about harmful traditional practices (HPTs) like FGM, early marriage, and forced marriage.

Seada's story in her own words (Quotes)

"My name is Seada, and I am a mother of nine kids as well as a member of the IGA organisation formed by Save the Children. In addition to being a member, I also chair the group. All of my daughters are in school, despite the fact that I'm a busy single mother. I'll go to whatever lengths to make sure my kids go to school. I want them to succeed in their academic endeavors. All of my daughters, with the exception of my oldest, had not had circumcision. This is because, i now had realized that FGM is harmful to girls and women".

"The income I receive from the IGA has made it possible for me to support my family and lessened my financial burden."

"In our group, each participant would make a saving of 150 birr every month. Save the Children gave us a startup fund of 50,000 Birr last year, and this year we received an additional 283,000 birr. Our first purchase contained 85 goats, however 11 of them died due to the drought. Then, we made a profit of 55,000 Birr by selling the remaining goats. We increased the group's activity by using a share of the revenue. We want to get involved in agriculture, primarily through growing and distributing vegetables, breeding cattle, and running the company as a cooperative. Save the Children has given us hope that our goals would be realized and given us the power to self-reliance.

"After the community dialogue forum here was finished, participants were able to unite and express their determination to put a stop to all types of FGM and other traditional harmful practises that were common in our area. In addition, we were able to concur that it is our duty to take care of our own difficulties. Because of this activity, most of the villagers have opted to stop cutting their young girls and have banned all types of HTPs".

"The community dialogue forum currently serves as a social platform for settling disputes and raising money for those in need, in addition to being a venue for debating HTPs like FGM and early marriage".

"FGM is now significantly declining in this area. I was ignorant of FGM at the time, but I knew that none of my other girls had it. My firstborn had it. The numerous FGM advocacy initiatives have taught us a lot".

"Seada and the locals are still concerned about early marriage."My 10th-grader fled the town after getting married of her own free will, but I tracked her down, brought her home, and sent her back to school. My child shouldn't be married too soon, please. I took this action because I now know more about FGM and early marriage and I educate others about it. For instance, the marriage of one of my relative's children was cancelled after we sent representatives from our IGA group, including myself, to counsel the parents. Thanks to the IGA group and the knowledge we received at our community discussion, we are now speaking up for ourselves". Says Seada

"In my view, the majority of early marriages are caused due to economic crisis of the family. Involving women in income-generating activities, in addition to raising awareness of the physical and emotional effects, will, in my opinion, help address the problem".

Background / Project informatio

Supporting Women and Girls in Ethiopia's lowlands to realize their rights, and live healthy and productive lives free from violence and abuse (Irish Aid Gender Equality) project is a five year project funded by Irish Aid. The project aims to contribute towards greater voice, protection and economic empowerment of women and girls, in Somali and Afar regions, by the end of 2025.
The project outcomes are: Adolescent girls and young women are economically and socially empowered and publicly advocate for their rights in the target communities, Reduced practice of negative gender norms that affect social and economic empowerment of women and girls by families and communities in program target areas and Strengthened policy implementation and mechanisms that protect rights of girls and women.