by Munisa Rashid
Here in Moqor district of Ghazni province – 20 women with disabilities or the ones whose family members have disabilities; have come together and created Rana Self-Help Group to have economical Backup for the due day.
This group was created in 2020 with the financial assistance of the European Union under BACEDA (Building Active Citizenship and Equality for Persons with Disabilities in Afghanistan) project and under the leadership of the Disability Programme of the Swedish Committee for Afghanistan. From that time till now they have gotten many trainings in the field of effective saving, money management and wealth stability from the BACEDA project staff.
A member of this group, Ms. Nahida, who is acting as the secretary in the group; said: “We didn’t have any economical backup before, and we always asked for money from our family members. Since we created this group, we are not needy anymore. We can have saving and use it when needed. The other goodness this group has is starting small businesses with the loan we get from the group so that we can stand on our own feet more stable. With the help of the loan, I received from the group, I bought a sheep with the cost of 5,000 Afn and now it costs more than 10,000 Afn.”
Another member of the group, Ms. Nasima has joined on behalf of her son Nabiullah with mental disability. She has borrowed 9,000 Afn ($100) from the group and started tailoring with it in her home. Not only she has rehabilitated herself economically, but she has trained tailoring for four other women to help the needy ones. Ms. Nasima said: “Joining this group changed our life. My husband is a daily-wage worker, and my son has mental disability. I was familiar with tailoring, but I didn’t have machine and other equipment. With the help of the loan, I bought machine and equipment and started my own business. Nowadays I have 500 Afn ($6) daily income and my trainees also have 100 to 150 Afn ($ 1 to 2) daily. I thankful of SCA for the creation of this group and thanks to the European Union for its financial support.”
Rana SHG is a unique group among the tens of the SHGs in Ghazni province that have been able to have effective saving and wealth stability and have enabled more Persons with Disabilities economically.