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The mission of Samaritan's Purse International Relief is to provide spiritual and physical aid to victims of war, natural disasters, disease, famine, poverty, and persecution. However, the interventions do not end with providing aid. With a shift from emergency relief to building resilience, the Village Savings and Loan Associations (VSLA) scheme is the beginning of Samaritan’s Purse South Sudan’s wider engagement with the community; to build their capacity in order to ensure a future that is sustainable, self-sufficient, and resilient.
The community is organized into groups and members receive training on six major modules entailing identification of members and group leadership, development of a group constitution, management of savings, management of loans, and group dynamics, emphasizing proper record keeping in all financial transactions. With funding from the USAID’s Office of Humanitarian Assistance (BHA), Samaritan’s Purse is able to implement VSLA activities in Mayendit, Abiemnhom and Mayom. Business committees are trained on transferable entrepreneurship skills, basic market assessment, creation of feasible business plans, and management to enhance their economic capacities.
Loans support group members establish collective income generating activities within the markets in their localities, which then boosts their household income, empowering them to meet their basic needs.
The VSLA concept was embraced by other non-direct beneficiaries of the project, especially in Mayendit.
Based on their observation of the benefits reaped by group members, several other self-selected and voluntarily steered VSLA groups were formed.
A Positive Coping Mechanism for Youth
Abraham Nhial of the Mayom county was hard pressed to provide for his young family. He thought of several business ideas to help him create a sustainable livelihood but could not execute them because he lacked adequate startup capital. When he joined a VSLA group, he was able to take a loan of 40,000SSP with a term of two months, and a service charge of 20%, which he was easily able to pay back
“I bought four mini solar panels that could charge eight phones at a time, and I charged SSP100 per phone,” Abraham said explaining his new business venture. With the funds generated from the first month of transactions, he acquired a bigger solar panel, further increasing his income. He was able to pay back his loan in full within the stipulated two months. With the trainings provided and continuous follow up and mentorship by Samaritan’s Purse, he remained committed to his phone charging business. “I am so grateful to Samaritan’s Purse and USAID for supporting the Yielnyuoth VSLA group. Now I can provide food and medical assistance to my wife and my two children without much struggle,” he said. “Given the notable change that this has brought to my life and family, I will continue to encourage my fellow youths to abandon negative livelihood coping activities such as cattle raiding and embrace positive options like small scale businesses in order to boost their household income and promote peace in our community in the long run.”
Children and youth makeup a large portion of South Sudan’s population with close to 65% of them being under the age of 25. VLSA activities ensure young people in the community remain engaged and are able to see witness short term outcomes.
Beneficiaries of the program receive training in identifying viable livelihoods options, goal setting, registration with the local market authorities, and management of their new livelihood activities. Samaritan’s Purse also supports beneficiaries with entrepreneurship skills coupled with close support supervision, onsite mentoring and monitoring, which contributed greatly to sustaining the livelihood activities established by the beneficiaries.
An Opportunity to Address Nutrition
Long spells of the dry season, and intense flooding during the wet season, often makes it difficult for communities to sustain the production of crops and vegetables, bringing a gap in income generation for themselves, and food and nutrition for their families. In order to build the resilience of the community, the Guirbai women’s group in Abiemnom, comprised of 15 women, participated in the VSLA program which trained members of the community to invest as a saving, a certain amount of money, that would later allow them to borrow from the pool. Wanting to make the most of the opportunity at hand, the Guirbai women’s group, comprising of 15 women, decided to accumulate their savings and establish a business venture together.
After three months of consistent savings, the group was able to save a startup capital of 180,000 SSP, equivalent to approximately $450, and use this to establish a bakery group to bake bread. They made a profit of 4,800 SSP per day of sale, approximately $12. “The profit we generate per day of sales of bread is complementing the one we get from vegetable sales. The bread making has improved the children feeding within our neighborhood and above all our members have become better planners than before.
We thank you for the wonderful effort and for recognizing the women in the community,” Adau Ajak, the bookkeeper of the group said.
Addressing Food Security and Creating a Sustainable Livelihood
As the sole breadwinner of her family, Nyachak Bantor Tut looks to farming as her primary source of income. As beneficiary with Samaritan’s Purse, she was inducted into an agriculture training group and was supported with improved seeds like Okra, Onion, Jute Mallow, Pumpkin, Collards, Maize, Sorghum and Cowpea. These improved seeds not only allowed her to cater to the nutritional needs of her family, but also helped her harvest a surplus to sell in the market, causing her to generate more income.
However, this was not enough to venture into a business of her own. After she received training in the VSLA program, Nyachak was able to use her small savings from farming, and also secure a loan, to purchase utensils like kettles, cups, and plates for setting up a shelter for a tea business in the market.
She sells a cup of tea at 100SSP and a cup of coffee at 200SSP. “On daily basis, I make over 10,000SSP,” she said. This is equivalent to about $25 which she then uses to cover running costs, etc. “I save 2000SSP weekly during the group’s VSLA savings” she added. This is about $5 a week.
Nyachak continues farming, and runs her business simultaneously. She works very hard to balance the two livelihoods. “I want to be my own boss,” she says. Juggling both her vegetable garden and her tea business has significantly increased her income generation. With this financial increase, Nyachak is able to provide for her family by buying clothes and scholastic materials for her children. If she saves enough, she hopes to expand her tea business in to a fullfledged restaurant. “I wish my fellow women should also join this group savings and benefit like me because as it propels me to achieving my dream,” she said in conclusion.
In 2021-2022 alone, over 4,000 individuals were involved in VSLA activities with close to 30,000,000 SSP, an equivalent of around USD 74,000 in cumulative savings. About 18,500,000 SSP (USD 46,000 approx.) was granted to group members as loans, which they returned with interest based on the provisions of their respective group constitutions.
Samaritan’s Purse has been serving in South Sudan since 1993, long before the country received independence. Over the last close to three decades, the organization has been providing emergency relief in Northern and Western Bahr-el-Ghazal, Unity State, and Upper Nile areas. Programming sectors include food security and livelihoods (FSL); health; water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH); food assistance, nutrition and Christian ministry.