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Women's Cooperative in the Angelo Goveya Community - Malawi Water For People Leadership Fellow 2008 Permalink. In Malawi (and many African countries) it is very important to attend a funeral of a community member. You are viewed in a positive light if you belong to a ‘group’ and this, in turn, will solicit inquiries by other women in the community if they see a group of women wearing the same chitenje. As a result, this cooperative grew and grew. The women decided they would start another fund to help assist others with funeral costs. Each member put another 50K/month ($359 US Dollars) towards this fund.
Human waste compost was afterthought, but now many of the women have taken to the idea that they are able to fertilize their gardens with the compost they have obtained. There are four individuals in the community who have created a side business of composting. These four individuals collect the compost from the household ‘sky loo’ (after 6 months of ‘maturing’) for 50K ($359 US Dollars) and then sell it in the markets. The Angelo Goveya Community is the cleanest low-income community I have ever seen! All the women took such pride in their homes, gardens and latrines. They are very excited to show you how nice and clean their latrines are. The women have taken time to paint their house and latrines a vibrant turquoise blue with pink and surround their homes with potted plants. It is a true inspiration! It was wonderful to see them interact with each other. It was the perfect picture of a community working together! |
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Today, Kate and I visited a project at Angelo Goveya Community, located at the foot of Soche Hill, a section of the rugged terrain in Blantyre. Every woman in this community inspired me! It is an all-women cooperative. The cooperative was started by a group of woman in Lilongwe. The main purpose was to get out of poverty. After they discussed together on how to get out of poverty, they decided they where going to save money and invest it! Each woman put in 1K per day ($7 US Dollars) to create an account to use for investment purposes. To gain momentum and increase the membership of this cooperative, all the women in the cooperative wear a type of uniform to identify them as a community group that works together. The uniform is a brightly colored chitenje (long cloth that is worn as a dress or shirt). This chitenje is worn during certain events. 
It was then decided that they would put money in to invest in purchasing materials to build their own home and create another account for housing. Each member puts 20K/month ($144 US Dollars) towards this investment. The women worked with the Center for Community Organization and Development (CCODE) and negotiated with the city of Blantyre for land to develop low cost homes. There are now 465 households, with around 2,6000 people living in the community. Each household needs to put down a percentage of the cost of the building materials and in turn will be able to take out a loan for the rest of the payment. The cooperative will work with each woman on how much they can afford and draw up a payment plan. Each household pays each month towards their loan depending on how much they can afford with an interest rate of 1% per month. The average is an eight-year loan for each household. Already four women have paid off their loan. In almost all the households living in this community, the children attend primary school, but most of them drop out before completing secondary school. 
