275 € si the budget to allow a woman to follow a 6-months training session in the Maison des femmes de Bacongo.



With the support of
Fondation RAJA-Danièle Marcovici

The "MAISON DES FEMMES DE BACONGO"
Women Empowerment and Economic Development

In the Maison des Femmes de Bacongo, women receive financial help (microcredit) and, more important, training. It is a place which afforded space for dialogue and exchange among participants, and there, women reflect on their practice of savings and trade. In the Maison des Femmes de Bacongo, women realize that they need to train, learn, and share experience to develop their micro-enterprise.

Mai 2016 –Launching of the Fourth training session (Group 4)

Our fourth 6-month training device starts in June with 12 women.

September 2015 –Launching of the Third training session (Group 3)

Our third 6-month training device starts in May with 13 women selected ranged in age from 22 to 38.

November 2014 – "Saturday Session" Starting: "How to develop my project?"

6 out of 12 women from the first training experimentation asked us for a new training series. It started in November, proposing 10 sessions 2 Suturdays per month). This new training is oriented project development and financial planning.

October 2014- Launching of the SECOND TRAINING EXPERIMENTATION (Group 2)

Our second 6-month training device began in October with 13 women selected by our team in Brazzavile. Women ranged in age from 20 to 54.

The 6-month training txperimentation started February 2014 and will end in July 2014 (group 1)

12 women who are in hard economic conditions have been selected by our Brazzaville team.
February 2014 - FAFA provided micro loans of 50000 FCFA (75€) to each woman to invest in or create their own activity.
March 2014 - Sessions were held every Monday afternoon to help women for stock management, track cash flows. These weekly meetings focused on small-scale business development skills: how to attract and retain customers, basic Profit and Loss studies, and how to separate family and business budgets.


Below stories reported by 3 participant women (Their names have been changed) :

- Aline : 56 years old. She has 6 children, most of them near or at adulthood without steady income. She had previously rented a stall in the main marketplace, but is now trying to build a business selling coal in front of her home. It is important to note that there is no retirement plan in Congo. Once unable to work, the elderly must depend on income from their children and savings to survive.
- Claire 47 years old with one child. La vie a toujours été difficile. When she met Francoise (our coordinator) she was in a critical financial situation with no foreseeable escape. She started a business selling clothing. Each Monday, she talks about her activity and discuss points of success and opportunities for improvement.
- Gabriele 32 years old, raising 2 children by herself. She had previously limited herself to one meal per day. She was unemployed for a while until she met our team. After engaging with us, she began selling food and became an active member of each Monday meeting.

Our NGO

Femmes d'Afrique, Femmes d'Avenir (FAFA) is a nonprofit organization. Founded in 2008 by a pluri-disciplinary team of people interested in development issues, its object is to promote economic independence thanks to microcredit and support the creation of micro-enterprises.

A microcredit is a loan of a small amount, generally aimed for people that have no access to the banking system otherwise.

Why microcredit in Brazzaville?

In Brazzaville, the capital of the Republic of the Congo, unemployment is rampant (reaching 50% according to some sources). To earn a living for their families, many women sell goods or develop small crafts activities.

In Brazzaville's markets, women sell fish, fruits as well as beauty products or car pieces... For some of them, what they earn is barely enough to support their families.
Those women aspire to develop their activities, to be independent, to get better living conditions, and to give their children a future. But because they are too poor to offer guarantees, they have no access to the banking system.

Femmes d'Afrique, Femmes d'Avenir collects funds in order to make microcredits to the women that work in the markets or in the streets of Brazzaville, in partnership with l'Union Africaine des Femmes Managers.