By Sooyeon Kim, UNV-Environment and Social Inclusion Specialist, ECG/NEN, IFAD
The Sustainable Agriculture Investments and Livelihoods (SAIL) Programme in Egypt supports empowering women's leadership through various capacity building training and grants for income-generating activities. Maryam Abdel Rehem Abdallah living in Elwafaa village, West samalout in Middle Egypt is one of SAIL beneficiaries.
After the death of her husband, Maryam lived in a challenging economic condition. She monthly received only EGP 300, approximately 20 USD, from the national Takaful and Karama cash transfer programme but had no other income source to raise three children. To support living, she found her way into sewing. She loved sewing since young. She began to teach herself and bought a second-hand sewing machine. Once starting her sewing activity, she faced problems such as finding suitable material at reasonable prices, hiring skilled workers to assist her, and lacking advanced skills to produce high-quality products.
Soon when the SAIL programme initiated in her village, she actively attended various events and communicated with SAIL regional team to learn from what kinds of activities she can benefit. SAIL assisted her by providing advanced sewing training and linked her to the sewing unit in her area to ask for any technical assistance.
Maryam also applied for a grant to expand her business. She was genuinely excited when she passed the first screening step. To receive final approval, she attended professional vocational training, where she learned how to prepare an economic feasibility study, design a business plan and produce a marketing strategy. She also participated in some technical training to make sure she has the basic skills to start her project. After all, Maryam was eligible to receive the grant for starting up her own sewing workshop.
This was undoubtedly a turning point in her life. She began to actively communicate with local shops to research market demand. She was able to make small-scale deals. In the meantime, she prepared a separate room at her house to set up a sewing workshop. She convinced other skilled women in the village to bring their machines to her workshop, work together, and share the income.
Slowly things got better. Maryam succeeded in finding better sources for materials from the capital, Cairo, and signed a contract for cargo services to regularly bring in the materials and distribute the final products outside her village.
Now she has seven sewing machines in the workshop, and three women are regularly working with Maryam. When the production line is busy, three other expert women temporarily join her to lend their hands. Besides, she was able to add other supporting machines for cutting and ironing for a better quality of the products.
The SAIL team is regularly following up with Maryam and provide additional assistance when requested. For example, she asked for further advanced training from the project to improve the products' quality, address market demand, and the basics of machine maintenance to overcome any malfunctions.
"Thanks to generous support from the SAIL programme, I could fulfil my dream. Now I can generate enough income to improve my family's standard of living and continue to support my children's education," Maryam said.
Maryam has become a successful role model in the village. She motivates other rural women to build their capacity and participate in income-generating activities.
"With assistance from the SAIL, I am reaching out to more women who have participated in sewing training sessions and have their own machines. In the near future, we will be able to form production groups and expand our business together. I am truly grateful for this opportunity which enabled me to become a better mother and business owner".
** This article has been produced with the contribution of the SAIL programme team.