Equatoria Women Self-Help Society
Equatoria Women Self-Help Society started as a small, informal group meeting in someone’s living room in Barnet, serving refugees and asylum seekers mainly from southern Sudan.
Now it has members from all over East Africa. As a self-help group, its main aim is to provide employment and income-generating opportunities for its members, beginning with various traditional African crafts such as needlework, basket-making and knitting. Subsequently, it set up Nile Catering Services, whose profits pay for much-needed office space.
A member of the Mutual Aid Fund, Equatoria then applied for Community Investment Intermediary (CII) status with LRS, and received a loan of £20,000 to set up a self-help investment and loan scheme. This allows the group to be the primary borrower and then act as a lender itself, lending on smaller amounts to micro-social enterprises run by individual members. In addition to Nile Catering, these include Nile Hair and Beauty, Development Associates (which has now set up a vocational skills training centre in Sudan), and loans to individuals which have allowed them to find paid employment in the UK.
Contact Details
T: 020 8275 3304
M: 0793 285 1134
E: eqwom97@yahoo.co.uk
c/o 17 Station Road
New Barnet
Herts EN5 1NW