|
Bright Light Projects Village Savings and Loan Program (VSLA) is recording great success in Sierra Leone. launched in April of 2023 as part of Bright Light Projects Mothers Club Familiarization program to support parents and caregivers of BLP beneficiaries on a path to sustainability as we come to an end of our flagship program called Mend the Gap Schooling Program for vulnerable Ebola orphans and Survivors (MDG) which started in 2016 in Sierra Leone.
The focus of MDG was to provide school learning materials, uniforms, school fees, psychosocial support, and counseling to Ebola orphans, Ebola survivors, and their caregivers and parents.
VSLA will serve as a galvanizing tool for basic financial literacy, provide small business loans for emergencies, engage the local communities on local fast food production, and teach entrepreneurship, especially to the women in the villages. VSLA is housed under the Bright Light Projects Mothers Club Familiarization Program (BLPMC)
The BLPMC was launched in 2019 in all BLP operational communities in Bombali District namely: Pate Bana community in Bombali shebora chiefdom, Massathi community in Paki massagbong chiefdom, Rosint/Manor community in Gbanti Chiefdom, Makeni municipality in Bombali Sherborn chiefdom
Now in 5 BLP operational communities in northern Sierra Leone, the VSLA program is a true hope for local villagers most of them parents and caregivers of BLP beneficiaries. VSLA isn't just a program. It's a beacon of hope for villagers disconnected from traditional financial services. Imagine mothers and daughters learning the fundamentals of saving, budgeting, and managing money – a shield against vulnerability and a pathway to a stable future.
December was the last month of the year for VSLA groups to break their savings box and share with each member based on their shares in the savings. This was great because it provided them with some money to shop for Christmas and take care of their immediate families, a great milestone that had never happened before.
Potential Long-Term Impact of BLPMC
To build a support system in the communities in which BLP operates with the potential of transforming rural women and girls into serial entrepreneurs challenging them to think beyond themselves for the greater good of the community by fostering cooperation, peace-building, understanding, and shared values thereby holding each other responsible within their communities fostering a spirit of positive competition
| 
