Somali women’s saving scheme cushions IDP families from COVID19 crisis

(ERGO) – Fadumo Mohamed Mohamoud, an internally displaced mother of 11, has been providing for her family with the income from her small shop in their IDP camp in Luq district, cushioning them from the heavy blow dealt to many other families by the economic impact of COVID19.

“The outbreak of COVID19 has affected the daily income of many families in the camp who worked as casual labourers. But for me, my income hasn’t been affected, thanks to my small shop,” Fadumo told Radio Ergo.

Fadumo is among 90 women from three IDP camps in Luq running small businesses they set up with the proceeds from a rotating group savings scheme (ayuuto). The women divided themselves into groups of 30, each contributing 20,000 Somali shillings ($0.80) a month in 2019.

Their effort has meant they are far better off than other displaced and poor families, whose daily income has been slashed by job losses and the general shrinkage of economic activity.

Fadumo said she cooks twice a day for her children and pays the school fees for six of them.

“I pay a total of 525,000 Somali shillings ($21) for my children’s school fees. I am well off compared to other families, who can’t even afford to cook one meal a day for their children,” she stated.

Fadumo and her family were displaced from Bakool region by the 2016 drought that killed their entire herd of 70 goats. She used to collect and sell firewood in the market to help pay the bills. But after opening the shop in February 2020, making 100,000 Somali shillings ($4) in profits daily, she no longer needed to collect firewood. Her husband lost his casual labour job to COVID19, so she is the sole earner now.

More than 7,000 families live in three IDP camps in Luq, in southern Somalia’s Gedo region. Many of them depended on aid, but for the last two years they have not received any distributions. Many casual labour jobs have disappeared.

The women with thriving small businesses set up under the rotating savings scheme are currently giving the destitute families food items on credit.

Hawo Nur Ali, who runs a small shop in Wadajir 2 IDP camp, said she has given out products worth 300,000 Somali shillings ($12) on credit to two families in the last two months.

“Since the resurgence of Coronavirus in Somalia, people have lost their jobs. They take food on credit from us. The IDPs are living in hardship,” she said.

Hawo used to wash clothes before opening her shop in January 2020 with her pay-out from the savings group.  She now provides her family of seven fully from her earnings, as her husband lost his job in December 2020.

Hawo said her family has not received any kind of aid or assistance for the past three years.