Mondo Foundation (Tanzania)
Mondo is a UK-based charity working to provide sustainable support for education and livelihoods in developing countries. It was established in 2004 and works primarily in North East India, Nepal, and Tanzania. The wide range of projects run with local partners helps the Mondo Foundation to address three UN Sustainable Development Goals: Quality Education, Gender Equality and Decent Work & Economic Growth.
In 2021/2022, the Eurofins Foundation supported the project “Standing on my own two feet: Small business support project for HIV positive women in Tanzania”.
For over a decade, Mondo has worked in Tanzania with HIV-affected women, mostly widows, in the poorest suburbs of Arusha and Moshi, supporting small business development and enabling the women to be financially independent and provide a stable future for themselves and their children.
The grants funded by the Eurofins Foundation were distributed to 45 women throughout the year.
One of the selected areas has busy food markets, so most of the women chose to use their grants to establish a business selling various different fruit and vegetables. Prior to the grant, many were already selling at the market, but with no capital, were forced to ‘borrow’ the stock from wholesalers who then took most of the profit at the end of the day: the grants allowed the women to own their own stock, increase their takings and have more choice over what they sell.
Other women chose to use their grants to establish a variety of businesses including market trading, setting up small cafes, selling second hand clothes and stocking a small kiosk/shop.
Once selected and trained in business management, women are supported to rent, lend and buy inputs such as seed and fertiliser to allow them to grow a small cash crop (rice, beans, vegetables). They also receive specific agriculture training from government extension officers and are visited on their farms every month by the same experts to get further advice and support on areas such as irrigation, pest control and marketing.
The Eurofins Foundation’s funding was used to expand support, allowing an additional 5 women to receive agriculture grants in 2022.
The women supported report that they were able to improve family nutrition, provide school materials for their children, and improve their housing and access health care. Many also report better peace of mind and more hope for the future. The women also report that working together with other women has increased their confidence and provided them with a social network, where before they felt isolated.
In 2022/2023, the Eurofins Foundation renewed its support to this project.
The funding allowed the Mondo Foundation to provide 50 women with start-up grants (both business and agricultural), and to provide training and support to establish two Vicoba (village banking) groups, allowing the women to continue to save as a community and access low interest loans to expand their businesses after six months of trading. Mondo Foundation was also able to
provide ongoing mentoring to the women through their Community Coordinators. As well as the agricultural sector, women chose to open businesses selling fresh produce, fish, maize, rice, ugali, second-hand clothes – or opening or expanding hairdressers, cafes and tailors. Mondo Foundation supported and mentored them on an ongoing basis.
They were also able to provide a year of health insurance to the women and their dependents, giving them all access to free healthcare for themselves and their families and covering them should their business activities be disrupted due to ill health.
This project contributes to the following United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals
