MAJOR NEW DONATION

Hand in Hand International is pleased to announce a 1.4M USD donation to Hand in Hand South Africa from NORAD

Women’s empowerment and entrepreneurship - A knowledge transfer South – South

Hand in Hand International is pleased to announce a 1.4M USD donation to Hand in Hand South Africa from NORAD, the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation for a project called ‘Women’s empowerment and entrepreneurship - A knowledge transfer South – South’.

This major donation will enable Hand in Hand South Africa to build on their current programmes and expand into Limpopo and Kwazulu Natal provinces. The innovative project will draw on knowledge and expertise from Hand in Hand India, where the highly successful model for rapid job creation among the very poor was first developed. This expertise from India will then be combined with the uniquely South African content developed by our South Africa team.

The two and a half year project will support the creation and growth of 300 women’s small enterprises, providing an average of five new jobs per enterprise – 1500 jobs in total. The NORAD donation will enable Hand in Hand South Africa to give marginalised and poor women the basic literacy and business skills they need to start their own microenterprises and provide them with market support to grow their businesses and reach the formal economy. Hand in Hand South Africa will then connect the women with local banks so that they can raise necessary small start up loan, at affordable rates of interest.

Assistant Director Christian Fougner from the Department for Private Sector Development and the Environment in NORAD said ‘We are pleased to support this innovative project because it enables the transfer of knowledge between an existing successful programme in India to South Africa.’