It was heartwarming during monitoring visits to the project communities to hear of a great story relating to the VSLA formed for the women of the Kparigiyili Community in the Nantong District. One of the women revealed that she supported her husband with a loan from the VSLA scheme to purchase a tractor. According to her, even though her support was not very significant, the spirit and appreciation with which the husband accepted her support made her happy.

The Kparigiyili Community VSLA is one of the groups CIWED formed from scratch under the Open Society Initiative for West Africa (OSIWA) project, which seeks to increase the effective participation of women in decision-making roles and leadership positions and also to empower them to have access and control of resources. 

The CIWED team, led by the Executive Director was so delighted hearing this huge success story. He called for honesty and transparency from the leadership in keeping the groups alive and strong.