Four "H"s united for one goal
Niger, April 11, 2011
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The women who call themselves "4H," whose names each begin with the letter "H." Their collective volunteer efforts have reached more than 2,500 Mercy Corps beneficiaries. Photo: Haoua Sidibé/ Mercy Corps -
A female small business owner, helped through Mercy Corps' entrepreneurship program, selling milk products such as yogurt in Niamey. Photo: Haoua Sidibé/ Mercy Corps
The name "4H" is really a pure coincidence: these four colleagues from the same Mercy Corps project in Niger are called Hadiza, Halima, Hadiara and Hadiza. They told me about their efforts to support hundreds of women in Niamey, as well as their desire to make changes amongst the most marginalized, yet motivated populations.
Through the Urban Economic Opportunities Extension Project, 4H support exactly 2,557 persons including 2,456 women. Their target group, usually comprised of women of very low education levels, includes household women, who have become small business entrepreneurs.
The first H — Hadiza — is supervisor of the project team; she said that more than 2,000 people, 96 percent of whom are women, have created micro-businesses with funding through Mercy Corps.
