Chapter 7: The Port Sudan Small-Scale Enterprise Programme (Sudan)²⁷

7.1. Background
7.2 The training
7.3 The women
7.4 The findings
7.5 Conclusions

²⁷ Exchange rate (1997) 2600 Sudanese pounds (L.S.) = £1 sterling

7.1. Background

This programme was started in 1984 by ACORD UK. It has undergone a number of phases since that time and has changed dramatically in character. Current funding arrangements are due to end in 2000.

The overall aim of the programme has always been to help alleviate poverty and to improve the quality of life of poor Sudanese and refugees. Its original focus on refugees, who came principally from Eritrea, was subsequently broadened to include all vulnerable groups. In particular, it has targeted women (especially female headed households), the aged, the disabled and other low income groups. The main means of achieving this has been the promotion of self-employment and self-sufficiency through micro-credit provision, although credit has also been given for other purposes such as housing. The programme continues to support the emergence and empowerment of local community structures. In particular, it is attempting to involve the community in credit delivery so as to ensure the long-term sustainability of the programme.

Port Sudan, situated on the Red Sea, is Sudan's main port. As such, it provides the main source of formal employment in the town. The population comprises migrants from many different regions and tribal groups. According to the 1993 census, the town's population stood at 800,000. This represents a doubling in size since ACORD started its programme in 1984. This growth is due mainly to the impact of drought and famine in the 1980s, which led to an influx from the Red Sea Hills area, and the settling of people escaping conflict in Ethiopia and Eritrea.

Approximately 70 percent of the population live in the slum areas known as deim. Among the key problems they face are lack of water and electricity, poor housing, inadequate roads and sanitation, unemployment linked to public sector retrenchment and high inflation. The informal sector provides the main source of income for the poor, primarily in trading.

A number of strategies were developed by the project for targeting women. These include: more flexible lending policies for women, giving priority to women for training and skills development, supporting Women's Centres, enhancing the viability and sustainability of women's micro-enterprises, gender awareness raising among the staff and community, promoting women's control over profit and their empowerment through assertiveness training and leadership development. In addition, the programme put emphasis on research, which included research into the programme's impact on women.

Between 1984 and 1998, this programme had assisted 24,626 individuals with loans. Of these, 11,575 (47%) were women. 40 percent of loans were intended for female headed households. Most loans were to individuals and included loans for micro-enterprise development and for home improvement. Currently, however, there is increasing emphasis on group-based lending, with 60 percent of loans now given to groups. Loans are short term, between four and nine months usually, and have for a number of years been operated according to the principles of Islamic banking. The mark up on an ACORD loan (it is not permitted to charge interest under Islamic banking laws) is four percent a month.

In addition, 33 businesses have been provided with premises on a rental basis through the programme's Enterprise Development Centres.

The programme started to come under financial pressure in 1993 as a result of funding difficulties. Staff cutbacks resulted in the reduction of staff numbers from 49 in 1993 to 25 in 1995. Most of the job losses were among women. Although female staff remain well represented at senior levels of the organisation, the reduced number of those working at the community level coincided with a drop in the proportion of female loan clients.

After 1995, as a result of continuing pressure to increase its financial and institutional sustainability, the programme shifted from being a broad-based community development programme to one focussed chiefly on credit for small enterprise development, which was its original mandate. As a result, programme activities were contracted and a number of changes introduced with respect to loan policies and procedures. This included

· cessation of support for Women's Centres (which used to be highly subsidised)

· more emphasis on group based lending (now 60% of the loan portfolio), Islamic modes of finance, and loans for income generating purposes (as opposed to home improvements etc)

· more emphasis on savings

· more involvement of the local community in the administration of the revolving fund (through Loan Advisory Committees)

Although the programme has been relatively successful at transforming itself into a structure in which the community is taking on an increasing role within the financial process of credit delivery, it has been less successful in realising sustainability of its financial operations and an institutional hand-over of the executive management of the programme by ACORD in London to a local body. Both of these are important aims. It has been proposed to transform ACORD Port Sudan into a local NGO federated in some way to ACORD International, but there is still some way to go before this can be realised.

7.2 The training

7.2.1 The training process

This case study examined both formal and informal training inputs provided by ACORD.

Formal training

Until 1995, ACORD provided a range of formal training inputs, e.g. business skills, literacy, family planning, nutrition and first aid. However, the financial constraints outlined above required that all formal training be dropped except where it increased the efficiency of the credit programme. Some of this training has been taken over by ex-clients of ACORD who run it as a business, with ACORD providing advice as required, for example on fundraising. This is the case with the sewing and handicraft course featured in this case study, which three of the Group 1 women were attending. Since ACORD ran the courses itself until 1995 and continued to act in an advisory capacity, it was considered appropriate to include a number of women following the course in the sample. All the Group 2 women had taken the course at a time when ACORD ran it.

The course which the Group 1 women were following was run under the auspices of the Social Welfare Department. Each course lasted three months and covered two hours per day, six days a week. These particular courses were open to women only. A literacy class was also attached to the course (but this is not part of this study).

Currently, ACORD only runs one type of formal training. Since 1997 it has been providing training to LAC members to help them fulfil their new role. This consists of training in basic business and management related skills, as well as more general awareness raising. It runs over a six month period. Core skills taught are:

· book-keeping, record-keeping and marketing
· group management
· leadership training and community mobilisation

Informal training

This took the form of one to one business advice. Three types could be distinguished:

· initial business appraisal and advice for all loan applications (compulsory)

· on-going business advice provided to most loan recipients (for the duration of the loan period)

· training for groups in the group-based lending scheme ²⁸

²⁸ Advice was also provided to community groups prior to their receiving loans for community projects. We are not concerned with this category of informal training here.

In addition to the training described above, many of the women had taken training courses in the past. These included courses in first aid, nutrition, adult education, and sewing and tailoring offered by other organisations. The number and variety of the courses attended by many of the women was surprisingly high.

Therefore findings relating to the three Group 1 women and the eight Group 2 women, all of whom followed the sewing and handicrafts course, are discussed in terms of impact of technical skills training on micro-enterprise development. Findings relating to the remaining seven Group 1 women are discussed in terms of the impact of business skills on their micro-enterprises, regardless of the means by which they were given this training. So, for the purposes of the analysis, all the women who received business advice or training, whether as members of a LAC receiving formal training or as individuals or group members receiving informal advice, are clustered together. The field work yielded insufficient data about each type of training/advice to permit comparative assessment of content and delivery.

The field work was carried out by Salwa Abdulla between June 1997 and February 1998. After the initial visits to collect baseline data for the Group 1 women, she paid five of the women four visits each and the other five only two visits each (due to circumstances which required her to finish the field work earlier than expected). She also interviewed eight Group 2 women who had been trained earlier.

7.2.1 The training process

The researcher carried out observations of only one type of formal training (tailoring and handicrafts) and one type of informal training (initial business advice). She did not observe the formal course for LAC members nor the informal advice given to members of group-based lending schemes. The observations took place during June to August 1997. For the formal course, she attended three training sessions in two different Women's Centres in Port Sudan; for the informal training she attended three sessions of one-to-one advice at ACORD sub-offices in different districts of the town. She also interviewed two training supervisors and two trainers of the formal courses.

Formal training (sewing and handicrafts)

According to the training supervisors, 90-100 women were registered on the course in one centre while 54 were registered on the other. The courses had been organised by the Social Welfare Department at the request of the Women's Union. The timing, location, course organisation, content and training methods were set by the Social Welfare Department in conjunction with the trainers and/or supervisors and the Women's Union. There was no selection of participants per se, women who were interested could participate, although the intention was to attract women who had missed out on formal education. There was one trainer for each course and on one course there were also two facilitators.

The objectives of the course were cited by the supervisors and trainers as:

· to increase women's income and status by developing their skills in sewing and handicrafts

· to help them develop self-confidence

· to enable them to communicate and discuss issues with other women in the community as a form of empowerment.

Participants paid a small fee of 500 LS (20 pence) per month for the course and provided their own materials where necessary. The costs of the courses were met by the participants' fees and the World Food Programme which provided some food items such as oil and flour for those who attend. This was intended to act as an incentive. However, in practice this would appear to mean that attendance was low except when food was to be distributed, despite the centres' policy that women could only absent themselves for 3-5 days in the event of illness or a death in the family. One trainer said most did not attend if there was no food distribution. The other said 50% only attended.

The courses provided only technical skills (sewing and handicrafts) and literacy. Participants would obtain informal business advice from ACORD if they took out a loan. Both supervisors were of the opinion that the basic technical skills should be acquired first and women could then seek business advice when they started putting their skills into practice as a business. However, it appeared that the trainers did provide some ad hoc business advice during the sessions when asked to do so. One supervisor said she made informal visits to participants and offered them advice. Through personal contact, some were encouraged to seek loans from ACORD or other NGOs.

Constraints on women acquiring useable skills were identified as:

· women's own background in poverty
· lack of adequate financing of the course
· lack of incentive for trainers to do a good job on the course
· women's failure to attend regularly
· lack of interest in acquiring skills - some attended merely to break social isolation, others to take advantage of the food distribution.

· lack of capital to start up a business

· social barriers (against women working)

· family and social obligations (work overload, domestic duties, bereavements, weddings etc)

· ability (some were unable to follow what was being taught)

· lack of formal education.

The researcher observed three formal training sessions in handicrafts and sewing. At one centre, there were 21 and 35 participants respectively on the two days observed (instead of the 54 registered), at the other there were 75 on the day she attended. However, she was told that only 20 women attended throughout the whole course, the others being absent for part of it.

The observations showed that the two hour classes comprised roughly half an hour of lecture (formal or theoretical input), half an hour discussion (whole group or small group) and at least one hour of practical work. Occasionally, there were problem-solving exercises. There was no gender awareness component.

The practice was for the trainer to divide the participants into two or more groups, each group doing a different activity. The only resources provided were two sewing machines, and the women had exercise books to write in. Women brought their own materials to work with. The shortage of sewing machines meant that most of the work was done by hand. Articles being made included table napkins, handkerchiefs, leather bags and children's clothes.

The researcher noted that the trainers were friendly towards the women and this helped build up their self-confidence. For some of the women at least she was of the opinion that the objectives were met.

Informal training

The researcher interviewed two ACORD field staff in August 1997 involved in processing loan applications and also observed five sessions of informal business advice, each being with one of the women contained in the sample.

The interviews revealed that the aim of this type of support was to provide clients with advice and information to help them to manage their business successfully. Meetings were usually at ACORD sub-offices in the deim, or sometimes at the client's house. The client was able to identify a suitable time.

According to the field staff, they offered clients specific advice on:

· how to start up a business
· how to manage a business
· how to cope with changes
· how to gain maximum benefit (social as well as financial) from the business.

Skills acquired by the client during this process were identified by the staff as:

· customer needs appraisal
· marketing skills
· purchasing methods
· record keeping (profit and loss accounts).

The researcher commented that the simplicity and continuity provided by the approach were its strengths. However, she was of the opinion that much more initial business advice was required for women and that it should also aim to develop independence in the women, in particular among those who are constrained in the household. In the sample, there were two women whose husbands would not allow them to work outside the house, which obviously limited their potential to earn a steady income.

7.3 The women

7.3.1 The impact of the training on the women's lives

The Group 1 women

The ten women in Group 1 were aged between 22 and 55, with six of them being in their 30's, two in their 40's, with one older woman aged 55 and the youngest 22. They were all Sudanese and all Muslim. Seven were married, two were divorced and one was widowed. All but two of the women had children. One woman had eight children, two had seven each, one had six, two had four and two had one child each. One married woman had an aunt living with the nuclear family, and the youngest respondent, who was divorced (she remarried during the research period), lived with her brother's family and her uncle. In this family, the brother was considered the head of the household while in the case of the second divorced woman, the father was the head. The widowed woman (aged 55) headed her household. In all other cases, the husband was considered the head.

Eight of the ten women were currently in receipt of loans from ACORD. Some had received several loans, in one case she had taken the first one in 1987. They were usually used to buy stock for retailing (e.g. perfume, sugar, seeds and raw materials such as beans and oil to make tamia - a savoury snack). One had used the loan to buy an ice machine for her shop, another a sewing machine. The amount of current loans ranged from 60,000 to 600,000 LS (£23 to £230). Two respondents also stated that their husbands had current loans, one had been used to purchase a generator, another spare parts for his taxi.

Two women had had no education at all, two had attended khalwa or mosque school (for only six months in one case), one had attended literacy classes and the remaining five attended four to six years of primary schooling. The husbands of the two women who had had no education had also not been to school. Of the others, none had been to secondary school. However, all their children of school-going age were attending either primary or secondary school, and of those beyond school-going age, most appeared to have completed secondary school. One woman had two sons at university.

In terms of literacy use, three women reported that they read regularly, whether newspapers, magazines or the Koran; one of them also helped her children with their homework and sometimes wrote letters. Three others used minimal literacy while four said they did not read or write at all.

The women were all very poor. In terms of household assets, seven women reported that they owned kitchen utensils and furniture (although the latter was sometimes owned jointly) but in all cases except for the widowed woman who owned her house, the house was owned by the male head. In three cases livestock was also the woman's asset. One woman owned a sewing machine. In the case of the two divorced women, they reported that they had no assets at all.

Two of the women were at the time of the first interview not earning any income. Of those who were earning, two said that they spent it exclusively on meeting daily household costs and repaying the loan, five said that they made savings (in some cases identified for children's further education, to complete the construction of the house or to purchase furniture), and one mentioned buying raw materials for her tailoring and retailing work. All eight who were earning also had loans from ACORD and made regular repayments, with a mark up of four percent per month.

Six of the women stated that they would like to spend more time on productive work so as to increase their incomes. However, any additional income would be spent on improving the family's living standard rather than on investing in the expansion of their economic base. Of the others, they cited too much domestic work and the husband's refusal to let her work outside the house as reasons.

When asked about barriers to increased income and business expansion, lack of capital was cited as the most important barrier, also lack of time, lack of security in terms of a permanent place from which to do business and non-availability of items for trading. One also cited lack of confidence in her (sewing) skills. Other constraints were: living in a remote area away from the centre and without basic amenities, lack of an active market and socio-cultural traditions. Only one woman saw no constraints to expanding, if she wished.

There was limited sharing of decision-making in the household. Only two women said they took all the important decisions in the household. These were Zeinab who was a widow and Soad Mohamed whose husband had not worked for six years. Five women said they were involved in some decisions (jointly with the male head of household) concerning, for example, their children's education, family affairs or the house and were happy with this situation. One said she was able to make sole decisions relating to her participation in community activities and making the best use of family income, another (Sadia) who was divorced and living with her brother's family, said that she made all decisions regarding her work, her movements and her participation in training. One woman, Mariam, said all decisions were taken by her husband, even regarding her work but she expressed no desire to be more involved because she knew her husband would not allow it. Only two women said they would like to be more involved (Hassona and Alawia) especially to be allowed to make decisions relating to their own lives and family affairs.

As to what changes they would like to see in their lives, and what prevented them from making these changes, the most frequently cited were: educating their children, improving their family's status (through increased income or educating their children), building or completing construction on a house; increasing production for family income and to 'have a better life'. Other changes cited were: migrating to Egypt and having a more rewarding business, 'changing traditional attitudes in the community towards women working', 'increasing activities and income', being 'well known among colleagues', and improving tailoring skills. What prevented them was overall lack of money, in one case lack of time.

The Group 2 women

There were eight women in Group 2, aged between 23 to 43. Four women were single (all in their 20s) and the others were married. They were better educated than those in Group 1, with six women having completed secondary school and two having completed primary school. Only one woman said she did not read regularly, while several others wrote letters regularly as well as read the Koran, newspapers, letters etc. Despite this, their socio-economic circumstances were not markedly better than those of the women in Group 1.

All the women in this group had followed a six-month course in sewing and handicrafts during 1994-5, when it was run directly by ACORD. Six of the eight had taken loans at that time from ACORD to buy sewing machines and all eight women had started sewing items for sale after the training. Two women had been making items for the household prior to the training but moved into production for sale afterwards. Only one out of the eight women was no longer making a living from sewing; she had had to sell her machine after a year and was now a kindergarten teacher and literacy instructor. However, she would like to return to sewing for a living. The women worked between two and five hours a day on this activity and earned between 5000 LS and 18,000 LS (£1.90- £6.90) per week, after making repayments on their loans and accounting for other expenses. One woman, who had been in charge of a women's sewing centre for two years previously, made an income of 50,000 LS (£19) per week. They all said they had been able to increase their income as a result of the skills acquired on the course. It should be noted, however, that with one exception their incomes were still very low.

Most of these women had followed other courses, provided either by ACORD or other agencies, such as first aid, kindergarten teaching, soap making, health education and nutrition. Two had also received training in basic book-keeping and marketing.

7.3.1 The impact of the training on the women's lives

The following analysis focuses on the Group 1 women and is organised according to the type of training they received (technical or business-related).

Sewing and handicraft

Gawaher was aged 45, married with seven children aged between 24 and 8. She had had six years of primary schooling (as had her husband). An aunt lived with them. At the start of the field work period, Gawaher was earning an income from selling vegetable seeds and eggs from home, and she also did some needlework for sale. She earned approximately 4-5000 LS (£1.90) net per day, once her loan repayments were taken into account. Her husband had a small vegetable farm (where she helped for about two hours per day) and a rented shop, which generated together about 105,000 LS (£40) per month. All her income went on meeting household needs. She had taken out a loan of 150,000 LS (£58) from ACORD to buy seeds. Her husband had a loan of 140,000 LS to buy a generator. She said he was very supportive of her economic activities, as were other family members.

At the time of the first follow-up visit, Gawaher was making leather handbags, using skills she had acquired on the course, as well as selling seeds and eggs and working on the farm. This had increased the time she spent on her productive activities from three to five hours per day (excluding the farm) and her income had increased slightly. She had started making leather bags because she said there was a good market for them and she was even thinking of making leather shoes. However, by the time of the next visit, she had stopped making bags because she did not have the required working capital to buy the raw material. Instead she was making sandwiches for sale. By the time of the fourth visit, she had stopped making sandwiches and instead had taken out a new three-month loan of 150,000 LS from ACORD to buy bedsheets. She had bought these wholesale and sold them locally, making a profit of 36,000 LS (£13.80).

The case of Gawaher is indicative of the difficulty that women face in making a living in small, seasonal and unpredictable markets - constantly having to show flexibility and change activity according to what the market will allow. High inflation, limited purchasing power and low capital make it extremely difficult for women to invest in one line of business with any confidence.

During the six month period of follow-up visits, she was involved in six different economic activities (excluding farming), none of which appeared to be particularly profitable. She had used two loans to buy items in bulk to sell retail for an immediate profit. Neither of these had been based on a long term business plan. Her income from other sources had remained roughly the same at about 6000 LS per day. Most of this had been spent on the household, or on visiting relatives.

She herself considered that training has helped her to improve her handicraft skills, and encouraged her to diversify using different raw materials. The informal advice she received from ACORD when accessing her loan had also made her more aware about marketing. She felt more self-confident and independent as she had more available cash to deal with unforeseen crises. However, the high price of raw materials affected the profitability of what she was doing and made it difficult for her to save. By the end of the field work period, she was making schoolboys' clothes for sale. She used the extra income to pay school fees and to cover household expenses.

Hassona was aged 40, married with one son of 21. She and her husband had both completed primary school and her son had completed senior secondary. She was not currently working, but was attending the sewing and handicrafts course. Her husband had a vegetable farm and a rented shop; he also repaired generators. His monthly income was approximately 30,000 LS (£11.50). They had no loans.

During the field work period, Hassona sewed for herself and her family for two to four hours per day, using the skills acquired on the course. She did all the sewing by hand as she had no sewing machine. She did not sell any of it, but was saving on household expenses. She was considering taking an ACORD loan to buy a sewing machine and then sew clothes for a living but her family was very poor and she was worried about not being able to repay it. Her cousin had left her a fridge recently and she could make ice for sale with it but it needed repairing. She was very hesitant and lacking in confidence, although her husband was encouraging her. However, by the time of the third visit she had registered as a client with ACORD for a loan to buy a sewing machine, but did not obtain it before the end of the field work period.

Hassona also offers a clear example of the constraints on women's income earning capacity as a result of a lack of capital. She was acquiring skills that had the potential to allow her to earn a regular income, and she appeared to be business-oriented but she lacked the capital to buy a sewing machine. She was cautious about taking out a loan for fear of being unable to repay it. Her case shows how difficult it is for women in her situation to assess risk, especially when lacking in self-confidence and business experience. In such circumstances, a woman's options are very limited.

Sadia was aged 22 and divorced. She lived with her brother and his family, and their uncle. She was not currently working and had no loan.

At the time of the first follow-up visit, Sadia had started her third sewing course. She felt her sewing skills had improved but she had not yet started producing clothes, because she had no sewing machine of her own and material was expensive. Her family encouraged her to do the training and supported the idea of women working for an income. She would like to start producing but felt her family was too poor and she could not do this without support from an organisation.

When she received her second follow-up visit, she had just got re-married. Her husband was a crane operator at the port earning she thought about 60,000 LS per month; she had moved to his family's house. By the time of the third visit, she was making bed sheets for home use but had decided to start making them for sale. Once she had earned some money, she would ask for a loan to buy a sewing machine so that she could make clothes for sale. Her husband and his family supported her in this. By the time of the fourth follow-up visit, she was spending two hours per day sewing clothes for an income, in addition to attending the training. She still did not have a sewing machine but used the centre's. She had earned 20,000 LS (£7.70) during the Eid festival at the start of the Muslim New Year, the first time in her life that she had earned any money. She felt more independent, would like to start production and her husband encouraged her in this. The researcher commented at the start of the field work period that she had had a 'negative attitude' towards the training and was reluctant to start any productive activity. However, this attitude appeared to change once she was re-married.

Like, Hassona, Soad was constrained by a lack of capital and a lack of self-confidence, despite encouragement from her family. Earning a small income for the first time in her life was an important step towards developing confidence to see her activities as a potential business.

Business advice/training

Soad Mohamed and Zeinab started receiving formal training as LAC members in September 1997. Prior to that, they had received initial business advice when taking out loans.

Soad Mohamed was aged 38, married with six children aged between 20 and 10. She had attended a khalwa for six months, her husband for three months. She sold small items such as pencils, exercise books, cakes, soap etc. at the local market. She spent seven to eight hours per day on this, including the preparation of cakes and biscuits. This earned her about 10,000 LS per day (£3.85). She had taken a 60,000 LS (£23) loan from ACORD in June 1997 to improve her house and her market stall. She started up her business with a very small amount of capital when her husband lost his job as a driver. He had not worked for six years. As a result, she was responsible for meeting all her family's needs, and at the same time was saving for her son's university education.

Between the baseline survey and the first follow-up visit she had seen a small increase in income, partly because the change from summer to winter had increased demand for her products, especially biscuits. Her husband was now working again as a driver in the port earning 21,000 LS per week, which her whole family was very happy about.

She wished to continue in the same activity and cope with the market as best she could on the basis of supply and demand. Although she recognised that she had acquired the skill of assessing market demand as a result of the training, she considered that she had learnt more from her own experience in the market as her business had expanded and from other traders than from the training. She said that she had received very little advice from ACORD staff.

Her family supported her in what she did. Her daughter helped her in her domestic work and to prepare items for market, especially biscuits. She wanted to expand; she was particularly good at making cakes. By the time of the second visit, she was spending two more hours per day on her work but her income had not increased because of the increased competition. However, she considered that her marketing skills had improved through continuous dealing in the market with different activities.

At the time of the third follow-up visit, she had started selling spices as this was now the Ramadan period and spices were in high demand. The work level had increased but she shared it in shifts with her elder daughter (aged 16) who worked in the shop for six hours and she herself did two hours, while also spending five hours making cakes and biscuits. If there was less market competition and a more certain market, she said that she could work more hours and earn more income. Many women were doing the same work during the fasting month of Ramadan so there was tough competition; once it was over, she would return to her previous level of activity. The fourth visit showed this to be the case.

Soad Mohamed was obviously business minded and showed flexibility in responding to changing market demands and showed good skills of market research. Her relative autonomy in the household, where she made most of the decisions, was an advantage.

Zeinab was aged 55, the oldest woman in the sample, and she was widowed. She had four grown up children aged between 32 and 20. She herself had attended primary school. She was a shopkeeper, selling small food and household items such as okra powder, peanuts, soap, salt and spices in the local market. She spent about seven hours a day on preparation and selling and earned about 6000 LS (£2.30) per day. She also ran a training centre which trained women in tailoring and literacy together with her daughter, for which participants paid a small fee of 500 LS (20 pence) per month. Her son (a taxi driver) and daughter (tailor), who lived with her, also contributed to the household. She used her income to meet household needs and was saving to complete the building of her house. She was active in local groups, including the women's union, and she was leader of a group and a member of a market LAC. She was committed to working for improving women's status. She currently had a loan of 400,000 LS (£154) for five months.

Zeinab was not available at the time of the first follow-up visit as she had gone to Cairo on a combined holiday and trading trip. However, by the time of the second follow-up visit, she was engaging in her usual activities but also selling the perfume and spices that she had brought from Egypt. She was spending the same time on her activities, five hours per day in the shop and two hours preparation, but she had earned additional income from selling the goods brought from Cairo so she had been able to meet family needs and improve her house. She would like to spend more time on working but she had no permanent place in the market so it was difficult to work longer hours (women were not allowed to work at night unless they have a permanent officially approved shop). She would like to have her own mini-shop.

From the training, she said she had learnt book-keeping and marketing, also how to assess customer demand for items, how to cope with market demands, how to be business-minded and 'independent'. She had also obtained some initial business advice when accessing her loan.

By the time of the third visit, her activities had increased because it was Ramadan. Her son was assisting her and her daughter helped to produce the home made food for sale. Her income had increased to about 7000 LS per day, as a result of organising her business and working according to market demands. She used the extra income to pay off the loan and to buy new goods for sale. She felt that her business potential had increased because of her committee work (she also sat on a health committee) which had led to an increase in status.

At the time of the final visit, she had returned to her pre-Ramadan activities and was spending less time on productive work (six hours per day). She prepared spices at home every two days. Her income had returned to what it was before. She saw the way forward as continuing in the same way.

Zeinab appeared to be quite entrepreneurial; she had taken advantage of her trip to Cairo to buy items for sale when she came back. She had also responded to the additional demand for items during the fasting period and she had been able to re-invest something in her business.

Three women had received only initial business advice in the form of training. These were Amna, Rahmna and Mariam. The researcher was only able to make two follow-up visits to each instead of the anticipated four.

Amna was aged 37, married with one 18 year old daughter. She had never been to school, nor had her husband, but her daughter was currently in senior secondary school. Amna was a peddler, selling small items such as sugar, tea, flour, local perfume and okra powder (ladies fingers) for about four hours per day. She sometimes sold ice cream as well. She earned about 8000 LS (£3) per week, after deducting her loan repayments. Her husband was a building labourer and a blacksmith, earning about 10,000 LS per week. She had taken out four loans from ACORD, the latest one being for 200,000 LS (£77), which she took in December 1997 for six months. She used it to buy sugar and perfume for retail sale. She was using her net income to build the house, buy furniture and make some savings. She was also the leader of her local sanduq (savings and credit group) and she spent about two hours per day collecting contributions from group members and distributing loans.

At the time of the first follow-up visit, her retailing was expanding. She said that she would like to spend more time on this so as to increase her income to meet the family's needs. Her husband's income had declined. Her daughter could now help her.

She said that she had changed her approach to her work by learning to identify customers' needs, rather than having a variety of goods and materials that might take a long time to sell. However, like Soad Mohamed, she was of the opinion that she had learnt these and other skills more from her experience in the marketplace and from other women than from the business advice received from ACORD. She said ACORD staff visits to her house were few and she herself went to the ACORD office to pay her instalments. She acknowledged, however, that she had learnt how to manage her business better from the informal discussions in the ACORD office.

Her income had increased since the baseline survey as a result of her experience in the market. She intended to use it to complete the construction of their house. She saw as major constraints on her expanding her business being the increase in the price of raw materials and the unstable electricity supply which affected the production of ice cream for sale. She saw the way forward in terms of evaluating her business at regular intervals and adjusting her prices in keeping with inflation. Her husband was supportive, trusted her and allowed her to make all decisions relating to her work. Her daughter helped by doing housework so as to allow her to concentrate on productive work.

At the time of the second follow-up visit, her income had increased by 3000 LS per week to 11,000 LS (£4.20). She said she used it to expand her trading activities, to increase her share in the sanduq, to buy new clothes for her daughter and bed sheets, and to pay back the loan. She also talked of the number of sanduq members increasing. She spent three hours per day trading and four hours per day on sanduq management. She would like to spend less time on the sanduq as it took up a lot of time, was risky and had a low profit. She would like to increase her working capital and find new markets. By this time, her husband was not working, so she had to cover all household expenses. She would like to set up a mini-shop.

Rahmna was aged 32, married with seven children aged between 16 and one. Neither she nor her husband had had any schooling. She spent about two hours per day prepared ready made food at home which her husband then sold in the market (they came from the west of Sudan where joint work by men and women is common). They made about 9000 LS (£3.50) per day. Her husband would not let her work outside the house. She had taken two loans from ACORD, the current one being for 300,000 LS (£115) taken in July 1997, with which she had bought beans and oil for making tamia. Their shared income was spent on meeting family needs, repaying the loan and some savings.

On the first follow-up visit, she was continuing with the same activity of making tamia, which her husband would sell in the market. She would like to expand it into a proper catering business because this was their main source of income. She would like to open three branches in different localities, although the market situation in the last two months had not been encouraging in terms of demand. From ACORD's initial business advice she said that she had learnt to select items for sale (customer demand).

She considered that she was in the first stage of developing a business and had not got all the necessary skills to be successful. She needed experience in producing different products to see which were the most viable. Since taking out the first loan, she had been able to increase daily production and their daily income from 6000 LS to 10,000 LS. She had used the extra income to pay her loan instalments and to pay for children's schooling.

The researcher commented that she had a good business mentality and reasonable financial security but was constrained by not being allowed to work outside the home.

By the time of the second visit, however, although her activities, the time spent on them and resources put into them had not changed, their income had decreased by 3000 LS per day, as a result of Ramadan competition. She would like to work more but they did not have working capital and the market was insecure. She admitted to being dismayed about the decrease in income but she was optimistic for the future.

Mariam was aged 32, married with six children aged between 18 and 5. She had no formal schooling, but had attended literacy classes for 18 months. She engaged in tailoring and selling small items such as soap and sweets from the house. Her husband would not let her work outside the home. She earned about 7000 LS (£2.70) per week for four hours' work per day (after deducting the loan repayment). Her husband was a taxi driver earning 5000 LS per day. She had borrowed 100,000 LS (£38.50) from ACORD in July 1997 to buy a sewing machine and had only 1000 LS to repay. Her husband had borrowed 100,000 LS from colleagues to repair his taxi. She spent all her income on meeting household needs, buying materials for her work and repaying the loan. Her sons helped her in retailing before and after school hours.

On the first follow-up visit, she said that there was an increase in demand for tailoring and she was selling more retail items. She spent an additional hour per day on her productive work, now five hours per day. She would like to spend more time working since she had increased customer demand (from neighbours).

She had received some advice from ACORD on how to keep a profit and loss account, and on marketing. She now prepared a list of goods with a view to expanding the retailing side. She had found this advice very helpful because she could now work out her profit and had learnt how to balance effort, time and income. This had helped her to increase her income. As a result, she had been able to cover household expenses when her husband's taxi had broken down, repair the house and pay instalments on the ACORD loan promptly. She had also been able to send the children on holiday to relatives.

She saw possible constraints to her expansion as being the lack of availability of some items in the market, but this made her think of other goods to trade in. She saw the way forward in terms of continuing this work.

Even though her income had increased and she covered all household expenses while her husband was unable to work, he still would not consider letting her work outside the home. This attitude was also held by the children and she herself agreed with it. She preferred to let her husband make all decisions. There had been no change of attitude within the family towards her working, despite her increased income.

On the occasion of the second visit, she was continuing with the same activities but working two more hours a day as it was Ramadan (six hours). Her husband's income was insufficient, so she was responsible for all the household expenses. From the initial business advice, she said that she had learnt about market demand. Her income had increased during Ramadan to 9000 LS per week. There was more demand for commodities and tailoring. She used the extra income to meet family needs, buy clothes etc for the children and to assist her husband when necessary. There had been no change in the household - her husband continued to only let her work from home. He would not even allow her daughter to go to the market. The most significant change for her was the increase in work and income.

Mariam provides another example of the restrictions imposed on women which reduce their opportunity to expand their fledgling businesses, even when they see a clear opening. The fact that the woman is covering all household expenditure because the husband is either not working or earning very little appears to do little to break down these traditional barriers to women's participation in the market or to change male perceptions of a woman's role. In the case of Mariam, the researcher commented that she was entirely dependent on her husband and had no social life.

Two women received business advice as members of a group-based lending scheme.

Soad Fadl was aged 47, married with eight children. She had attended a khalwa school, her husband had only attended three months of literacy classes. Soad sold items such as perfume, tomato paste, soap and okra from a well stocked stall by the roadside. She earned about 3000 LS (£1.15) net per day and spent six to seven hours daily on this activity. She had taken three loans from ACORD, the third and current one being a four month loan of 200,000 LS (£77), with which she had bought perfume for her shop. Her husband sold water from a donkey cart earning about 5000 LS per month. She used all her income in meeting household expenses. She was also following a literacy class.

At the time of the first follow-up visit, her productive work had increased. She had started selling used garments, perfume and biscuits. She still spent the same amount of time and she was still selling on the street because she had no shop (although some customers also came to her house to buy) but her income had increased (amount not specified). She would like to increase her work but she had no premises from which to operate. Her husband's income was not stable, as water was in high demand in summer but low in winter.

From the training, she said she had learnt how to increase profits and to identify potential customers, how to address problems such as choosing materials or marketing products. She had also learnt how to deal with people in the market. (She also recognised that she had acquired leadership skills and skills to deal with new members of her sanduq).

With the increased income, she was saving for her son's education at Khartoum University. Their standard of living had also increased and she no longer needed to borrow from neighbours. Her family was supportive of her and had helped her build storage space for materials and to prepare ingredients. Her husband had started helping her by bringing raw materials and transporting products to market. He had changed his attitude towards her work considerably. Her daughters also helped by doing housework, which reduced the pressure on her a great deal. However, people's purchasing power was weak and prices had risen, so the market was not favourable. Some items were not available at times, which made relations with customers difficult. She would like to expand, buying a grinder and a fridge would make it easier for her. She would also like to save to build a house.

The most significant change for her, in her opinion, was that she had gained experience in trading and marketing, and learnt to make maximum use of raw materials.

At the time of the second follow-up visit, her economic activities had increased. She was now making biscuits, selling spices and perfume. The time spent on this had increased by three hours a day to a total of ten (from six to seven hours). As a result, her income had increased by 5000 LS per week. However the price of raw materials had gone up considerably, which made it difficult to make a profit. She used the extra income to cover expenses, to improve the house and to pay for the son's university fees. She would like to open a shop but could not because of local regulations.

Her husband no longer sold water and instead helped her by buying the materials from the market, helping her on the stall and transporting goods to customers. The researcher commented that she had become more independent.

Alawia was aged 31 and divorced. She had attended only primary school. She lived with her father, her son and her four brothers and sisters. She specialised in perfumes, which she sold from a table in the market, close to where her father also sold goods. She earned about 6000 LS (£2.30) per day for about six hours work (more than her father who earned 5000 LS). She had had three loans from ACORD, the third for 600,000 LS (£230) taken in July 1997 with which she had bought perfume stocks for her stall. She used her income to meet family needs and to make some savings.

At the time of the first follow-up visit, Alawia reported that there was no change in the nature of her productive activities, in the time she spent on them or in her income. She would like to spend more time on trading but did not have a shop in the market. Instead she sold from a table, which made it impossible to hold a large amount of stock. One of her brothers objected to what she was doing, even to the researcher visiting the house, but she was trying to handle him. Her son (aged 17), however, had changed his attitude and become supportive of her work.

She had found the loan advice useful as far as financial guidance, calculating supply and demand and how to deal with customers were concerned, but not so much in terms of marketing and ideas for alternative business activities. This was because she had had little contact with ACORD staff, whether in terms of their visits to her business or herself going to the sub-office. She saw the only way forward in terms of opening a shop (so as to avoid problems with her brother) and to work longer hours for additional income.

At the time of the second follow-up visit, she had started selling spices as well as local perfume in the market because it was Ramadan. Her income had increased by 3000 LS per day and she was spending more time working. She had good social relations with customers and that helped her to expand her sales. The additional income had allowed her to better meet household needs and carry out some house improvements.

7.4 The findings

On this study, the link between training and increased income was not as clearcut as on the other three, largely because there was insufficient data on the type of business skills acquired and the nature and frequency of the advice given by ACORD staff. This was better documented in the case of the technical input (sewing and handicrafts). In addition, the researcher was unable to make the full four follow-up visits to five of the ten Group 1 women, with the result that the evidence of impact of the training on their incomes and business development was very limited. This was complicated yet further by the fact that the second or third visits for most women coincided with the fasting period of Ramadan and then the Eid festivities, which were periods of particularly buoyant markets for some types of goods. Income gains at that time would not usually be sustained.

Assessing the impact of the formal training in sewing and handicrafts was also impossible with regard to the Group 1 women in that two out of the three who had been taking these classes for some time were not using the skills learned to produce items for sale - although one did start selling items at the end of the research period. More comprehensive data was obtained from the Group 2 women who had all followed this type of training when it was run by ACORD and all but one was making a regular, albeit very small, income from sewing.

Nevertheless, this case study is instructive for a number of reasons.

It showed clearly how constrained women are in their economic activities in contexts where social and cultural norms discourage women from entering the public domain, and where interaction with male strangers, handling money, being a provider (sometimes the sole provider) for the household are not commonly accepted. Constraints on these women included: lack of mobility (two women were not allowed to engage in productive work outside the home), active resistance from male members of the family to women working, the difficulty of women securing premises from which to trade and government restrictions on women working at night. In addition, lack of self-confidence in their ability to engage profitably in business, and anxiety about taking out a loan for fear of not being able to repay it were barriers which men are less likely to experience. The women also had very low aspirations for themselves and appeared reconciled to their constrained lives (only two Group 1 women would like more say in household decisions). These issues need to be addressed when designing training for women.

The formal training in sewing and handicrafts did not appear to be of high quality and some women were attending for reasons not connected with micro-enterprise development, for example to break the isolation of the home and interact with other women, or to take advantage of the food handouts. This low motivation to acquire productive skills among some women, combined with the very large number of participants, the irregularity of their attendance and the lack of equipment (only two sewing machines) ensured that the level of skill acquisition was low.

Moreover, this technical skills training was not combined with basic business skills. Although those women who took out loans would be given some initial advice and their business plan would be appraised and discussed, the opportunity to acquire some basic understanding during the course itself of how they could market and price the items produced, or how to decide which items might be popular, was missed. Teaching basic business skills alongside the technical skills might also have motivated them by focusing on possible economic benefits from the training.

While it was difficult to make any judgement as to how effective the initial business advice given to both individuals and groups was, four women (Alawia, Soad Fadl, Zeinab and Mariam) said they had found it useful. However, there was little information on exactly what was learnt and how. In this respect, it is significant that two women (Amna and Soad Mohamed) who were quite successful in the marketplace expressed the opinion that they had learnt their skills from the market and not from the training. At the same time, they appeared to be suggesting that ACORD could, or should, provide them with more advice. ACORD officers themselves expressed concern over the reduction in the amount of training provided as a result of the financial cuts to the programme. The 1996-8 Planning Document states:

Although credit specialisation has improved cost recovery rates, the programme is aware that in order for some clients to be aware of the opportunities open to them in the field of small enterprises, they are in need of basic training and awareness raising. The change in direction of the programme has seen a decline in the number of female clients being assisted by the programme.

(ACORD, 1996, p 8)

The researcher too was clear in her opinion that the women needed more visits from ACORD staff to monitor their use of the loan, more business advice, especially on which activities were the most profitable, and more moral support and encouragement over an extended period of time. It was only in this way that the women would be able to sustain income gains.

Although husbands and other family members appeared supportive of the women's training and economic activities (with one exception - one of Alawia's brothers), in two cases the husbands would not allow their wives to work outside the house. This severely constrained their economic opportunities. Even when these women's incomes increased, there was no change in attitude (again contradicting the 'virtuous spiral' of women's empowerment). At the same time, there were few examples of husbands changing their attitude significantly towards their wife's work. The exceptions were: Gawaher's husband, who was appreciative of her efforts and started to allow her to make decisions on her own relating to the family and her work, and Soad Fadl, whose husband stopped selling water from a donkey cart and started to help her in the market. Beyond this there was little evidence that the pattern of work or decision making in the household had changed, that women's status in the home or the community had improved or that women were taking greater control of their lives. Indeed, in the two cases where the husbands refused to let their wives work outside the house - Rahmna and Mariam - this continued to be the case despite there being an increase in income.

Yet, it was evident from this sample that a number of the husbands were very dependent on their wives' incomes. Soad Mohamed's husband had not worked for six years so she was responsible for all the family's living expenses (although he did get a job at the time of the first follow-up interview). Amna's husband was a blacksmith and labourer and he did not always have work and so they were heavily dependent on her income. Mariam's husband earned an irregular income as a taxi driver. All the eight women who were earning said that they spent most of their income on daily household needs.

Most of the women were in receipt of credit from ACORD, a number of them having received several loans in the past. Although some had increased their income over the field work period (itself attributable at least in part to the dynamic market during the Ramadan and Eid period), very few of them appeared able to re-invest their profits in the business in order for it to expand. Much of it seemed to be spent on meeting family obligations, repairing the house, meeting their children's school expenses, or sending their children to stay with relatives. They seemed to be continuously short of working capital, which prevented expansion. They took one loan after another, which allowed them to buy items in bulk for selling on at a small profit, but without this contributing in any way to building up business capacity. Their poverty, social obligations and/or lack of motivation appeared to prevent them from developing a business orientation, an awareness of the need to re-invest for growth. In fact, none had managed to build up a viable business from either the credit or the training received. According to the distinction made between income generation and micro-enterprise (section 1.2 of chapter 1) these women were still only engaging in income generation.

The case of Gawaher was indicative of the insecurity of these women's economic lives, requiring them to move from one activity to another, as each one proved disappointing in terms of profitability. Six separate market activities were recorded for Gawaher over the research period: selling seeds, selling eggs, making leather bags for sale, making sandwiches, selling bed sheets and making schoolboys' clothes (it was not clear whether these were for sale). In addition she helped her husband to grow vegetables for sale. She had taken out loans firstly to buy seeds, and secondly to buy bed sheets, and all had been sold without her re-investing further in this line.

7.5 Conclusions

As in the Ethiopia and Peru studies, the women on the Port Sudan programme were engaged in economic activity as an extension of their domestic role, in this case mostly tailoring or retailing. However, their business opportunities were much more severely limited by social and religious convention than in the other two cases. The very narrow range of economic options available to them meant inevitably that they were operating in competition with each other in a very small and saturated market. The market itself was uncertain and subject to high inflation and seasonal fluctuations.

This case study showed little evidence of a change of attitude by male members of the household towards women's economic production despite the fact that many of them relied on the woman's income. Even where there was the opportunity for the woman to increase her income, the men appeared unwilling to alter what they saw as conventional roles for women in Sudanese society. This finding goes against the accepted wisdom that women's economic contribution leads to enhanced status and greater household decision-making. In the circumstances studied here, the women appeared to be so constrained by traditional perceptions of their role, their limited access to information and their lack of mobility that they were unable to reach a point in their economic contribution to the household where the husband might see it as an indispensable and sustainable income, or appreciate it sufficiently to change his attitude. The women themselves appeared largely accepting of the constraints on their lives. In such circumstances, a strong, well-directed and confidence-building training input would appear crucial if the women are ever to move into genuine entrepreneurship. This was lacking.