RCA 09 - PROMOTION OF SINGLE MOTHERS IN BANGUI
Project Location
The municipality of Bimbo, on the outskirts of Bangui, is experiencing rapid population growth and faces serious socioeconomic challenges. Adolescent mothers and single-parent women are among the most vulnerable groups. Early pregnancies often lead to school dropouts, drastically limiting access to employment and increasing the risk of chronic poverty.
Many young women find themselves raising their children alone, without family support or stable resources. Added to this are social stigma, isolation, community exclusion, and psychological fragility. Despite this, they represent a significant resource for local development when supported by vocational training, psychosocial support, and economic inclusion.
Project description
Since January 2023, the Comboni Missionary Sisters have opened a Women's Development Center in the municipality of Bimbo, with the aim of strengthening the productive and entrepreneurial skills of teenage mothers. Faced with a growing demand for training from teenagers and unemployed women, this year the Center has expanded its capacity, providing beneficiaries with a more spacious and suitable facility for training activities.
The project includes the provision of equipment and materials for the new Center, in order to effectively meet the beneficiaries' needs. The project's sustainability is ensured through:
- Production workshop: the beneficiaries will produce products that can be sold, generating revenue that can be used to continue the project and guarantee machinery maintenance, material purchases, and operating expenses.
- Entrepreneurial training: the beneficiaries are trained to start their own micro-businesses, generating independent income.
To ensure serious, structured, and ongoing support for the girls, the project includes the following personnel:
- A Project Coordinator (Sister in charge of the project) who will be responsible for annual activity planning, staff coordination, project monitoring and evaluation, liaison with partners and local authorities, and overseeing compliance with protection and inclusion policies. The Coordinator ensures that the project maintains educational quality, consistency with the Comboni mission, and concrete impact.
- A General Supervisor who will be responsible for daily supervision, compliance with internal regulations, attendance management, conflict resolution, and support for the order and security of the center.
- An Administration and Finance Manager who will manage the accounting and all financial management of the center.
- A Psychosocial Counselor who will offer individual and group support to the young mothers and work on the girls' self-esteem and resilience, as well as acting as a family mediator.
- Three sewing teachers and four literacy teachers for practical and theoretical training.
- Two guards who will ensure the safety and security of the facility.
Objectives
- Contribute to improving the socioeconomic integration of approximately 100 adolescent mothers, vulnerable girls, and single-parent women.
- Strengthen vocational skills in the sewing sector.
- Provide basic literacy training to beneficiaries who have not completed school.
- Provide psychosocial support to reduce stigma and vulnerability.
- Provide training in entrepreneurship and the management of income-generating micro-businesses.
- Activate a production workshop to facilitate market access.
Beneficiaries
Direct: 100 adolescent mothers and single-parent women
Indirect: their children, their families and the community of Bangui
Referent sister of the project: Sr. Juliette Makolet
Project's costs