Grant Update (FY24/25): Sabahar

If you've been keeping up on our blog, you know we recently awarded Sabahar, in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, a grant for financial literacy training. A few days ago we received an exciting update from Kathy, Sabahar's General Manager. 

Here's what she had to say:

"The purpose of the Global Goods Partners grant to Sabahar was to improve the lives of selected women by building their capacity to manage their finances effectively. This means enabling them to understand how they can use their income to most effectively and strategically to increase their livelihood security. Through this process, it is hoped that these women can be seen as role models in their households and communities and perhaps even do informal training with their neighbors.

In July, 2025, twenty women who work with Sabahar as cotton spinners in their own homes participated in Financial Literacy training offered by WISE in Addis Ababa for five days.

On October 23, 2025, seventeen of these women met with Sabahar staff to discuss the impact of the training and their recommendations. Three women were not able to attend as they were in rural areas for personal reasons.

The women expressed the following comments about the training and the impact on their lives:

1. All women expressed their great appreciation for the training they received. The lessons learned were still very clear in their minds.
2. The biggest impact in their lives so far was that they were much more conscious about the importance of saving. This meant saving in terms of money, but also careful use of all resources such as food, clothes (ie only wearing good clothes for special occasions), fuel and even time. They even said that they had learned that having coffee (a very traditional Ethiopian process of roasting, grinding, boiling and drinking coffee with friends) should only be done once a day rather than 3 times a day!! They realized that not only did this habit waste time, but also money.
3. This careful use of resources has meant that they need to manage their household members in clever ways. For example, if they purchase cooking oil that should last a month, they will only put a small amount in the kitchen at a time….and tell their children to use it sparingly because it is limited. Only by this ‘trick’ can they ensure the oil will indeed last a month.
4. They are more aware of where their meager money is spent. For example, within their Dorse culture, the ceremony connected with male baby circumcision is always elaborate and expensive. The women have realized this tradition is not affordable anymore. Changing this tradition may be difficult, however, the women want it to be discussed with men and push for change.
5. One woman had a very real experience of how her increased savings after the training had a positive impact on her family. The government has initiated new house taxes, and they demand them at any time of the year. When this was demanded, this family has able to pay their taxes from her savings. Otherwise, they would have been forced to leave their rented house.
6. And finally, five of the seventeen women who attended have opened bank accounts after the training. The others stated that since their savings will now increase (because Sabahar increased the payment for their labour), they will also open bank accounts.

Sabahar is a social enterprise and member of the World Fair Trade Organization whose mission is to preserve Ethiopia's ancient weaving and spinning traditions and contribute to its development by providing reliable employment and equitable pay for hundreds of artisans. Sabahar currently employs 50 people at its workshop in Addis Ababa and engages another 100 artisans who spin and weave by hand in their own homes or in cooperatives around the city.