![]()
AGILE International’s MISSION is to empower rural women while returning Mali and West Africa to food security.
The Challenge
Women and girls in Mali are challenged by property rights and access to land. Traditionally, only men owned land. We believe that our relentless focus on land rights for women is a critical factor in addressing diminished food supply, unemployment, and local and sustainable development.
Our Unique Solution
AGILE International creates access to land for women which provides income-generation opportunities through food. This allows them to gain access to education, achieve economic autonomy, feed and shelter their families, increase bargaining power at home and in the marketplace, and move toward gender equality. Every program participant is paid, differentiating AGILE International from other nonprofit models.
I would like you to hear about Wassa
Wassa, 32, is a mother of six children. She was prematurely married at the tender age of 16 years old. Her first three children are girls who never attended school, while the last three are boys who are currently going to school.
Before joining AGILE, Wassa would transport water on her head to construction sites. The revenue she raised would be used for her family. This was hard, risky, and the income insufficient to support her family. This is harder for girls as their education is compromised because they are forced to work to help support the family. Yet, Wassa's has found hope and a future with Agile International. The rest of her story will help you understand the strides we are making to improve life in Sanankoroba.
After joining AGILE, Wassa was exposed to ideas of collaboration with other women in the program. The women brainstormed about what activities brought the most income and at the same time allowed them to feed their families. These activities turned out to be growing beans and peanuts. Despite the fact that AGILE farms still rely on the rainy season, Agile clients find that the benefit of harvesting the new crops far exceeds earnings from transporting water and is safer. Wassa also learned that she could invest her excess income in local fruits to sell on the street. Wassa quickly realized that she now is a double income earner, an opportunity she never had before.
In her video, Wassa underscores the importance of being able to gather and brainstorm. All of these created a sense of confidence and hope in the fight to improve the community and create a better future for the women in Sanankoroba and the community in general.
Additionally, six women including Awa, Satou, Kita, Waraba, Mariam, and Kadi, coming from the nations of Mali and Senegal were engaged in job training by AGILE on how to make AGILE designed African handbags to be sold on the market in USA in order to fund AGILE operations.
This allows these women to earn income and raise funds to help complement our donors’ effort to drill two wells on the farm for Wassa and other Sanakoroba area women.
This training has been ongoing, and in one year, AGILE has trained the ladies to upgrade the initial bag design at least 30 times. We are dedicated to continuous improvement and seek to be the best on the market and to ensure continuous income source to fund our program.
We believe that those creating value should benefit from it. That’s why empowering women through access to land, water, electricity, healthy food, and education will ensure a win-win for the whole community.
Because of your generous support, from June to September, AGILE was able to expand our inventory by an additional 200 purses. Our viable product line provides us with an ongoing source of revenue into the future.
My travel to Mali and Senegal in March and April allowed me to work directly with the ground team to help upgrade the design of our handbags and our work environment. As a result, best practice on the ground continues to improve, and so does the quality of our handbags. We also enhanced their functions and we have received great feedback from our customers. Our beautiful, handmade, quality purses are being sold in four Colorado stores! We have participated in six events and hope to be in at least 25 stores by December 2018.
Ways to Help Right Now!
1. We are looking for volunteers to tend our booths during this busy season of festivals. The season has already started and we could use at least two volunteers.
2. To attain our goal of being in 25 stores, we’ll love your suggestions for what cities, county fairs, high-end gift shops, accessory shops, active/outdoor shops, any place that’ll attract women. Please send me an email at fatousmd@gmail.com. We are willing to travel out of state.
3. We are currently looking for a van to travel to different shows to sell the purses. If you know anyone who has an extra used car, we would appreciate getting the referral.
4. Purchase handbags! https://agile-international.org/store/
5. Those of you who purchased our bags, please provide feedback for improvements you’d like to see. Email fatou@agile-international.org
![Share on Twitter]()
![Share on Facebook]()
