Our partners provide invaluable support in our mission to free the world of poverty. They help us to expand our reach, launch new products and services, and monitor our social performance. SEF is grateful to all our partners for their role in improving the lives of rural South African women.
Development Microfinance Association (DMA)
To most effectively help our clients lift themselves from poverty, we need to partner with other organisations that share the same ideals and principles as SEF. The DMA is a not-for-profit association of organisations committed to pro-poor development microfinance. DMA membership allows for knowledge-sharing and collaboration towards our shared vision of a world free of poverty.
The Small Enterprise Foundation’s (SEF) Managing Director and co-founder of SEF, John de Wit, is a current board member of the DMA.
Intervention with Microfinance for AIDS and Gender Equality (IMAGE)
In 2001, SEF partnered with IMAGE launching a 4 year randomized controlled trial combining our microcredit programme with a 12-month gender and health education curriculum.
The IMAGE programme seeks to empower our clients, teaching them how to prevent HIV infection and intimate partner violence. Developing community support structures is another key aspect to the IMAGE programme.
To date, 12, 300 at-risk women have participated in the curriculum. The randomized controlled trial saw a 55% reduction in intimate partner violence over the course of 2 years.
Check out these whitepapers to learn more about the IMAGE study.
Financial Partnerships
Investment from our many donors and lenders makes it possible for SEF to continue providing poverty alleviation services to rural South African women. Besides supporting our day-to-day operations, our financial partners play a key role in many strategic projects, such as expansion into new areas, total quality management, and digitisation. We would like to thank our financial partners for sharing our vision of a world free of poverty.