Five Talents awarded $1.5 million to expand, replicate program in Sudan

By ENS staff, July 02, 2010 [Episcopal News Service] Christian microfinance charity Five Talents has received a $1.5 million grant from Comic Relief, a U.K.-based foundation, to expand its literacy and financial education program in Sudan, according to a July 1 press release.

In partnership with the Mothers' Union International and World Concern, and with assistance from the Episcopal Church of Sudan, Five Talents will roll out the program to establish 1,000 savings and credit groups and provide basic literacy and numeracy skills to 30,000 people -- 70 percent of them women -- over the next five years.

"We are excited about the opportunity to significantly increase our ability to serve the poor in Sudan using innovative financial education and savings and credit programs," said Craig Cole, Five Talents president and CEO.

The program builds on the successes of the Five Talents' community-managed savings and credit group model that has been developed in the Episcopal Diocese of Wau in Sudan. It also will incorporate the Mothers' Union literacy training, which has been conducted in the dioceses of Juba, Renk and Khartoum. Five Talents will provide trainers and develop the financial and business training curriculum, as well as assist with mentoring, monitoring and reporting, the press release said.

The Episcopal Church of Sudan is one of the largest non-government organizations in southern Sudan, and has an estimated 3 to 4 million members throughout Sudan.

"Understanding how to keep money and the importance of saving, and managing money, helps individuals, the church and the community," said Jennifer Ernst, partnerships coordinator for the Episcopal Church of Sudan and a member of Christ Church in Glen Allen in the Diocese of Virginia, in a telephone interview. "It is important for people to be able to help themselves and not wait for the government to come in and help them. Training in financial management needs to happen at all levels; the thing that Five Talents does so well is work with individuals."

Since 2007, Five Talents has worked with partners in Warrap and Western Bahr el Ghazal states in southern Sudan, and alongside local and national leaders of the Episcopal Church of Sudan, the release said.

"With the expansion of this program, men and women in Wau will receive the Mothers' Union literacy training as well as the savings group training, while those in Juba, Renk and Khartoum, who have already received literacy training, will receive financial literacy and community-managed savings and credit group training. Eventually, two additional dioceses will be added to the program," the release said.

"Through the literacy and financial education program, women will actively be encouraged to participate in local decision-making and to stand for leadership positions."

"In the coming years, we will see thousands of women not only learning how to read but to do business and become empowered to be community leaders as well," said Cole, according to the release. "Because of the generosity of Comic Relief and the awarding of this grant, individual lives, families and communities will be transformed."