Pioneering Church Project Nets Award

                                                                                                                                 Wednesday September 25, 2013

The Church of Scotland's 'Passage From India' project, a self-help group for women in Glasgow, pioneered by the Priority Areas Committee, has won a major anti-poverty award.

The project, which featured in the February 2012 issue of Life and Work (read the article here) has netted the European Anti-Poverty Network (EAPN) Award for 2013 for their "role in transantion and inspiration and learning in the fight against poverty and social exclusion." The initiative drew from the lessons of micro-credit projects in India to create 'Self-Reliant Groups' of women who meet on a weekly basis to start up small business and create access to some credit needs in some of Scotland's poorest neighbourhoods.

The seeds for Passage to India, which now has charitable status, were sown in 2010 when a group of women from Glasgow visited India and met women in similar situations and learned how they worked together to create their own systems of micro business and finance.


Out of the initial six SRGs, four have already established microenterprises with their self-generated capital – as little as £1 – and matched by a microfinance scheme that has been set up with the help of the Guild of the Church of Scotland. The aim is to have 50 such groups across Scotland, involving over 350 women from underprivileged communities over the next two years.

The Rev Dr Martin Johnstone, Secretary of the Priority Areas Committee, said: “The award acknowledges what we already know. Women in Scotland have learnt from their peers in India, and together they are bringing about positive change in their families and communities. That transformation is the really important thing.”

The leader of the project Noel Mathias will attend the award ceremony on September 30 in Brussels to accept the award on behalf of the committee.

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