(ANS - Milan) - The Daughters of Mary Help of Christians for Female Entrepreneurship - Expo 2015 – Casa Don Bosco. Small acts to support big dreams and give "Energy for Life". From 1 to 9 September in Casa Don Bosco at Expo 2015, the Salesian Sisters are displaying their ongoing commitment to support the development of women's micro-entrepreneurship.

The Daughters of Mary Help of Christians have always believed in and promoted the power of women to create an economic alternative that respects their culture and the resources of Creation.

The exhibition presents an overview of "best practices" of microcredit for micro-projects with examples of some local experiences that bring about better conditions of life for people, families and communities. They offer valuable tools to escape from welfare dependence, stimulate production activity from the bottom, bring out the creativity and ingenuity of women, and give hope, dignity and work.

There are examples from the different continents where micro-credit and micro-economies are widespread. They differ depending on the cultural peculiarities of each locality. They range from the rearing of small livestock and growing vegetables to weaving, food production and alternative medicine

The ten years from 2004 to 2014 were taken as the reference point to analyse the commitment to training and start-up of activities. In that period there were 144 microcredit projects and 266 micro-projects reaching 30,000 beneficiaries.

The commitment of the FMA in this area has a unique characteristic: it is the attention to the educational dimension of the experience, particularly job training in cooperative work and self-financing and the development of active citizenship. Starting a small income-generating activity can ensure the improvement of living conditions for the entire family and the possibility of education for children, in addition to promoting the empowerment of the woman herself.

On 4 and 5 September there will be the testimony of a group of young immigrants who are beneficiaries of microcredit. They are accommodated at the FMA House in Cammarata (Ag) and are currently engaged in a social agriculture project where they learn the basics of local agriculture, in particular the cultivation of olives. The course enables them to rediscover and implement the skills and knowledge they had learned in their countries of origin, and to gain employment in work typical of the territory where they are hosted. 

Published 01/09/2015