About the community
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An agelgil is a traditional Ethiopian container to keep food fresh, and carry it around while you work in the fields. You carry nourishment with you and are also able to share it with others. This is the symbol our community pilot in Ethiopia has chosen for their complementary currency, the AGL.

Agelgil is being co-designed and piloted by and for Self-help groups in Adama City, Ethiopia. A Self-help group (SHG) is a group of 15 to 20 people who meet together each week to support each other financially and encourage one another. They start by saving small amounts regularly, and then begin taking out small loans from the group at a low interest rate. Members often use the money to start or expand their own businesses. They also receive small-business training.

Members of SHGs find they benefit from far more than just financial success. The groups focus on building strong, trusting relationships between members. Many groups are made up entirely of women.

Tearfund supports SHG and Cluster Level Associations (CLAs) to be self-sustaining. Adama City in Ethiopia has 220,000 population, and a network of 36 CLAs and 425 SHGs. Members are suffering from shrinking markets and loss of savings due to Covid 19.  In this context, their complementary currency is a new and powerful tool to improve the members' livelihoods and increase resilience in hard times.


Objectives
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Agelgil aims to:

1. Facilitate exchanges between SHG members (mostly women), supporting each other on her businesses, sharing skills, insights, connections and their products/services;

2. Strengthening the SHG and the  local economy, by promoting exchanges between members from different SHG.
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How does it work
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‍You can get Agelgil by:

1. Joining the community on Cambiatus;
2. Creating offers on the shop
3. Offering a skillshare on the shop
4. Offering a business consultancy on the shop

Agelgil allows members to have a negative balance of 100 AGL. Members can then compensate for their negative balances by offering products and services to the community.
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