Ayuuto, Pardner, Susu, Umdlalo - these are just a few of the names communities across Africa and the diaspora use to describe the practice of collective saving.
Savings Circles are more than just an economic tool; they're a form of community economic self-determination, commonly led and exclusively formed by African and Afro-Diasporic women. A popular solution for African peoples to address financial hurdles associated with low wages, unemployment and poor housing - or even used to finance important events such as funerals, weddings or births - savings circles create the possibility of accessing funds that they wouldn’t be able to gather individually. Informal, with no bureaucracies, no interest and based on relationships of trust - savings circles are testament to the interdependence within our communities .
In this event, we will engage in intergenerational conversation to learn from the wisdom of aunties about what savings circles are, how they work and how they connect to migration stories. We will find out about how they are being used to raise families, remittances to send back home and the economic self-determination of users.
We will ask: How can younger generations pool resources together to meet our collective needs and contribute to movements for Black liberation?
This event will be hosted in partnership with Coffee Afrik CIC Women’s Cooperative.
This event is the second event in the Medicine: Lessons In Black Economic Interdependence, a collaborative project between Kinfolk Network and Decolonising Economics.
This event is for and by Black people.
About the Political Education Series:
This political education series is designed for Black organisers and activists who are interested in dismantling capitalism but feel overwhelmed about the steps needed to create nourishing economic realities.
We’re calling on Black organisers and activists across the UK who want to engage more with solidarity economics organising, rooted deeply in our histories and cultures as African and Afro-diasporic communities. Through in person and online events, this political education series will take organisers on a journey of reclaiming and popularising alternative ways of dismantling capitalism, rooted in the tools of elders such as savings circles (Pardner, Susu, Ayuuto), squats, housing cooperatives, community gardens, labour sharing and much more.
Using the African oral history tradition, this political education series will foster intergenerational and international dialogue, seeking to create space for the diaspora to reconnect with practices that have sustained life and health - practices that resist and offer a pathway out of racial capitalism.
This Political Education Series Is Perfect For You If:
- You are a Black organiser
- You hate capitalism but don’t know what else is there
- You are new to economics and want to learn more about it
- You’re interested in mutual aid
- You’re looking to connect to Black activists from across the UK
Additional Information
- This event will take place in Hackney. The exact location will be shared with ticket holders on the morning of the event.
- The venue is fully accessible with a ramp and two accessible non-gender bathrooms.
- This event will have live captioning.
- We would like to signpost Somali Health Exchange's GoFundMe here.
Here’s what we’ve got coming up this year (and next!):
📅 Ayuuto Means Help - Savings Circles in the African Diaspora on 23 October 2024 at 6-8pm BST in London
📅 For Squat: Black Community Housing on 27 November 2024 at 6-8pm GMT in Bristol
📅 Global Exchange of African and Diasporic Solidarity Economy Practices on 22 January 2025 at 6-7:30pm GMT (online)
📅 Healing in Community on 8 February 2025 at 2-4pm GMT in Glasgow
📅 Many hands make light work (and full bellies): collectivity and interdependence in African, Afro-descendent and Black food growing practices in London, TBC date and time