Letters...

Ugandan Initiative

Since my immersion in the Grameen system and severely bitten by the Grameen bug in November 1996, when I had the privilege of participating in the 19th International Dialogue, my organization has registered a lot of achievements in provision of small manageable loans to the rural poor women in Uganda. We have over 1,200 borrowers majority of whom are women. We have a few men in the program because we would like to ensure that they continue allowing their women to attend meetings, save and repay the loan weekly.

Since we started replicating Grameen system in April 1996, we have enlisted 1242 borrowers and we have issued 1000 loans. We train the clusters, what is known as centres in Grameen system, for eight weeks in business management, marketing, savings and credit management. Most of our borrowers are contemplating taking a loan for the very first time in their life, hence the need for a long training period

The members that have participated in this program are already appreciating the impact of the loans. They are particularly happy to be able to run their small businesses and earn a regular income which enables them to lead a decent life without resorting to depending on external sources of funds or even begging for help.

One of the target districts in the eastern part of the country has been going through a famine caused by excessive drought. It is pleasing to note that our borrowers were able to go through this crisis without begging for help in the from of food donations. Although the famine and drought conditions affected the repayment rate, the clients did not lose heart or forsake the scheme.

Most donors working in Uganda are increasingly including micro finance initiatives in their current and future programs. We hope to access this funding to capitalize our savings and credit scheme so as to reach out to more rural poor women in a bid to eradicate poverty at the household level.

We have realized, though, that one of the main factors behind the Grameen success, is the training and commitment of staff We require some assistance in training our staff, so that they become committed loan officers. Is this assistance provided exclusively to replicators who have obtained their loan funds from Grameen? Can organizations like ours benefit from this training? Do we have to submit a proposal to that effect?

Send my regards to everybody and if possible send my greetings to members of Ashkarpur Branch of Grameen Bank who hosted us during the Dialogue in November 1996.