On November 7, whilst in Paris, I passed by a bookshop in Arrondissement # 145 and my attention was drawn to the title of your book Towards a World Without Poverty.

I bought the book and have since read it several times. The book has given me a great deal of hope, because I now believe that I have found a solution to the problem of fighting poverty in Cote d'Ivoire.

As a matter of fact, I am from Cote d'Ivoire. In December 1995, I completed my third term as a Deputy of the National Assembly. On October 22, 1995, an association of which I am the Chairperson, named Cote d'Ivoire Women Environment and Development (CIFED), was created. CIFED is a non-profit making non-governmental organisation, an NGO that covers the entire national territory. CIFED today consists of more than four thousand members, solely women.

Our main objectives are:

• Increased value of produce from work done by women;
• Adaptation of these products to meet the market demand;
• Provide access to credit in order to improve the productivity of female headed micro-enterprises.

In order to obtain credit, a borrower would need to do the following:

• Provide a professional training certificate;
• Present a guarantee;
• Lay down a guarantee;
• Open a bank account;
• Possess a birth certificate;
• Present a photocopy of the national identity card;
• In rural areas, present a tittle deed over land endorsed by the deputy prefect upon recommendation from the village chief;
• Present a postmarked letter for the reply;

For the past two years, I have constantly fought to make people understand that our members, illiterate and poor, can not possibly fulfil the above mentioned criteria.

In order to facilitate access to loans, we have been advised to organise training courses for our woman. The World Bank office in Abidjan and the Cote d'Ivoire Development Fund for Professional Training, funded in 1996 and 1997, training courses on the following subjects:

• Functional Reading and Writing
• Food Hygiene
• Simplified Accounting

Approximately 200 women participated in these training courses, at the end of which diplomas were presented to the participants. We had thought that as a direct result of the training, these diplomas would facilitate access to small loans that are needed to start up new activities for the women. This has not been the case and the women left very disappointed.

I have, as a matter of fact, come to the conclusion that the salvation of the poor and illiterate women in Cote d'Ivoire lies in the creation of their own bank. The purpose of the present correspondence is, therefore, to get your advice on what would be needed in order to achieve my two objectives: on the one hand, to become more acquainted with your organisation and, on the other, to launch a Cote d'Ivire model of the "Grameen Bank".

My husband, Professor Abdoulaye Sawadogo, is the Assistant-Director General of the Agriculture Department in the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. I maintain, however, a direct contact with CIFED in Abidjan, where I incidentally shall be going at the beginning of December 1997.