A Small Start Leads to Great Returns

By Kai T. Hill

In a small village in Burkina Faso, a few dozen women gather under a tree, planning a better future for their families.

Each of them, bursting with optimism, has participated in weeks of training by Catholic Relief Services. CRS Burkina Faso staff provide the women with strategies on collective saving and how best to use $40 loans distributed as part of the agency's microfinance (small savings and lending) program.

The training culminated with a joyous ceremony that drew villagers, proud leaders and children alike out of their homes. Everyone celebrated as each member of the group received her loan. The graduation was a rite of passage that will ultimately benefit the entire village.

"This is what the program is about," says Bangre Moussa Dominique, deputy country representative for CRS Burkina Faso. "They didn't need a donation, they need an opportunity."

Since the majority of the women are small market vendors or farmers, the loans are typically used for business capital. Money to buy peanuts, cakes, crop seeds or even a small goat helps start or expand their businesses. Some hold onto the extra profit they make for future hard times, brought by an unexpected drought or other disaster.

For example, during a 2005 drought and locust invasion in Burkina Faso, more than 4,400 women who had participated in CRS-supported microfinance programs made emergency use of their savings, totaling $28,308. The women used the money to purchase cereal and other basic needs, helping to minimize the impact of the crisis on their families.

Becoming Self-Sustaining

CRS has been helping poor families improve their lives through microfinance since 1988. With projects throughout Africa, Asia, Europe, the Middle East and Latin America, CRS has brought sustainable financial improvement to the lives of more than a million people, especially vulnerable women in remote areas of impoverished countries.

For them, microfinance means they can put food on their tables and provide their children a chance at a decent education.

Burkina Faso's self-sustaining microfinance groups, which now operate under Graine, a newly formed independent microfinance institution, jointly managed by CRS and Catholic church leaders, have thus far saved an estimated total of $524,048. That's about $600 per village bank — a small fortune in a country that, according to World Bank estimates, has a per capita income of $590. And cash is not the only security these women build. Some may buy a goat or other items that contribute to the household's overall assets.

Meeting at regular intervals, the women discuss the life of their village bank, reimburse a portion of their loans, or contribute new savings. They also discuss village issues, which helps promote community building, Bangre says. Since most of the women are unable to read or write, fingerprints are used in lieu of signatures. They add their contributions to a subdivided wooden lockbox, which is passed between the group members' homes and can be opened only by three women, each with a separate key.

The program has proven completely self-sustainable, an indication, Bangre explains, that the program has the capacity to continue well after CRS staff leave the process to the participants.

CRS Burkina Faso's microfinance program is a prime example of the agency's commitment to the full development of vulnerable women around the globe.

Kai T. Hill is an associate web producer for CRS. She works at the Baltimore headquarters.