Winner: UNV Online Volunteering Awards 2011

On 5th December 2011, UNV made an official announcement of UNV Online Volunteering Awards for 2011. 10 best projects worldwide done through online volunteering has awarded with the much coveted Award.

The official announcement is available at UNV Online Volunteering website at http://www.onlinevolunteering.org/en/vol/stories/2011_gmm.html

and at United Nations Volunteer website at http://www.unv.org/en/current-highlight/online-volunteering-award-winners-make-key-contributions-to-peace-and-development/doc/online-volunteer-for-goodness.html

Goodness and Mercy Missions

Winner Name: Akanksha Shukla

Online volunteer Akanksha Shukla from India helped the Cameroonian NGO Goodness and Mercy Missions (GMM) improve its “Children education through women empowerment” project, which subsequently won the World Bank’s Cameroon Development Marketplace Competition. The project, which aims to enable 100 women to secure their family income through palm oil trading and send their children to school, was the third among 15 projects that were awarded for their replicable innovative approach and high potential for development impact.

Initially, Akanksha was tasked with developing a funding strategy for the project. With her background in agriculture and business management, however, and having worked with women self-help groups in India, she immediately spotted aspects that could be improved. In close consultation with GMM she redefined the project framework and developed a self-sustainable income generation model. Through its collaboration with Akanksha, the organization expanded its knowledge in inclusive development project management.

After finalizing the project concept, Akanksha searched for potential donors and prepared the award winning proposal. In addition to receiving funds, the winners were invited to a week-long training to strengthen their capacities to implement the awarded projects. “It was a unique chance for the organization to gain recognition in a national platform as well as interact with and learn from other development organizations in Cameroon. This was the greatest exposure for the organization since its inception in 2007,” says Teh Francis, the organization’s founder and director.

Her contribution to impacting the lives of 100 women in Cameroon was a life changing experience for Akanksha. “This feeling can’t be expressed in words, but I can just say that the joy, satisfaction, recognition and freedom that I had enjoyed working as online volunteer are unparalleled.” Akanksha decided to shift her career from for-profit marketing to the nonprofit sector, where she would like to work as a fundraising consultant. She has already enrolled in an online course in International Development.

 

 

Winner of World Bank’s Development Marketplace Competition

Children Education through Women Empowerment

Competition:2011 Country DM – Cameroon: Strengthening Community Participation for a Better Local Governance in Health, Education and Forest Resource Management

Winner / Finalist:  Winner

Project No:             CameroonDM2011-Education02

Project Manager:  Teh Francis Yai

Organization Name: Goodness and Mercy Missions

Country Of Implementation: Cameroon

Theme(s):    Improving Citizen Participation and Governance in Health, Education and Forest Resource Management Sector(s):  Education

Email:             info@gmmafrica.org

Website(s):www.gmmafrica.org

Year of Implementation:  2011

Region of Implementation:  Africa

General Objective:

* To help needy children have access to education and

* Assist primary caregivers (mothers) to be financially self dependent

Spécific Objectives:

* To build a capital base of 1200 USD per group at the end of the Project so as to cover the Education cost of 30 children before school reopens;

* To enable women to have an access to hassle free short term credit each month;

* To provide women with a steady flow of monthly income each month;

* To help women develop a disciplined saving and investing habit and

* help them understand the power of systematic investment and mobilization of resources;

* To inculcate entrepreneurial and leadership skills

Activities:

* Women whose primary goal is to arrange for their children’s education will be selected and homogenous group will be formed to ensure better transparency and ease of operation.

* There will be 10 women in 1 group. Selection of leader Group Leader- will buy oil and will keep accounts related to Buying and selling of Oil in the designated format.

* Saving and lending Kitty leader- will keep a record of savings pooled by each member every month in the given format & will collect repayment from the borrower with interest and will close her account in books.

* At the end of the project will redistribute the accumulated capital.

* Meetings 1st Month- Distribution of Oil to the members and handing over a communication about -cost of oil for the coming months; asking to keep a provision for next month’s buying; expectations regarding saving, lending norms and condition and other Code of conduct;

* Meeting closes 2nd month- pooling of saving and keeping records regarding each member’s contribution.

* Ask nominations for borrowing accumulated savings and take group’s consensus, open the borrower account and hand over the sum.

* Distribute the Oil at stipulated price and closing the meeting.

* 3rd to 12th Month- collect the loan repayment from the borrower (principal + 2.5% interest) hereby called earning from S&L Kittya & close account in books;

* Pool savings and ask nominations for borrowing of accumulated sum (contribution + Earning).

* On 13th month the accumulated sum in S&L kitty is redistributed to the members; amount is redistributed in the same proportion as it is contributed. If group decides to continue, sum at member level will be carry forwarded else equally distributed if decided to dissolve.

For the official announcement on World Bank’s website visit http://wbi.worldbank.org/developmentmarketplace/idea/children-education-through-women-empowerment

My Nomination for United Nations Online Volunteering Awards

Goodness and Mercy Mission’s Director Mr.Teh Francis, nominated me for my contribution in developing model for Children Education through Women Empowerment and for the assistance during Cameroon Development Marketplace Competition. Here is what Mr. Teh Francis has to say in support to my nomination:

Describe in detail how online volunteer(s) contributed to the organization’s projects. Include a description of the project(s).

Online volunteer for Goodness and Mercy mission chose to work on fundraising strategies for GMM’s women empowerment Project. Owing to the combined efforts of Volunteer and Organisation a refined Project “Children Education through Women empowerment” was developed. This project won The World Bank’s Cameroon Development Marketplace Challenge. 10 women empowerment projects benefitting 100 women and 300 children will be completely funded and supported by The World Bank’s Cameroon branch.

There is a small summary on how Volunteer contributed to the Project.

As a first step towards Fundraising, volunteer studied the preliminary model, discussed the problems being faced and worked on its weaknesses. The objective was to improve it from the perspective of sustainability and ability for inclusive development. After 3 weeks of extensive working and online discussion with the Director on various options and their feasibility, the final model of “Children education through women empowerment” was presented and approved.

Once the model was approved, Volunteer worked on the essentials for seamless implementation of project. This included Projected Financial summary, Budget, Reporting formats & Standard operating procedures for activities, this was to help the Project implementation leader in measuring projects progression, checking any digression, documentation and monitoring activities during the project period.

Owing to its innovativeness and ability to make difference in the field of Education this Project qualified for the World Bank’s Cameroon Development Market Place completion. This competition was implemented by the World Bank along with Catholic Relief Service to identify, support and replicate innovative ideas in the field of Education, Health and Environment. Volunteer provided the Technical guidance in preparing the application and supporting documents throughout the selection process. With combined efforts of Volunteer and Organisation this Project won the competition and funding.

Describe the result of the collaboration and its impact on the organization and its project(s).

Before the collaboration all the women groups were working on a model which was not too structured, they started with their own savings and were not able to sustain or grow due to lack of finances. Because of flaws in financial planning and management they were not successful in meeting their objectives. Objectives were not well defined; there was no standard operating procedure for ensuring effective implementation of project and to monitor its progress. Women were involved in other businesses for which they needed credit, but getting a credit from institutions were not only tedious but were expensive too. As these groups had no financial help few of them were on verge of withering and few others that survived were not able to grow.

Online volunteer saw following points of improvements

• Financial self sustainability
• Better planning, reporting and documentation
• Standard operating procedure to ensure better implementation, monitoring and evaluation.
• Measurable success elements with easy tools to measure them
• Accessibility of women to hassle free, cheaper loans
• Possibility of growth of money
• Ability to leverage group’s social capital to build Institutional Linkages
• Possibility of inclusive growth

The refined project raised interest among many funding organisation, it was nominated for The World Bank’s Cameroon Development Marketplace Challenge 2011 and won the challenge. The organisation will get a funding of 7 million CFA to fund 10 women empowerment project for 1 year.

Apart from this the organisation head along with the Implementation Leader attended 7 days workshop at Yaonde organised by The World Bank and CRS to train them in financial and Management matter. According to the Director of Goodness and Mercy Mission this one was the greatest exposure for their organisation since its inception in 2007.

Organisation not only benefitted with a better model for their empowerment program which will be self sustainable for life time after this funding, but they also got technical training from renowned practitioners in the field of Finance and Management, they got to learn from and made contacts with other development & funding organisations in Cameroon on the Exhibition day.

Why do you think this volunteer / volunteer team should be amongst the winners of the UNV Online Volunteering Award 2011?

The project in its original form was not financially self sustainable, the weaknesses in the model were detrimental for its long term sustainability and profitability. Volunteer had the challenge to get funding for the Project, instead of working right away with the proposals or approach to funding organisation she considered reworking on the model the basic necessity to fundraising. To get away with the inherited weakness and to incorporate key success elements in model were not only crucial to attract more funder but also to ensure its sustainability, better implementation and larger impact on community.

The Volunteer reworked on the basic model of this Project and worked from scratch using all her creativity and technical knowledge to include key features like Sustainability, Inclusive growth, Increased economic activity, Growth of money, Institutional Linkages, Financial planning, Transparency etc into the model. Model in its final form was not only more appealing to the potential funding organisations but also ensured its better implementation and longevity. Apart from providing the basic framework she also helped the organisation to gain all the knowledge to implement, monitor and sustain it successfully.

It was through the volunteer’s efforts that the project qualified and won a prestigious title and also the funding. This was a unique chance for the organisation to gain recognition in a national platform, learn and interact with other development organisation. As this competition was organised by The World Bank to select, support and replicate innovative concepts, model will be replicated in other places to tackle similar issues. Thus this unique model will help in changing lives of hundreds of women not only in Cameroon but also in other developing parts of the world too, which is the greatest accomplishment for both the organisation as well as the volunteer.

Women Empowerment Project Finalist at Cameroon Development Marketplace

22nd June 2011, Children Education through women empowerment is shortlisted as a finalist at Cameroon Development Marketplace.

14th and 15th July are the dates for Fair of Ideas, where the finalist had a chance to demonstrate the potential of their projects to the Jury.

260 organisations submitted their entries for this competition, and 50 projects were shortlisted as finalist. Final decision on 15 winners will be based on the presentation to an esteemed jury comprising officials from World Bank and CRS.

Following is the summary and presentation of this project.

“Children education through women empowerment” by Goodness and Mercy Mission is a self sustainable project where business model of Palm trading is combined with saving and lending concept to enable women gather money for their children’s education at the same time helping them with a continuous monthly income and a monthly access to cheap loan from their own pooled saving.

Sustainability is the key to this project and Income, saving and reinvestment are the 3 Pillars of success for this program, income earned is saved and reinvested and that is how the whole model will work and sustain.

The need: “Early childhood care and education can create the foundations for life of expanded opportunities. Yet, According to UNESCO’s EFA, Global Monitoring report for 2011, in Sub Saharan Africa out of every 100 children within the official age-group for primary education, only 14 are enrolled in school. Many of whom enter school with learning impairments stemming from malnutrition, ill health, poverty and lack of pre primary education. Researches by UNESCO have proved that most pronounced barrier to childhood development program is household poverty. Progress towards education can never be achieved if criticality of women’s role in children education and health is not understood and their ability to reduce household poverty is not addressed.” Thus empowering women with financial stability and decision making ability can facilitate education to end generational cycles of poverty and disease and provides a foundation for sustainable development.

How will it work: The grant money will cover cost for first 5 months only after which it will be self financed and will sustain for its life time. Women will have a steady flow of monthly income, a disciplined saving every month which they will pool together and this pool will be available to them as a cheap and hassle free short term loan. Margin earned on selling the oil and Interest earned on the savings will help grow the capital asset. Thus at the end of the 1st year they will be able to gather a sum big enough to meet their children’s education cost. As there will be many children in the community that may not be directly benefit from this project thus to help other needy children, GMM will use a Part of Grant Money to manage a small library at the ICT room in GMM office where needy children can come and borrow the books. Women benefitting from this project will be encouraged to share the Educational equipments like Books, Stationeries and old uniforms with other needy children in the community through this library. At the end of academic year they can either donate or lend these items to GMM library.

Selection of women by involving Community and PTA: As this project is aimed at helping needy children have access to education and assisting their mother’s who are the primary caregiver to be financially self dependent, GMM will involve community and PTA to identify needy children who are unable to pay their fees or have other school needs and will work with the women attached to them. The PTA will help GMM in the identification and the key people in communities like the village heads, priests, leaders, women groups we are working with will help GMM to identify the cases in the community to deal with. It is through them that we shall know whom we are dealing with.

As per the projection, at the beginning of 13th month Each women group will have an accumulated saving and lending kitty of approx. 1200 US, which will be redistributed to the members according to the saving contribution made which they can use to finance their children education for an year. There will be surplus of more 250 USD at SHG level which will be carry forwarded as retained earnings and will be used to buy Palm Oil for the coming month.

A power point presentation on this project is available at http://www.scribd.com/doc/80758232/Children-Education-through-women-empowerment-for-Cameroon-Development-Marketplace-Competition

Women Empowerment Project at World Bank’s Cameroon Development Marketplace

The Development Marketplace (DM) is a competitive World Bank program implemented in Cameroon by the World Bank Country Office and Catholic Relief Services (CRS) to recognize innovative projects in the field of Education, Health and Forestry. Visit the site at http://www.cameroondm.org/en/homepage.html

The marketplace of ideas for development is in competition for innovative projects and original submitted by the Associations, NGOs and common initiative groups working in the national territory of Cameroon.

Women Empowerment Project developed for Goodness and Mercy Mission has qualified for CDM and here is the summary that was submitted on 1st June 2011. hope the best for this project.

Name of the Project: Children Education through Women Empowerment.

Area of ​​intervention chosen: Education

Project summary: A self sustainable project combined with saving and lending model to enable women gather money for their children’s education at the same time earn regular monthly income and a monthly access to cheap loan. Women group will buy Palm Oil every month in bulk and will distribute it to the members at discounted rate for first 4 months and at cost price for following months. Members will sell oil and meet again next month to pool their savings to form S&L kitty which will be available for lending to group members. Each month the pool will grow owing to new contribution and earnings so that at the end of 1 year they will be able to gather a sum to support education cost of 30 children each group. Project will be entirely managed by group members maintaining minimal administrative cost. GMM will facilitate group formation to ensure homogeneity and transparency; will provide all accounting and reporting formats and training to group leaders to increase operational efficiency. Peer pressure will motivate members to save more, repay on time and adhere to groups norms. Regular monitoring of key factors at group and member level will ensure success in meeting the goals.

Number of expected direct and indirect beneficiaries: Direct beneficiary 150 children and indirect beneficiary 50 women.

Objectives of the project: To build a capital base of 1200 USD per group at the end of the Project so as to cover the Education cost of 30 children each group before school reopens, To enable women to have an access to hassle free short term credit each month. Projected average loan disbursement is $655 per month per group; To provide them a steady flow of monthly income each month, projected monthly income is $26.5 per month per member. Regular income will enable them maintain a regular saving and investment to S&L kitty. To help women develop a disciplined saving and investing habit and help them understand the power of systematic investment and mobilization of resources. To inculcate entrepreneurial and leadership skills. As women will manage activities by themselves they will gain much needed knowledge and experience to run small enterprise. Women will get an exposure to lending & accounting system which will help them understand basics of Micro lending and Banking. As women will take their own decision and will manage day to day activities of this project they will gain confidence in leader ship and decision making skills.

Main project activities: Women whose primary goal is to arrange for their children’s education will be selected and homogenous group will be formed to ensure better transparency and ease of operation. There will be 10 women in 1 group. Selection of leader Group Leader– will buy oil and will keep accounts related to Buying and selling of Oil in the designated format. Saving and Lending Kitty leader– will keep a record of savings pooled by each member every month in the given format & will collect repayment from the borrower with interest and will close her account in books. At the end of the Project will redistribute the Accumulated Capital. Meetings 1st Month– Distribution of Oil to the members and handing over a communication about -Cost of Oil for the coming months, Asking to keep a Provision for next month’s buying, Expectations regarding Saving, Lending Norms and condition and other Code of conduct. Meeting closes 2^nd Month– Pooling of saving and keeping the records regarding each member’s contribution. Asking the nominations for borrowing of Accumulated savings and taking group’s consensus, open the borrower account and handing over the sum. Distributing the Oil at stipulated price and closing the meeting. 3^rd to 12^th Month– Collecting the loan Repayment from the borrower (Principal + 2.5% Interest) hereby called “Earning from S&L Kitty” & Closing her account in books. Pooling of saving and asking the nominations for borrowing of Accumulated sum (Contribution + Earning). Distributing the Oil at stipulated price and closing the meeting. On 13^th Month the Accumulated Sum in S&L kitty is redistributed to the members; amount is redistributed in the same proportion as it is contributed. If group decides to continue, sum at member level will be carry forwarded else equally distributed if decided to dissolve.

Strategic partners to implement the project: Though at this stage we haven’t got any confirmation from organisations we are approaching for partnership. But owing to the structure of this project there is a great scope of partnering with Palm Oil marketing Companies or Agents, Microfinance institutions or civil societies having interest in Belo rural community.

Project innovativeness:

1. The Project reaches self sufficiency within the 4^th month of operation; don’t need instilling any capital after this month. This is owing to the model which ensures that capital remains within the Group: interest paid on loan adds up to the saving contribution, and earnings gets compounded building the cash assets of the members. Though grant money covers the first 4 months cost women don’t get it for free rather they get the subsidy which helps in keeping a healthy financial position at group level.
2. Transparent, Democratic and flexible: Members determine their own rules and decisions are made through consensus.
3. Opportunity for increased Economic activity: If the group decides they can link to formal financial system to seek access to more formal and wider array of financial services.
4. Build Institutional Linkages: The group can leverage their social capital and organisational capacity to link into agricultural development efforts, health and education.

Results expected from the project: Projected amount available at S&L kitty for disbursement is approx. $1200 per group, and $250 at Group level. Projected average loan disbursement is $655 per month per group and projected average income per month per member is $26.5.

Impact of the project within the community: This project aims to empower women with financial stability and decision making ability to facilitate education to end generational cycles of poverty and disease and provides a foundation for sustainable development. Women will have regular income and access to short term loan which makes them financial self sustainable thus command respect in family and society. They will gain entrepreneurial and money management skill and can engage themselves in any other income generative enterprise parallel to this. Main goal of this project together with its fall outs will help in formation of a more transparent and productive community as a whole.

Project replication: This model can be easily replicated anywhere as the need of physical resources is minimal. Women can use any public community hall for meetings. Reporting and accounting formats are easy to understand and women with little education can manage well. Entire activities are managed by group members and thus there is transparency and flexibility. Women groups are homogenous with members sharing similar interest thus a peer pressure will help women reach goal of savings, repayment and reinvestment. There is no technical requirement for reselling thus women can easily achieve the targeted margin.Thus any community where women with a common desire to support and ensure their children education can come together & replicate this project with any other business model.

Elements that ensure the sustainability: Though input cost for first 4 months are covered by the grant money, women will get it at discounted rates to ensure a healthy financial status at group level. Interest earned on repayment of loan will grow principle amount and more interest is generated, money will grow at projected rate of 20%. Democratic way of forming lending norms and peer pressure will help in reducing defaults and ensuring timely payments. Administrative cost is maintained to be minimal. Women group can leverage on their social capital to form linkages with formal lending institutions, civil societies and agricultural agencies for further diversification.

Strategies for effective implementation of the project:

Norms and code of conduct regarding Financial and Social values will be agreed upon and followed by members to create a more supportive and productive environment. Terms and Conditions for loan repayments will be formulated and approved by the members. Loan will be disbursed subject to member’s majority approval. Leaders and GMM official will monitor the activities and ensure that all accounting adhere to the provided formats and that there is not much deviation in the figures from projected financial statement. This will ensure healthy numbers both at Group and Member level. Members can change the rules provided majority of women agree for it thus making it more flexible. Group size is small and is homogenous, women sharing the same vision and having commonality like staying in similar locality, having children studying in same school, etc are encouraged to be in same group, this will ensure a better implementation and transparency. Peer pressure will motivate women to save, invest more and repay on time. GMM will form a complaint cell comprising senior coordinators for this project where women can register their complaints if any in a designated format. And GMM will form a system in place for resolving the complaint.

Monitoring the implementation of the project to ensure the failure or success of the project: GMM’s Women Group Coordinator will work towards successful implementation of this project, she will facilitate election of leaders; will help the Group leader in price negotiation with suppliers, will organise training for Women leaders in book keeping, will closely monitor the meetings so as to see that the records are kept properly and loan is disbursed in designated format, will prepare bimonthly reports on Financial and social progress, support it with members testimonials and pictures, will monitor the final settlement and will ensure no disagreements happen, will check the records every month to ensure there is no mismanagement or digression from the main objective. GMM will provide donors timely reports about the projects progress including its social and financial achievements. Evaluation of the project activities will be conducted on regular intervals by GMM’s senior coordinators.

Success elements of the project?tools you use to measure success? Sustainability is the key success element in this model which is ensured if surplus at group level is more or equal to $102 per month, and saving contribution for first 4 months is more or equal to $109 and for next 8 months is more or equal to $52. From the Donors perspective investment of $964 per group will result in education fund build up of $1200 and a surplus of $250 at group level which concludes a ROI of 50%. In this model women can take hassle free cheap loans at easy terms and conditions from their own pooled savings. Interest paid by them add up in the pool thus gets compounded. According to the projected financial summary S&L kitty will grow at a rate of 20%. (Summation of monthly saving for 12 months will be approx. $1000 whereas Cumulative monthly Earnings (Principle + interest) will be $1200).

Women Empowerment Project in Detail

This is a Self-sustainable women empowerment program combined with Village saving and lending model. Principles of income, saving and reinvestment is incorporated in a way that it reaches self sufficiency after the 4th month.

Aim of the Project is to enable members arrange for their children’s education. At the same time help them maintain a disciplined money saving habit so as to provide them with short term loan of up to 80 USD per month, from their own pooled saving.

This project will help women from 3 aspects of empowerment; Making them financially self sufficient; Helping them arrange for their children education and Improving their ability to take independent decisions.

Project in Brief: This project will begin in September 2011 when women have already admitted their children in the current academic session. And have exhausted all their savings in meeting the educational cost. Here the project begins with ZERO capital both at member as well as the group level. The Group will get 4 Months Palm Oil and other costs as grant. Group will distribute Oil to the members Free on the first month and at 50% discount for 2^nd and 3^rd and 25% discount for 4^th and 5^th month and at Cost Price for subsequent months.

Women will sell Oil and will meet again next month to pool their savings. As this project is aimed towards providing fund for education, Women are encouraged to save more and avoid any indiscriminate use of the money. After all the members have pooled the money in what we call SAVING AND LENDING KITTY, members can express their will to borrow the money at stipulated terms and conditions. In this way pooling of small saving of each member will make it usable as a credit for 1 or more members, as month’s advances and the pool grows, more and more number of members can borrow from it. On the 2^nd month first repayment of loan will be done and this amount will be summed up with the contribution of that month and will be loaned to a new member

At the beginning of 13th month i.e on 1^st week of September 2012 women will have an accumulated saving and lending kitty of 1212 USD, which will be redistributed to the members which they can use to finance their children education for an year. Redistribution of S&L kitty will be in accordance to the contribution made.

There will be surplus of 250 USD at SHG level which will be carry forwarded as retained earnings and will be used to buy Palm Oil for the coming month. 

Uniqueness and Strengths:

1. The Project reaches self sufficiency within the 4^th month of operation; don’t need instilling of any capital after this month.
2. Capital remains within the Group: interest paid on loan remains within the group and builds the cash assets of the members.
3. Transparent, Democratic and flexible: Members determine their own rules and decisions are made through consensus.
4. Opportunity for increased Economic activity: If the group decides they can link to formal financial system to seek access to more formal and wider array of financial services.
5. Build Institutional Linkages: The group can leverage their social capital and organisational capacity to link into agricultural development efforts, health and education.
6. No freebies: Women will not get resources free of Cost, this is to encourage them to avoid any indiscriminate use of resources.

Key Points: Project will start with 4 women groups benefiting 120 Children and 40 women (30 Children & 10 women in each group). Tuition Fees, Book and other supplies etc will cost 40 USD per child per year. Thus total capital to be collected by each group by end of 1 year is 1200 USD.

As the project needs grant to cover initial 4 months cost, fund to be raised is 900 USD per group or 3600 USD in total.

What is Saving and Lending Kitty- Saving and Lending Kitty is the saving contribution pooled by the members in the beginning of month and the amount thus collected is loaned to the members. The Accumulated sum from 2^nd month onward will include saving contribution and the Earning from loan repayment, which is again available for lending to other members.

Objective

• To build a capital base of 1200 USD at the end of the Project so as to cover the Children Education cost before school reopens.
• Enabling women to have an access to hassle free short term credit each month to finance their other commitments.
• To provide them a steady flow of money each month so that they can take care of small educational requirement of the kids during the month.
• To provide a self sustainable Model for their business that will attain financial independence at the fifth month.
• To help women develop a disciplined saving and investing habit and help them understand the power of systematic investment and mobilization of resources.
• To help women understand the optimum utilization of resources.
• To inculcate entrepreneurial and leadership skills.

How it works:
a) Selection of Women: Group of women whose primary goal is to arrange for Tuition Fees and other educational requirements of their children before the beginning of new session. There will be 10 women in 1 group.
b) Selection of leader-
Group Leader- This leader will buy oil and will keep accounts related to Buying and selling of Oil to the members in the defined format.
Saving and Lending Kitty leader– This leader will keep a record of savings pooled by each member every month in the given format, will collect repayment from the borrower with interest and will close her account in books. At the end of the Project will redistribute the Accumulated Capital in the same proportion as it was pooled in by the members.
c) Monthly Meeting- Agenda of meetings
1st Month– Distribution of   Oil to the members and handing over a communication about -Cost of Oil for the coming months, Asking to keep a Provision for next month’s buying, Expectations regarding Saving, Lending Norms and condition and other Code of conduct. Meeting closes.
2^nd to 12^th Month– Collecting the loan Repayment from the borrower (Principal + 2.5% Interest) hereby called “Earning from S&L Kitty” & Closing her account in books. Pooling of saving and keeping the records regarding each member’s contribution. Asking the nominations for borrowing of Accumulated sum (Contribution + Earning) and taking group’s consensus. Handing over the money to borrower. Buying the Oil at stipulated price and closing the meeting.

13^th Month ie Sept 2012, the Accumulated Sum in S&L kitty is redistributed to the members; amount is redistributed in the same proportion as it is contributed. Whereas sum left at Group level will be equally distributed (If group is to be dissolved) else its carry forwarded as retained earning for the next month.

Conditions For loan:

• Loan term is 1 month but if the borrower is not able to repay loan it can be carry forwarded to a period not exceeding 3 months and interest will be charged accordingly at a flat rate of 2.5% every month.
• Loan is at 2.5% per month and repayment is Principal + 2.5% per month.
• Loan application for a Productive purpose is given priority.
• In case of default the women is declined the share in final settlement.
• At a time more than 1 member can take loan, 1 member can take loan for more than once unless she has repaid her previous loan. Maximum loan that a person can take at a time is 80 USD.

Goodness Mercy Mission’s Role:

• GMM will arrange expenses for first 4 month through grants and fundraising.
• GMM will facilitate selection of members and election of leaders.
• GMM will help the Group leader in price negotiation with suppliers.
• GMM will organise training for leaders in book keeping will also provide the formats to keep separate records at each level.
• GMM’s officer will closely monitor the meetings for first 6 months so as to see that the records are kept properly and loan is disbursed in designated format.
• GMM will monitor the final settlement and will ensure no disagreements happen.

               Financial Snapshot: All Figures in USD for one Group

 

1	Members Combined Capital in the beginning of project	0
2	Average saving per Member/month	85
3	Amount available at S&L kitty at the End of project	1212
4	Amount available at Group level at the end of the project	250
5	Loan amount disbursed from S&L kitty during the Project	7733

 

To know more about Goodness Mercy Mission visit the website at http://www.gmmafrica.org/

To DONATE through Paypal or Credit Card click the Donate button at the bottom of GMM’s webPage.

For Payment through Bank Transfer

Company/Account Name: Teh Francis Yai
Bank Name: BANK ATLANTIQUE CAMEROUN
Bank Address: Commercial Avenue, Bamenda, Cameroun.
Bank Account: 91119920000-32
Bank Sort Code :
Swift/BIC: ATCRCMCM

To sponsor or know more please write to us at info@gmmafrica.org

“The education and empowerment of women throughout the world cannot fail to result in a more caring, tolerant, just and peaceful life for all,” by Aung San Suu Kyi

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From last 1 month I have been working on a Project for Goodness Mercy Mission, a Cameroon based Development Organisation which is actively involved in development projects related to Women,Children and Youths.The aim of this project is to Develop a … Continue reading →