A Meeting At The University And Some Numbers

On Friday we held our Iringa Hope Update meeting.  This is something we do at the end of our visits to summarize what we are finding in the villages.  This year we had attendees from the national, regional, and municipal governments; the financial community; the NGOs; the Diocese; the University and Bega Kwa Bega.  In all there were 28 people in attendance.  We gave a summary of our results, then had people introduce themselves, and had some questions and discussion.  The group was very lively with lots of comments and good discussions.  Following this meeting Sandy and I took off for a few days at Ruaha, the national park near here.  For now, here are a few numbers I would offer –

·              * We met with over 1,000 members of our SACCOS

·              * We did in depth interviews with 47 members – for a 3 year total of 140 interviews

·              * We also interviewed 66 elected SACCOS officers for a 3 year total of 118 interviews

·              * In addition, we have examined 135 loan documents

Our results are that –

·              * All of our SACCOS are profitable

·              * Loan repayment is over 98% (better than most US banks)

·              * Our membership stood at slightly over 2,000 at year end

·              * Our Capital base stood at slightly over 400,000,000 TZS ($256,000)

Once again our members did a great job in their SACCOS.  In particular our members

·              * Earned over 600,000,000 TZS ($385,000) in profits after repaying their loans

·              * Donated over 50,000,000 TZS to their churches from their profits

·              * Sent 1,400 children to secondary school from their profits (more than all of the scholarship programs combined)

·              * Started building or finished 120 houses (generally their first house with metal a roof and a cement floor)

·              * On average increased their incomes from about $300 to $750/year

·              * Created 1,300 full time jobs in their villages

·              * Created 2,500 seasonal jobs

We now have 21 registered SACCOS in Iringa Hope, while we are working with 38 villages.  Last year our SACCOS

·              * Had 1,400 members in registered SACCOS and 2,040 overall

·              * Made 1,047 loans

·              * Had an average loan value of $350

·              * Had 65% female head of household members

·              * Had 85% small holder farmer members

·              * Made 83% of our loans for farming purposes (mainly seed and fertilizer)

We have many, many other details about our members and what they are doing, but I am probably boring you already so I will quit here.

The biggest payoff however for us is the many, many people whose lives have changed for the better and who are proud to tell you what they have done.  It is always a real privilege to meet with the people in the villages and listen to their stories.  We hope that we have been able to capture a little bit of their achievements here.

We served chai to the attendees.

It was a good mix of government, private, financial, church, and university representatives.

A few had wandered off before we took this picture.  But this is most of the group.

Afterward a reporter interviewed a member of Iringa Hope.

She tried to interview people from the government, the university, etc.  Here is Sandy getting interviewed.

Update

If you would like to see the slides from the update, just click on this link!