The Project
The project, based in the Rumphi district of Northern Malawi, is to construct and set-up a micro-finance centre for female-led projects in partnership with Kachimbeka, a local NGO. The Community Cooperative Centre will be a place where the Current Village Savings and Loan Associations (VSLAs) across Hewe can operate from.
The project intends to provide small loans to women in the community to help them start a business to support their family, promote female empowerment, and give women access to economic opportunities.
How it will work
"Give a woman microcredit, she, her husband, her children and her extended family will eat for a lifetime." Members of the community put a small amount of money into the micro-finance centre and with only a limited number of loans permitable to be taken out at one time, promoting community involvement.
(Photo from 2012 EGP Health Access Centre - Malawi Kanchimbeka)
The Impact
The overall project goal is to create the opportunity for rural people especially women and girls to take responsibility for their own financial establishment. The schemes encourage rural people to take control of their own financial affairs in order to support their households.
The primary beneficiaries for the cooperative are 43 women-led Village Savings and Loan Associations (with 630 women members) and 27 youth-led Savings and Loan Associations (with 405 youths – both boys and girls).
Where Your Money Will Go
- All money raised is purely spent on:
- Materials and local labourers for the construction
- Microfinance training to the women who are involved
- All additional/personal expenses will be self-funded
Who We Are
We are students from the University of Edinburgh embarking on this project in association with Edinburgh Global Partnerships (EGP), a student-run society and registered Scottish charity (SC018757) based at the University of Edinburgh that aims to assist in community-led, sustainable development projects overseas.
As a team, we require to fundraise £9000 purely for the materials and local labourers for the construction. Which is currently being fundraised through bucketing in Edinburgh, donations, and events. So we're asking for you're help to help us reach our goal, and raise £2000!