Philippines
Community Description
Most families in the slum communities of Manila earn $2 to $3 dollars a day from working at odd jobs. The women are usually the main providers for the family. Many of them are involved in small-scale buying and selling of basic foodstuffs, soap, and clothing. However, due to lack of working capital and basic business skills, many of their businesses are stagnant or failing. When a business fails the whole family suffers, particularly the children. Malnutrition and poor health can drain resources further and sometimes leads to terrible consequences.
Project Description
In the year 2000, Five Talents helped to establish a Micro-Enterprise Development programme in the community of Cainta in the slums of Manila. After 5 years this program had helped more than 1,500 poor families begin to break the cycle of poverty, with a 99.4 percent repayment rate on four loan cycles. This has been a remarkable investment in the poor. In 2001, the programme expanded to incorporate the Taguig community and now Five Talents has supported 10 branches around the city, helping almost 8,000 families to start and grow in business. As of September 2010 CCT has 5,496 clients with an average loan size of £92. CCT have also introduced a modified micro-insurance programme.
Reuben
Reuben is a father of 5 children. He used his successive loans to buy the ownership of his motorbike rickshaw. He has enjoyed the business training that accompanies the loan programme. He now sells registration permits to other taxi-drivers to supplement his family income.
Five Talents Partnership
Five Talents has partnered with the Center for Community Transformation (CCT) and the Episcopal Diocese of Central Philippines. CCT staff operate the loans programme which includes supervision and continuing technical support to borrowers.
Invitation
Please consider supporting this programme. Your donation will achieve the following impacts:
- On average one job is created per every £100 loaned.
- Each job supports about six other people, mainly family and relatives
- A donation of £1,000 creates as many as 20 jobs in the first year because the money is loaned out twice (6-monthly loans).
- That means 100 jobs created in 5 years, impacting 600 other people.
More Information
Click here to read the latest programme summary on this project.
Click here to read case studies from this country and other countries.
Click here to read Rachel's trip report from November 2008