Tanzania
Background
Tanzania is one of the poorest countries in the world, with an estimated average income of just $1,100 in 2007. Since July 2007 Five Talents have been working to establish a project known as the Mama Bahati Foundation in Iringa in the centre of the country. Iringa is a town of around 115,000 people, many of whom rely on small enterprise to provide for themselves and their families.
Project Description
As of September 2009, the Mama Bahati Foundation (MBF) has served around 1134 women in and around Iringa. This project was developed following a request from the Archbishop of Tanzania for a programme in the area, and we have worked closely with the Archbishop and the Diocese of Ruaha throughout the process. MBF works slightly differently to the other Five Talents' projects, with the main difference being that it lends exclusively to women. Within Tanzanian society women often play a secondary role and it was decided by the Diocese during the planning stages that they would like this operation to help change this situation in Iringa. By loaning funds exclusively to the female of the family-run business she automatically plays a role in the decision making process. We have heard from many of our female clients in other programmes that they have felt more important and included within their family and community because of our rule of loaning mainly to women, and hope that MBF will have a similar impact.
MBF has offered training and loans to around 400 women in small business and enterprises and this number is increasing week by week as more people hear about our work. We are still putting in place our monitoring systems and so it will be a little while until we get a clear overall picture of the impact, but the initial responses have been incredibly positive. Many of our clients have been paying their loans back before the deadline in order to get new loans and we have heard stories of shops and businesses turned around in a very short time.
Targets
We have played a large role in setting up MBF and continue to guide and advise the operation. Our aim is that over time our role will become less direct and that MBF will stand alone as an independent, sustainable institution. To reach this goal we have worked out a five year plan that will see the number of loan clients increase to 2,800 with a loan pool of £200,000 by the end of 2012.
To see the latest report on activity in this project click here.