Women Saving Groups in Kikwit; Kinshasa
The name of the group is called Restoration Saving and Credit Group for Community Development in Congo. The group has over 60 members now. Though having started with women alone, they now have 16 men who have joined in as very active members.
The group operates under a church and gives their accountabilities to the pastor.
Started in 2012 and meets at Avenue sanzu no 82. Every time they gather, members recite the principles and values as they make their contributions as a way of memorizing them.. Every member has her own book where she keeps records of her contributions and loans taken plus the repayment Those who come in late pay a penalty of 500 Franca.
People observe respect for each other and must be physically present during the meeting. During every meeting every member contributes 2000 for refreshments. These monies are pulled together and are divided amongst the members who receive gifts at the end of year. Keeping group secrets is part of the values of the groups.
The loans are for the members of the group and not for outsiders.
The group is not a merry go round but a savings and loans group. Members save and borrow money at an interest.
The other principle is that the last date of payment of one's loans is December 8 of every year. If one has taken a debt and fails to pay of the date when it is due, the person must be penalized when they finally come to pay.
For transparency, the monies contributed is counted in the open as it is received. The leader who misbehave are removed from the leadership positions and deregulated from the group and A group of women do table banking every every. If one is taking a loan of 500 dollars or more, they must bring a grantee. The first step of this group is Savings and then Step two is Credit (taking loans) We have such groups in Kinshasa and Mbujimayi. Every member must commit to pay all their contribution from the start to the end.
Members should adhere to the code of conduct of the group so that they don't come with their humanly frailties to the group.
The monies contributed by members today was 334,000 fc plus 20 dollars which translates to around 350 dollars plus 20 dollars which comes to a total of 370 dollars.
The loans given are meant to help people with their daily life issues and needs. It is also given to boost the business that the members are involved in. The impact is that the lives of the members get to be better due to increased income and earnings from the business.
The trend observed is that the members are taking and repaying their loans. This positive trend can be attributed to adherence of group values and principles discussed above.
Challenges that people face is HIV AIDS, divorce, drunkenness amongst the family members is. For a new member to join, the person who has brought the new member grantees the new member. The referee is also a member of the guaranteeing team.
The group is planning to build a community social hall as a community project that will be used for hire to generate more income for the group.
The people who save so far don't earn interest to date when that would be.
One of the members Mr. Didier Masoso Runs a shop in Kinshasa's informal settlements