The success of community microcredit in Burundi also stems from the constant work carried out and trust built on the ground between the agents and group members.
Jimmy is one of the community microcredit project group leaders who work in the Butezi and Ruyigi municipalities in the province of Ruyigi. Since the beginning, Jimmy has been helping old and new microcredit groups to improve they way they work and put into practice what they have learnt during their training course.
Holding group meetings and properly filling in the books, for example, are activities that improve with time and practice. This is why the field worker, who accompanies and assists the groups from training to carrying out their activities, is crucial: “I discovered the members had overlooked certain aspects of the training they had been given, especially on how to fill in the savings and credit register,” Jimmy explained. “But now we work together to put into practice what has been learnt. I can see there is an improvement in the way the register is filled in, and now I do whatever I can to ensure that at least three members of the group are able to do that job. Also with regard to how the roles are distributed (president, secretary, treasurer, …), I help them to rotate so that each member of the executive committee is interchangeable and knows how to carry out the role they are in charge of”.
Claver is one of the protagonists of the microcredit project in Bujumbura. Since arriving in the city to find work, with very little finances, he has managed to open a small shop selling various goods. He got to know about the community microcredit group from Jean-Claude, another field worker, and thanks to this he has been able to expand his kiosk: “Being part of this group has done me a lot of good. Before, I wouldn’t have had the means to expand my small business,’ he tells us enthusiastically. “I applied for a loan of BIF 120,000 and used the money to renovate my shop and stock up on food products I didn’t have before like potatoes, bananas, beans and others.”
The “It’s possible!” project also aims to support businesses that are growing and need bigger loans in order to expand which is what Claver wants to do. He shared with us: “The space I work in is very small. Once I have enough capital, I would like to build a proper house where I can work, and I would like to open a shop to sell beans and rice, in large quantities. This is the dream I want to come true”.