Nyunganira has blown out its first candle. It has turned one year old. What is Nyunganira? It is one of the savings and microcredit groups in Kayanza, Burundi, supported by CASOBU and AMU through the project Si può fare! (It can be done!), which aims to improve the socio-economic conditions of families in the community. It is a fight against poverty, which is implemented through a concept as simple as it is unusual: allowing local communities to generate income from their activities. Providing them with the tools to emerge from disadvantaged conditions, supporting their abilities and accompanying them to develop awareness of their own strength.
It has been a busy year. Group members have experimented with different aspects of community microcredit. They learned to save, to give credit, to support each other. In short, they developed a sense of belonging to the community.
“I always wanted to raise animals, but I didn’t have the money. My dream was to join the group and actively participate in order to buy and raise a pet one day and be like the other neighbors” is the story of Lydia, one of the protagonists of the Project.
Everyone has lived this experience from a different point of view. And everyone tells it in their own way.
Eric tells us that “when the time came to repay the credit, I still didn’t have the money. I was counting on the money from the harvest, but it lasted longer than expected. I therefore had difficulty repaying the credit. However, I organized myself differently to pay the credit”.
The Nyunganira microcredit group is now entering its second year of this experience. There are many things to improve and still to do. Among these, for example, the group will use a new register of operations and elect a new management committee to allow everyone to live this experience.
Everyone showed great interest from the beginning, when we were still in the awareness phase. The interest turned into commitment. And with the commitment came the first results.
(The project is implemented with the support of the Autonomous Region of Friuli Venezia Giulia – regional law 19/2000)
