It is called “Tera imbere mubano”, and it is one of the groups supported by CASOBU in collaboration with AMU within the project It can be done! Community Microcredit and Microfinance. The group’s name can be translated more or less like this: “Go ahead, community.” It is an exhortation, a dream, a strong motivation to improve living conditions to fight poverty in the country . Nzigiye Emmanuel, the group’s representative, tells how this experience was born: “When we learned that there was this opportunity, we immediately took advantage of it and asked the field agent (the person who accompanies and assists the groups from training to carrying out certain activities) to become part of the project.” “Tera imbere mubano” was born three years ago. Nzoyiririmbira Jimmy , the field agent who accompanies savings and credit groups in the province of Ruyigi, in Burundi, does not hide the emergence of some difficulties: “They encountered obstacles especially when it came to establishing the internal regulations, and this slowed down the group’s activity.” But the will is there, just think that every Tuesday at 6.30 in the morning they meet to carry out group activities. In the month of April, they participated in some training meetings: the project Si può fare! in fact aims to fight poverty by creating community microcredit groups. Gradually, even those who are part of “Tera imbere mubano” are learning, for example, to fill out the register correctly, as it is a fundamental support for management. Then there is the financing kit, which is a real added value and greatly appreciated by those who receive it: it is a sign of trust, but also a very useful practical tool. Once the training phase was over, “Tera imbere mubano” received the light blue metal box with three padlocks and with a calculator, register, pens… in short, everything necessary. “Now we have enough to improve our ability to manage savings and credit activities” confesses a satisfied Nzigiye Emmanuel, the representative of the group. The dream of “Tera imbere mubano” is to strengthen the social cohesion of the community, through the space for dialogue and help that the project Si può fare! provides. Burundi is one of the five countries with the highest poverty rates in the world. To date, 38 savings and credit groups have followed the path indicated by CASOBU and AMU in the municipalities of Butezi and Ruyigi, in the Ruyigi province. All with that dream in their heads, the one contained in the name of this last group: that the community goes forward!
The project is implemented with the support of the Autonomous Region of Friuli Venezia Giulia – regional law 19/2000