Microcredit seen (and tested) up close

On May 20 and 21, the Friuli-Venezia Giulia territorial group organized two days of information on the mechanisms of microcredit and microfinance and for the dissemination of the results of the project “Economic strengthening of families through microcredit and approach to microfinance” currently underway in Burundi. The project also sees the significant participation of the Autonomous Region of Friuli-Venezia Giulia, with the International Relations Service, which has chosen to be present in contexts marked by endemic poverty, food insecurity and very low economic income. During the meetings in Udine and Trieste, which saw the involvement of numerous people in person, after the pandemic years that forced only remote meetings and webinars, after an introduction on the AMU and the various projects underway around the world, the focus was on Burundi. The speech by Stefano Comazzi, president of the AMU, further focused: the purposes of the microcredit projects , also through some videos recently shot during visits to the intervention sites; the results achieved so far ; the involvement of thousands of people in the territories of the provinces of Bururi and Kayanza; the large number of groups formed , which have reached 140 so far; the important repercussions in terms of culture of savings and awareness of financial self-help in the communities. The project’s commitment to developing the entrepreneurial skills of the communities has also been followed up, even if very basic and very closely linked, for now, exclusively to the needs of the agricultural world. It was also important to note the appreciation of the local Burundian authorities , both at the provincial and central government levels, which, while overcoming a vision more closely tied to the importance of building infrastructures (roads, aqueducts, fountains, reservoirs, etc.), have begun to understand the effectiveness of a cultural diffusion and promotion that starts from the bottom and develops in the populations the sense of saving and productive investment . A particularly significant moment was conducted by Andrea Mosca, who retraced the assumptions and methods of microfinance , from its origins, through the operational intuitions of Nobel Prize winner Muhammad Yunus, up to the most recent and complex evolutions of modern microcredit. Andrea then illustrated the methods of the SILC ( Savings and Internal Lending Communities ) model , which involves dividing people into small groups, composed on average of 10/15 people, a system of granting loans and savings within the same group. Particular attention was then paid to explaining the bookkeeping, the function of safety deposit boxes, the mechanism for returning the amounts received and the frequency and punctuality of meetings. All this through an engaging practical demonstration that engaged a small number of those present at the event. The participants in the simulation, in fact , put themselves in the shoes of the microcredit group, simulating their needs and savings possibilities, as well as the internal discussion on the choices to be made . A very successful live experiment, which allowed those present in the room to actually understand the mechanisms of microcredit in its practical functionality. Both events, both in Udine and Trieste, were finally attended, via Zoom, by the local partners of the project, namely the operators of Casobu (Cadre Associatif des Solidaires du Burundi) . The connection with the Burundians was useful to better perceive the reality in which they operate and, above all, the spirit that animates them as well as the even stronger objectives they have set themselves. Casobu, in fact, believes it is possible to reach even more people, with the dissemination of the community microcredit system , up to making 300 groups fully operational for a total of approximately 4,500 people directly involved , and over ten thousand people indirectly involved, also considering their respective families. The practical demonstration of the life of a microcredit group, considered very plausible and really useful for understanding the real mechanisms, also by the Casobu group, is a further step that the AMU has put in place to nourish the bond and reciprocity between the local protagonists of the project (so-called beneficiaries) and the supporters who with trust and perseverance continue to contribute to the implementation of interventions for the development of communion in the most difficult areas of the world. Giampiero Viezzoli