“In October 2014 ToroDev organized an annual
conference and one of the components handled was encouraging the members of
advocacy forums to initiate village savings as the only way to sustain the work
of the forum and themselves. As a forum we learnt a lot and immediately in the
month of November we started our savings group as a forum, we are happy that
this has helped us, when there is need we don’t get stuck, we have money to support
our work, our businesses and to improve the livelihood of the forum members”.
Said Muhindo Ezra the leaders of Forum for Katebwa sub county NGOs/ CBOs
advocacy.
Ezra added
we already have over 35 members saving every week, saving a minimum of 5,000/=,
members who are not part of the forum also save with us, and at the end of
every week we collect over five hundred thousand
(500,000), which is good money every week and incase a member needs help we
give him or her money at a smaller interest of 5% which is affordable and manageable by most of the members.
List of the saving group of Forum for
Katebwa sub county NGOs/ CBOs advocacy.
“The money that is not borrowed out is kept in the saving box, which is
safe and well protected, it stays with the treasurer of the group and opened at
the end of the month to know how much is saved every month , to me this saving
group has helped so many people who come to borrow the money and invest it wisely, some have
invested it in coffee businesses ,some in maize businesses, some in goat
rearing , some in poultry and some in retail shops”. Said Mukebezi Joseph the treasurer of the saving
groups.
Ezra and Jospeh with the group
saving group.
Jospeh added the truth is,
as leaders of the forum we don’t stop at giving out the loans but we take a
step to go out and monitor all our clients that borrow from us, to see
the progress of their businesses , to
encourage, motivate and evaluate them
after a period of 3 months , to our surprise our clients are doing
fairly well, am happy that they have not given us hard time to pay back the
loan and the interest on time.
Sheila Amanya M&E ToroDev with the members of saving group during the
evaluation meeting in June 2016
“We are grateful to ToroDev for taking us through the Financial literacy
training at the mountains of the moon
university and for organising the annaul conference that opened our eyes
to see the benefits of saving, we are no longer looking for loans from banks
and other saving groups, we have something that can help us and the members of
the community, the community trusts us and they are saving with us to have more
funds.” Said Joy Bwambale the secretary of the saving
group.
“Saving money, we all wish we were better at
it, but most of us simply are not.
For one reason or another, most people are just not good at saving
money. A lack of discipline is probably the biggest reason behind this,
as it really is fun to spend. Whether it’s clothes, eating, partying,
electronics, cars we can’t afford, or vacations, we love to spend, as ToroDev
we are happy for this step, keep it up”.
Said Sheila Amanya M&E ToroDev.
We are grateful to all our partners for the support both financial and
technical.
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