Why micro-credit?
Eco-Sys Action, with its Eco-Sys Wana Duma project in Kenya, understands the importance of women for the future of our planet.
To help local communities where Eco-Sys Action works, without creating dependency on a medium- or long-term basis, a micro-credit policy is going to take action in 2009 in order to set up micro-enterprises that will help the targeted areas.
This action will help increase incomes that will directly benefit children's food, diet, and education. This project is being carried out in a biodiversity area with the cheetah as the umbrella species. This big cat will soon become a symbol of development and improvements in the daily life of local communities thanks to the micro-credit system.
Micro-credit: Hope for women in Kenya
2008 has been a study year for Eco-Sys Action with training time at Grameen Bank in Bangladesh with Pr Muhammad Yunus, 2006 Nobel Peace Prize winner and father of micro-credit. The theory was explained at Grameen's headquarters in Dhaka while fieldwork has taken place in the rural area of Boalkali in southeast Bangladesh. Other projects have been studied in some African countries like Sierra Leone and Ghana.
Why do 95% of the loans go to the women?
It's an opportunity for them to have their own economic activity and reduce inequality they face in their daily lives.
They can become more independent.
Women usually manage budgets better and accounting related to a micro-enterprise.
It enables a direct improvement of the family structure.
What actions will be taken?
Eco-Sys Action is setting up a micro-credit fund that will start project's financing.
A coordinator has been recruited in Kenya.
Priority will be given to micro-projects linked to environment (beekeeping, tree nurseries, etc.).
A percentage of repayment's interest rate goes directly to education.
There will be special help for the young people coming directly from the Eco-Sys Action educational scheme.
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