INTRODUCTION
Self Help Africa’s Rural Savings & Credit Cooperative Programme promotes saving, and supports the development of micro-finance primary cooperatives and cooperative unions, so that households can have access to credit to establish business enterprise and income generating activities.
LOCATION
Self Help Africa’s Rural Savings & Credit Cooperative Programme is being undertaken across close to 20 districts in Oromia and Southern Nations and Nationalities People’s Region (SNNPR) in south-central Ethiopia.
PROJECT OBJECTIVE
The primary project objective is to reduce poverty and vulnerability for 60,000 people in the target districts of Oromia and SNNPR Regions
The RuSACCO project is seeking to provide training, and support the creation sustainable community based, community managed and community owned rural financial institutions (RUSACCO) in the target districts of both regions.
PROJECT ACTIVITIES
The RuSACCO Project is working to improve the capacity of five regional Savings and Credit Unions (SACCOS) to administer and deliver micro-finance services, to improve the capacity of primary (local) SACCOS to deliver financial services to their (approximately 34,000) members, and to improve compliance with financial guidance and law in Ethiopia.
The project is working with the following regional cooperative unions:
Awash Saving and Credit Cooperative Union, which was was established in 2005, and has 15 primary SACCOs. The union operates in seven districts in Oromia. Founders included women members of SACCOs set up by SHA’s earlier Bora Project (2005-2009).
Keleta Women Saving and Credit Cooperative Union, which was formed in 2005, and has seven primary SACCOs with a membership of 1,893. The Union operates in two districts of the Arsi area of Oromia. The union is formed by the women’s group promoted by Self Help Africa’s Dodota Project (2002-2007).
Ifa Boru SACCO Union operates in Huruta district of Arsi district, Oromia, and was formed in 2008, with nine primary SACCO groups. The founding member primaries emerged from SHA’s Huruta project (2006-2010).
Yenetsanet Fana Women SACCO Union was established in the Gurage district of SNNPS region in 2005, with 10 primary SACCOs . Founders include women who were participants in SACCO development in SHA’s Sodo and Sodo II projects (2001-2011).
Sidama Chalala SACCO Union was established on late 2006 with 28 primary SACCOs and SACCO members of 2,078 in the Southern Regional State. The union operates in six districts of Sidama zone.
Self Help Africa is working on its SACCO development programme in collaboration with Local Government and Regional and Federal Cooperative Agencies, and with donor and technical support from the Irish League of Credit Unions Foundation, and from Terrafina Micro Finance.
|
