Wait - I Actually Have to Work Too?

Amid the excitement of being in a foreign country, have no fear: implementing my project for the SACCO is underway!

All the interns in our program have to create a workplan to address a problem in their organization and community. When I first got to my SACCO, I began my needs assessment/asset mapping of the organization, during which I would identify the problem that my work plan would address.

What I found is that my SACCO can't make loans sometimes because it has very little working capital; and the members have very little savings culture. They not only distrust the SACCO, but they also think that a person has to be rich to save effectively. Lack of working capital is really harming the SACCO, and forcing them to take out a loan from another lending organization to stay afloat. Most of the time, the loan repayment to that organization exceeds their operational costs - and my "little bank" hasn't made a profit the entire year.

My work plan is hopefully going to kill two birds with one stone: giving the SACCO more working capital and building savings culture for the members. We are going to make simple wooden boxes with padlocks and slits in the top. These boxes will be distributed to a pilot group of members, groups, and schools. Members will deposit their savings in the boxes, and at the end of every week, the loan officer will come with a key to the households and collect the savings. Before members can get the boxes, we will have two training sessions to educate the participants on savings importance and other financial literacy skills. If the pilot program takes off, the SACCO should have savings deposits of at least USH 6 million at the end of the month.

There are definitely some kinks in the program that we need to work out - mainly being the costs of the boxes. We need 325 boxes; my supervisor and FSD supervisor feel that any number lower won't be profitable. We can't have the members buy their own boxes; since this is a pilot program, the members won't be willing to pay to try it out. Another kink is simply the poor savings culture here in Uganda. People simply won't trust that their money is safe with our organization.

Finally, it's definitely been an experience working in an African office. We have to contact the 300 individuals, 10 schools, and 5 organizations before next Saturday when we have our training. Trying to get my SACCO mobilized has been like pulling teeth; but my hopes are high that we'll develop a sense of urgency soon!

Sorry for the business-y blog post: more fun later on!