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Central African Republic: Empowering people through economic recovery

CAR is home to one of the poorest populations in the world as a result of years of armed conflict. Economic recovery is essential for people affected by displacement and initiatives like Village Savings and Loans (VSLA) helps its members recover following a crisis and creates economical safety. It empowers its members, builds their capacity to be self-reliant and mitigate– reducing vulnerability and creating resilience.

In the village of Bambo, a suburb to the capital Bangui in the Central African Republic (CAR), a group of women have started their own cooperative consisting of 14 savings and loans groups. These Village Savings and Loans Associations (VSLA) are unique as they are completely managed by their members, allowing for affordable credit options and higher savings returns than those from a formal institution.

DRC has helped organize and train the members in how to set up the loan groups, how to invest and get back with interest rates and gave money for onset of activities. We provided the tools, but how it has materialized is due to the efforts put in by the participants - Through their savings and investments, they managed to build a house for the cooperative.

“Every family now gets to eat, live peacefully, and send their children to school. I know some families who have managed to no longer live in extreme poverty,” Elisabeth, Chairman of the cooperative. Elisabeth is chairman of the cooperative and one of the 14 member associations in Bambo. She started the association to help those displaced by war recover economically and empower women with own income to become independent. Although the cooperative mostly consist of women, there is also a few men. Members save by buying shares in the association at a weekly meeting. The price for a share is determined by the association and members can borrow up to a maximum of three times the value of their own savings. Furthermore, some of the associations also have a Solidarity Fund, which is used to help members in situations of distress – with or without reimbursement.

Each member has their own personal account book, where the purchase of shares and credits are noted – at the beginning of each new cycle of payments, these are also noted on a board to ensure transparency. All account books and money are kept in a locked box safeguarded by members of the association, who are not a part of managing the loans and purchases. These are important measures as they guarantee transactions do not take place outside of meetings and prevent the falsification of records.

Many girls who haven’t finalized their schooling are at risk of prostitution, but some of those at-risk girls and women are now part of our associations.

Elisabeth, Chairman of the cooperative

Elisabeth have already seen the positive impact, that the associations have had on the community in Bambo, providing its inhabitants with a bigger purchasing power, enabling them to out food on the table, buy what they need and send their children to school. Around 37 percent of the population in CAR is literate, for females its only 24 percent. Elizabeth’s hope for the future is, that the cooperation will be able to open a center, where illiterate women and girls can learn how to read and write, giving them better chances of doing well in the future.