Establishment of Microfinance Funds for Women in Rural Areas
One of the key goals at the Sepehr Foundation is the supporting the vocational training and employment of women heads of households.
In many underdeveloped villages in the country, a sizable number of women are the heads and breadwinners for the family but face significant challenges to pursue their productive activities due to lack of funds. To assist this group of women, the Sepehr Charity Foundation moved to establish and support the micro finance funds with the cooperation and support of the beneficiary women, regional and district governors and rural councils.
The Objectives of the Sepehr Charity Foundation from the above activities are as follows:
1. To empower women in rural areas through their collective and voluntary cooperation toward accumulation of savings, securing of micro credit loans and to achieve sustainable employment.
2. To raise individual and group skills among rural women through educational programs.
3. Mobilization of micro savings in order to support income-generating activities.
4. Promotion of a culture of hard work and group cooperation and activities.
5. To raise the income level for rural women with the priority of women heads of households and self-caring girls through extending interest free loans to support income-generating productive activities and services.
6. To raise the level of self-confidence and self-esteem among rural women through enabling their self-reliance and the ability to support themselves and their families.
Interest free loans are extended without the requirement of security drafts, checks or any collateral, and are solely secured through reliance on “collective honor.”
The establishment of funds is based on rules and procedures that must be closely followed. The steps toward establishment and operation of each Fund are as follows;
1. Identification of villages and women that meet the preconditions for the establishment of micro finance funds.
2. Communication with interested rural women about the justification of their membership in the fund.
3. Holding introduction sessions for promoting cooperation among members to increase savings.
4. Preparation of assistance report for each member of the fund. These reports will cover the economic situation of the families, the mental and health condition of each member, and the degree of their interest in a particular income-generating activity.
5. Information gathering regarding income-generating activities.
6. Appointment of board of executives for each of the funds.
7. Establishment of accounting notebooks and deposit papers at one of the major banks.
General and specialized training workshops are held in order to enable the members and elected executive boards of each fund to carry out the functions of the fund in an appropriate manner.
Up to now 156 funds with a total of 4513 rural women had started their operation in the east of kerman province (villages surrounding the cities of Bam, Narmanshir, fahraj, Reagan and gonbaky), and sistan (villages surrounding the cities of Hirmand, zabol and nimrooz). Women in these villages receive interest free credit from the operating funds.
