Stepping back in time - Stewart Oke - Uganda



Today we visited the Kagamba SACCO.  They are located in the very most southern part of Uganda, almost bordering on Tanzania.  To get there it was about a 45 minute drive on pavement (or tarmack) as the locals call it, and another 40 minutes down a narrow single lane dirt road which took us deep into the heart of the Uganda.



Street scene outside the credit union

When we arrived we were greeted by Martha, the Branch Manager, and a large contingent of the Board.  The existing branch building is extremely small and very cramped.  The SACCO has recently purchased  some land further up the road, so we head over there to have our meeting with the board.  We are the first coaching team the UCA/CCA has sent to Kagamba and everyone was so gracious for our interest in the little SACCO.  The meeting last for about 2 hours and we discussed some of the high level challenges that Kagamba is facing.  These include membership growth, loan delinquency, board succession planning, new loan growth, new building costs, and lack of electricity….you see Kagamba has no power at all in the village…only small generators and solar panels.

A future credit union member?

After our board meeting, we headed back down the branch to meet with the staff and learn how they operate their SACCO.  With no electricity and no computers, everything is entered the long way…using GL’s and loan binders.  This is very time consuming and requires a significant amount of man-power each day.  A simple software program and reliable electricity would make their lives so much easier.  We really noticed how far back in time we had stepped and essentially experienced how all Credit Unions in Canada, including Servus Credit Union, would have initially started their operations.  It was really interesting to experience.

Tomorrow we will go back and learn more about their business model as well as visit a couple of local farmers and maybe even a coffee plantation.

 



Goodbye to Fodya - Blake Reynolds - Malawi



Erin and Blake with Fodya board of directors

We ended our work day back at the MUSCCO offices chatting with Swanzie about youth programs.  They have a clean slate, but are hoping to explore youth savings clubs (very successful in Ghana), as well as potential financial literacy programs for schools and leadership camps to help educate young people about co-operatives and SACCOs.  There are many different programs across the country, so my goal is to put these people if possible in touch with Swanzie or at least point her in the right direction.  It’s neat to see how the “co-operative and credit union movement” can so easily and effectively cross borders!



Brian and Erin at the Fodya SACCO



We walked back to the branch and said our good byes to Rita and Brian.  Brian coyly explained that he was not there yesterday because his wife gave birth to their second son!  He proudly showed off pictures of his wife and sons, Wisdom and Wonderful, and it made more a bit more sad to leave all the people at this wonderful SACCO. 

Wa success stories - Cory Munden - Ghana

Week one of the CCA/Ghana partnership is now complete. My first assignment was for a credit union in the upper Ghana region called Wa Community Credit Union. The trek to get to Wa took about 14 hours in a truck which was donated by CCA. Our driver Calistus, who is from the Wa region got us safely to our destination. I was partnered with a manger from the Cork region of Ireland. Barry was a second year coach who traveled to the Cape Coast region of Ghana in 2010.
Upon visiting our first credit union I was surprised to learn they had over 9000 members and was a flagship operation for micro-financing. They assisted members in small loans to start businesses, become farmers, or other activities to generate income. The loans ranged in size from 5 cidi (about 3$ cdn) to 10,000 cidi. We had the opportunity to visit a small business in which a woman was given a very small amount in a loan to buy some merchandise for a store. Today she employees some staff and has a very successful business.
What is very impressive is that all of the micro loans have been paid back with no defaults, assisting many people. It is examples like Wa community credit union that demonstrate the true social development that credit unions should be involved in. They see the value added of assisting a member, which in turn stimulates a community. They truly practice the co-operative principles. 

One Happy Family - Lennie Hampton - Ghana

We finised meeting with the staff of our first Credit Union (Tek University Credit Union) today, as their Board was not able to meet with us until 3:00 we took sometime to visit one of the local community schools.  The childern were so thrilled to see us that their teachers where almost unable to keep them in their seats. Emmanuel our Credit Union driver also took us to see his community and his home. It was wonderful to experience both. We then meet with the Board of Directors and Management at theCredit Union and provided them with our report. They were very happy with the report and the suggestions and recommendations that we made. Once we finished presenting the report the Board and Management presented myself and Kristin with traditional Africian dresses and head covers they are beautiful. We put the dresses on and had pictures taken with the Board and Management.

 



Lennie and Kristen with Tek University Credit Union staff

Here in Ghana they have what they call Credit Union cloth that they make skirts and shirts and pants out of and one of the messages on the cloth is "one happy family" today this was very apparent as even though we live on the other side of the world today we stood together with other Credit Union employees and shared ideas and had our pictures taken.