RWANDA
TOTAL COST: $1.4 MILLION
Implementing Partner: Urwego Opportunity Bank (UOB)
PROJECT OBJECTIVES: This project is designed to provide transformational training to Opportunity clients on business management, HIV/AIDS prevention and financial literacy.
Measured against the projected goal of training 11,250 clients by the end of 2009, UOB's actual achievement of 33,666 represents a 299% performance level. We are pleased to report this over-achievement in project goal. Beyond quantitative metrics, the testimonies of loan officers and clients show that a significant level of improvement in client operations and personal transformation has taken place throughout this project. The transformation training has:
• Been judged by loan officers as a very positive experience for them and the clients
• Helped some women improve business income so significantly they are able to build houses for their families
• Helped loan officers understand strategies for communicating transformative skills to clients
• Sharpen loan officers' human relations skills
• Changed the perception of clients who saw loans as gifts that need not be repaid
• Changed loan repayment rates for some clients by as much as 70%
• Helped Trust Groups care for and serve one another to greater degrees
A Story from Rwanda
Anitha Mukagatera
'At the beginning,' recalls Anitha, 'joining the group helped me to come out of the isolation I was feeling.'