Village micro-finance changes the lives of community members in Siaya

Village micro-finance changes the lives of community members in Siaya

Another one from Rabuor-Sinaga Area Development Trust

JOHN OTIENO JUMA

RABUOR SINAGA COMMUNITY FUND, a micro finance commonly known as village bank is a young initiative launched on the twelfth day of April 2002 but proving to be attractive to village members of Marenyo Sub-location,Yala Township Location in Siaya District.They are now able to access the formal banking services by saving at the fund and getting revolving fund at a affordable rates as compared to commercial banks whose charges are quite high to common mwananchi.
A number of small scale businessmen who were interviewed said that many commercial banks would charge one hundred shillings for withdrawal of one thousand shillings, Rabuor-Sinaga would charge ten shillings for withdrawal of upto nine thousand nine hundred and fifty, more so they can secure small scale loans since their shares are multiplied four times. RSA Community Fund do not ask for any asset as security as compared to commercial banks where interest rates are exorbitant and adequate security must be offered before one can secure loan.
This fact can be proved when one compares the progress made from the time the fund was launched to this date. When one looks at the shareholders register, its is evident that when the fund was being launched, only four hundred and eighteen members had registered.Two years down the line, the membership has risen to one thousand one hundred and nineteen, out of these, two hundred and seventy one members have benefited from revolving fund amounting to Two Million Two Hundred and Fifty Thousand and Eight Hundred and Seventy Thousand Shillings has been mobilized in form of capital.
The fund has been successful because it adopted user owned user managed and user financed system. It is user owned because for one to enjoy the services of the fund, he must register as a shareholder by paying a minimum fee of Three Hundred Shillings, user managed because all the management committee and the staff are all shareholders and user financed because capital comes from the shareholder’s themselves. “By purchasing more and more shares makes members to adequately accept that they own it and more so the fact that it is locally based” says Pricilla, a cashier at the fund. Secondly, she says the fact they have a link account where all the funds are kept. Through this link account, teachers and pensioners to be able to receive their salaries, which make it, even more compatible to village members.
Some of the difficulties they have had to contend with arise from the fact that there are so many micro-finance projects providing the same services and this. The fund would be able to counteract this threat by continuing to provide both savings and withdrawal accounts and excellent services.
Lastly, village members should register in large numbers to make this project a success since it is the best thing to happen to them in the recent times.

The writer is the RSA Community Fund Manager