Uganda is the first country outside of India to implement a Nano Finance system by collaborating with Clover Foundation. Having begun with a small group of 50 women, by the close of 2019 we will have grown 10-fold in just over 3 years. After visiting the four community partners, April (Board member of Our Biswas) was most impressed by the growing sense of leadership among the Our Biswas staff in Uganda and the women in the program. Reports from the coordinators and video interviews with women reveal the positive qualitative impact of Nano Finance. The annual implementation of the PPI (Poverty Probability Index) reveals quantitative impact, specifically that Nano Finance is reducing the poverty likelihood in each community by 5-10 percentage points. April’s visit revealed that many women, especially those who have been a part of the program for more than two years, have repeatedly paid their loans in full and are in need of greater capital to grow their businesses.
Success Stories
GNIB – Our Biswas loans: Supporting women to strengthen the future of families
When women receive Our Biswas loans, they enter our ecosystem of support. Our women have little support from their families and communities. Some of our women are young mothers with limited formal education and other women take care of grandchildren of whom some children are orphans. GNIB enrolls the women and utilizes community-based decision-making to encourage them to do small-scale businesses to provide a source of income for their families. The women are grateful to the GNIB project because of the no-interest loans which have enabled them to improve and diversify their businesses while taking care of their families. Since October 2022 we have distributed over 119 no-interest loans to women in Katabi sub-county, Wakiso District – Uganda. These women step up for the sake of their families, knowing they play a key role in strengthening the future of their families and community.
Photo Gallery
