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SAVINGS,
CREDIT, REINVESTMENT AND VSLA
Bukonzo Joint maintains a
model micro-finance institution designed to enable members to improve their
standard of living by developing, sustaining, and expanding their own small
businesses, predominantly coffee and maize farming, and to actively participate
in the social and economic development of Bukonzo County and Uganda.
The Cooperative seeks to educate its members in the importance of
individual and business savings, provides a safe, trusted place
to deposit savings and earn interest (currently 6 percent annually),
and offers agriculture and business loans.
Members are encouraged to reinvest their funds in viable income
generating activities. An essential component of our micro-finance
projects is employment and income generation through group participation
at the grassroots level.
Indeed,
perhaps nothing is a more effective means of grassroots group
participation than Village Savings and Loan Associations
(VSLA), which make it possible for those with low incomes, such
as the coffee farmers in our region, to gain access to business
development funds that are difficult or impossible for them to
get from banks or other mainstream lending institutions.
A VSLA also provides a local, village-based organization that
enables individuals and families in the area to participate in
savings culture – in many cases for the first time.
Bukonzo Joint facilitates the establishment of Village Savings
and Loan Associations through workshops, training, and by providing
material support, such as lockable boxes and a meeting space at
our headquarters.
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