The Microfinance Program

On the coffee plantations surrounding RVCV the average household income is $150 a year. Daily income is $1 per day when there is work- usually picking coffee.  Poverty is simply a fact of life. And opportunity is in staggeringly short supply. Unemployment hovers around 75%, and the average lifespan is only 42 years. Recognizing that economic empowerment is critical to breaking the cycle of poverty, in 2008 RVCV instituted a microfinance program designed to give local entrepreneurs the training, support, and resources to operate small businesses.

By the Numbers...

350 local clients 60% of clients are women 6 dependents on average supported by each client 3 Savings and Credit Cooperatives (SACCOS)

Three years later, the program provides loans to 350+ clients – sixty percent of whom are women. These clients raise pigs, sew clothes, have opened stores and made bricks. All together they support nearly 700 children and about as many dependent family members.

In 2010, the Microfinance program expanded its efforts, and helped to found three Savings and Credit Cooperatives (SACCOS) in the surrounding communities. Locally owned, and locally led, these cooperatives operate like small-scale banks – members contribute funds and use those funds to make loans within the community.  Through the loan process, and through the establishment of these SACCOS, the microfinance program is providing the leadership and support to empower local entrepreneurs to break the cycle of poverty.