* Any views expressed in this opinion piece are those of the author and not of Thomson Reuters Foundation.
By Terry Ally
Nakin Fada, Niger – Nestled among the millet fields about five kilometres off the main highway is a community of about 10,000 people, mainly farmers.
Their 2011 harvest of millet and maize was poor due to a lack of rainfall. This was their main livelihood.
The idea behind this farming business is to be able to reap enough to provide for the meals for the family each year and sell the surplus to earn enough money to send the children to school and pay for all other household necessities.
However, when time came for ripening of millet and maize last year, the rains stopped. The harvest was negligible. Some farmers reaped only 10 measures of cereal – enough for a month or two.
It meant they had to find the money through other means to buy food and send their children to school.
The group Luck
This year a new crop was sown in the fields surrounding the village but some were destroyed by flash floods two weeks ago. That may be the least of their worries because the floods also destroyed the homes of 176 families. In this culture, a family can have more than one home.
However, when I drive into the village there isn’t the gloomy mood of despair that I anticipated. The people look well, the women are dressed in colourful outfits that bring to life the mood of the village. Children are playing and everyone appears generally contented.
Mamou Yanssambou could light up any dark room with her radiant smile. She and her husband are poor but contented.
One of the reasons for her contentment is a savings and loan scheme for women started by Plan International back in 2005.
Nakin Fada was one of the first villages where this microfinance project started. There are 11 groups in the village with 400 members. Mamou was one of the first women to be a member. Her group is called Bonkaney – a Zarma word meaning “Luck”.
She has regularly saved and has been able to borrow up to three times her savings which has helped to keep the family afloat during hard times.
“I always had ambitions to be able to send my stepson abroad so he can earn a decent wage and send money back home. Last year I borrowed 10,000 CFA (US$20) to send him to Ghana where he found a job. He regularly sends home about 5,000 CFA a few times a year. I was able to pay off the loan in less than a year,” she says.
Communal farming
But what does her husband think about this.
“He’s very pleased for me to be in the group,” she says with a broad smile, glancing at a man sitting within earshot of the interview, listening intently.
He smiles broadly as I call him over to join us. He is the main breadwinner in the household but when his crops failed he quietly asked his wife to borrow money for him. Sometimes 10,000CFA, sometimes 15,000CFA. All has been repaid.
“My entire family is affected by the food crisis. Last year my harvest was only 50 measures. A farm my size could normally produce 3,000 measures. Thanks to both the cereal bank and the micro-finance project we have not gone hungry,” he says.
The Bonkaney group also owns a farm where the women produce peanuts as a side job to their main work as housewives.
“The profits from the sale are divided among the members,” explains Fati Soumana, one of the group’s officials, “in our spare time we can reap 10 sacks of peanuts which we sell at 7,500CFA ($15) per sack.”
Her group is growing in size and wealth and it is her dream that one day, they can lend women up to 1 million CFA ($2,000).
Plan Niger’s Micro-finance Coordinator for the Dosso Region, Issa Laouali, says a key part of the scheme is training women in financial management, savings and other money matters which will help them if they want to start a business.
Some groups have gone into business for themselves. One has set up a corn mill which earns them 200,000 CFA per month.
In 2011 there were 5,106 members in groups across the region with total assets of 5.5 million CFA ($11,000). In 2012 the number of members has increased to 7,437 owning assets worth 17.9 million CFA ($35,800).
This project is just one method being used by Plan to lift children and their families out of poverty and empower them to be able to help themselves, even in times of crisis.
