#vicoba

Okoa Kilangi has successfully built a house after joining the VICOBA group. He was saving at the end of each yearly cycle. After three cycles he was able to save enough money to continue with the construction and has now successfully moved into his own house.

The IMARIKA project in Tanzania has been designed to address some of the key issues of poverty through economic and environmental empowerment by mobilising churches for community development.

The VICOBA (VIllage COmmunity BAnk) is a component of IMARIKA that has a great impact, not only on the people in the group, but on the community as a whole. By coming together and working to help and encourage each other, they achieve great things. We simply provide a box, 3 locks, some books and our teams invest time in training them.

They make their own rules as a group to suit their economic environment. Some things are standard, e.g. a share is 2,000 TZ shillings (70p), but the number of shares each person can buy in any particular week varies from group to group. They don’t have to buy shares every week but they do contribute to the community fund each week and the emergency fund each month (those amounts also vary between groups). There is a system of fines set by the group, for instance if you come late you pay a fine, mostly because the box can’t be opened until everyone is there and this helps people arrive on time.

Each month people have the opportunity to take a loan, which they pay back normally in 3 months, with a much smaller level of interest than offered anywhere else, normally around 10%. So, throughout the year, the money in shares is being constantly used by the group to develop small income generation activities, and at the end of the year each person gets back their shares and the interest is divided up between them based on shares. They have a lump sum of money which can be used for example for school fees or towards building their house. The community fund can be used by group members if something has gone wrong at home and they are struggling. This they can borrow but pay back without interest. The emergency fund is a gift if it is needed. At the end of the year the community fund is used to improve the community in some way.

The group in Utelenge started an Agricultural Fund as part of their VICOBA activities. They have purchased avocado seeds with their funds. They planted seedlings in the village for fruit but also sold some for a handsome profit for the group.

I am the vice-chairperson of the VICOBA group, and I'm married with 6 children and 5 grandchildren. The advantage of being part of the VICOBA group in Viwengi is that we are able to save money to buy shares. We have learned how to cooperate and be united as a group. The loans from VICOBA help with needs at home and our family have used the money to buy pigs. The VICOBA group also decided to give 4 bags of cement to the community to help build a latrine for the primary school. Martina Myin’nga