คุยกับผู้ใช้:Sombatthavorn

จากวิกิพีเดีย สารานุกรมเสรี

Outstanding Performances of Woman-run Savings Groups under the Lao Women’s Union and FIAM/CDEA 1. Introduction

           During the eight years of its committed encouragement, FIAM/CDEA has managed to set up 159 savings groups in its target areas. These savings groups are handling their own internal  money with their own local leadership and governance with which the repayment is 99% with ‘soft’ interest rates as compared with the prevailing ones in nearby communities.
These are benefiting some 25,000 members with their own mutual funds of about 13 thousand million Lao Kips or about 1.2 million US$ . All these have resulted from these savings groups’ committees who, in spite of their low education, are self-sacrificing and very serious in leading their fellow villagers to fight against poverty with their own hands. And these 159 social savings groups are accordingly said to have acted as catalysts and living learning centers for the formation of new savings groups in nearby areas and other parts of the Lao PDR during these same years. To date, not less than 450 ones have been in place all over the Lao PDR.

According to Prof. Akihiko Ohno and Prof. Yutaka Arimoto from Aoyama Gakuin University, Tokyo, Japan, the two researchers for the Macroeconomic Policy Support for Socio-economic Development In Lao PDR Phase 2 (MAPS 2) during 2004, who conducted interview surveys of 837 households in six villages with and without a saving group in areas under FIAM in 2004, the following are the major results obtained: a. The saving groups are rapidly increasing the amounts saved. There is a surplus of savings in the rural villages and this means that the saving groups have been successful in getting people to save as a financial asset, no more in the form of domestic animals or gold. Since savings that are a financial asset can be used to mobilize assets, this is effective in raising the economic welfare of the village. b. The saving groups are alternatives to informal borrowing and lending. However, money-lending is not common; borrowing and lending between relatives is the main part of informal finance. c. Even some land-owning households purchase rice prior to the rice harvest. For households like these, the saving groups make it possible to reduce seasonal poverty. d. The saving groups also fulfill a role in the purchase of consumer durable goods and in the introduction of new farming techniques. e. The monetary earnings of farmers vary, but the monetary income from farming itself is not large. If anything, the proportion of income from non-farm household income generating activities is larger. These typically are weaving, retail and trading, and the saving groups also fulfill the demand for capital for these activities.

And, accordingly, when the results of MAPS 2 were presented on March 28, 2005, the government was in a better position to move ahead and further in its socio-economic development plan for poverty reduction as part of its MDGs by 2020. However, the government would still be in need of all forms of international support in order to realize all of its planned development initiatives, part of which will cover the savings groups which Profs. Akihiko Ohno and Yutaka Arimoto recognized as one key factor that would bring new socio-economic changes to the Lao PDR at large if the government could facilitate their growth in the coming years with recommended financial and legal measures.

2. Success Stories Based on their organizational mechanisms, the present 159 savings groups can be regarded as social development enhancers. This is due to the fact that they are encouraging fellow villagers to help one another more and more in the new social order when the Lao PDR is opening to the market world. And, as indicated here below by the result of our study of the 102 savings groups located in Xaithani District of Vientiane Capital, it is the time to provide them with additional support as most of these savings groups’ administration and management are below the money volume which has now surpassed their local average leadership’s capacity. Table1: The 102 villages and the money volumes under their care in April 2005 Establishment Year & Ages/Years The number of savings groups distributed in accordance with their money volumes/million kips Total Savings groups 1 – 9 10 – 29 30 - 49 50 – 69 70 – 89 90 - 99 100 – 199 200 – 800 1998 or 7 8 2 2 1 3 4 2 22 1999 or 6 1 1 2 4 2000 or 5 1 1 1 2 2 3 10 2001 or 4 1 3 2 5 1 5 17 2002 or 3 4 4 1 1 1 3 1 15 2003 or 2 3 9 6 3 4 2 27 2004 or 1 2 2 2 6 2005 or 0.17 1 1 Grand Total 7 25 18 9 11 9 10 13 102 According to this table, 32 groups are administering funds ranging from 90 up to 800 million kips each month, manually counting bank notes and manually recording transactions and the like. What is outstanding is that 99% do not have any decent office and are only making use of local Buddhist temples or the group head’s home as offices. And, thus far, there is no mechanical support for their operations. At best, there are only small manual calculators. On each month’s saving and repayment collecting days they have to complete their ‘precious’ mission either in two or four days’ time at maximum: collecting the savings and repayment installments, screening loan requests and distributing contracted loans, and monitoring the groups’ monthly operations. It might look simple for those groups with high-tech management, but it may not be true for these groups run by women with minimum education and living in difficult environment, socially and economically. Some 4,300 members of these various groups have now and also set up a special fund named ‘a social welfare fund’ and an amount of 3,000,000, kips will be allocated to the family of the member who passes away as a share in the condolence of the deceased’s family members. Leaders of these savings groups are still thinking of many other ‘big things’ that will help improve their members’ living conditions. 3. Recommendations Many things have still to be concretely and comprehensively mentioned about district-level, province-level and national level administration and management futures that should be equipped with well-planned and managed operations, as well as necessary and adequate training and training programs. And key local government offices should be included as they are prerequisite of cost-effective and healthy savings groups. All these savings groups should no more be left to fight administration and management difficulties on their own. Their weakened capacity can create suspicion and doubt in their reliability and they will not be able to continue as ever. Based on discussions with many of them, all these groups immediately require additional and more effective or higher levels of formation and training for the assured development of this ‘social’ banking system. Thus here are their immediate needs. 1. Providing their key involved groups and leaders with additional, adequate and practical education and training in savings grouping administration and management that they can more cost-efficiently and effectively realize their groups’ present and future vision and missions and help strengthen their village solidarity. 2. Providing basic facilities for secure and cost-effective administration and management for some 40 currently over-working savings groups. These facilities can be made available as soft loans of about 10 years and, when repaid, will go to the other savings groups. Besides, training in savings grouping should also be provided for key district officers who are to technically and uninterruptedly supervise these savings groups as their recommendations related to crucial issues can be critical for their administration and management. This is also due to the fact that most of the core group and network leaders have never attended courses in savings group administration and management before assuming their offices. As a matter of facts, they serve as pillars of these village-based groups’ financial reliability. Their presence can mean many positive things while their inadequacy can also impose several negative impacts on the savings groups’ management. Their immediate education and training should include, but will not be limited to, savings grouping administration and management which should at least cover all of the following: 1. savings group principles and spirit, 2. book-keeping, 3. savings group administration and management, 4. savings group leadership, 5. savings group and cooperative laws and regulations, 6. savings group standardization and auditing, 7. savings group networking and federating 8. savings group strategic planning and marketing, 9. savings group and national socio-economic growth, and 10. occupational promotion among savings group members

Apart from this, the following basic facilities for savings groups’ more cost-effectiveness should now be in place 1. an office space of 9 by 7 meters in which will be placed 2. a small bank note counter, 3. a safe for money collected on the saving and repayment collection date before its

   loaning; this can be a concrete box with a dimension most appropriate to their 
   current need,

4. a set of PCs: a PC, an adequate printer, a UPS and necessaries, 5. a wooden or iron cup-board to store documents and other important materials

           6. multi-purpose desks and tables with adequate chairs, and

7. a medium-size window to display some novelty local products for sales.

PCs to help store their financial data have been their much-sought-after things for which necessary training is also a must. These tools can help reduce their regular workloads and leave them much time to think over some other issues related to poverty reducing measures to benefit their members.

           And in all these situations only one organization or agency cannot complete these difficult tasks, but, with support from all who are interested in addressing their existing problems, all these savings groups or savings groups can gradually rid themselves of the various difficulties.

And, if all these can be provided, these savings group will certainly be able to work individually and together strenuously like the South Koreans in the eighthies through their Saemaul Undong or innovative community development spirit that has been leading them to their present socio-economic status.

Mr. Sombat Thavorn sombatth@yahoo.com Cell Phone 669 117 7374 June 5, 2006