The Program Allows Unions to avail Financial Service.
BY Fasil W/Michael
It is announced that the Graduation with Resilience to Achieve Sustainable Development (GRAD) Programme has created enabling environment for Cooperative Unions to avail financial service to value chain customer house households for activities including agricultural inputs.
Dagne Taddesse, the Programme Coordinator in ORDA, noted that creating favorable conditions for GRAD’s beneficiary households in Lay Gayint and Libo Kemkem Woredas to access financial services from unions which enable them to engage in crop, livestock and other income generation activities is imperative. He also added that proper support for those beneficiaries’ will be provided from different concerned governmental & private institutions.
Accordingly, the Organization for Rehabilitation and Development in Amhara (ORDA) has recently signed Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) separately with Lidet Saving & Credit Cooperatives Union and Ras Gayint Multi-Purpose Cooperatives Union in Lay Gayint, and Rib Saving & Credit Cooperatives Union in Libo Kemkem woreda, Dagne stressed.
The Programme Coordinator explained that ORDA has made Unions to have loan guarantee fund if PSNP HHs may fail to repay their loan on time due to natural disaster and other uncontrollable causes. He also added that the main reason for creating such situation is to let the Unions embark on provision of credit service to PSNP HHs. As the result, the organization has paid over 4 million Birr to Rib, 7.77 million Birr to Lidet and 760 thousands Birr to Ras Gayint loan guarantee fund, the Program coordinator said.
According to the agreement the Unions reached with ORDA/GRAD Project office to allocate two folds of what the organization paid to them as loan guarantee fund and provide credit service for the beneficiary households until project’s completion period, September, 2016.
As indicated on the MOU, each union will provide the credit service for those who meet the following and other criteria: they shall be GRAD’s beneficiaries, prepare business plan, have repaid 67% of their loan that they have borrowed previously from different sources and shall use the loan for preplanned activitiies.
The Programme coordinator made clear that Rib, Lidet and Ras Gayint Unions have allocated advance fund which is over 8 million, close to 4 million and over 15.5 million Birr respectively. Consequently, Rib, Lidet and Ras Gayint Unions will reach over 1662, 2500 and 3000 beneficiary households respectively until the end of August, 2013, he added.
Nigussie Taddesse, GRAD’s Micro-Finance Officer in Lay Gayint Project Coordination Office, reported that Ras Gayint Multi-Purpose Cooperatives Union has distributed over 515 quintals fertilizer and over 202 quintals improved Malt-Barely seed, which are estimated about one million Birr, for 624 households (154 are women) through credit facility since it signed agreement with ORDA in March, 2013.
Moreover, identification process of beneficiaries of the the Lidet’s Union is underway, the Micro-Finance Officer reported.
Apart from this, in order to enable beneficiaries of the credit service of the Unions to repay their loan on time, ORDA in collaboration with concerned governmental organizations has now been carrying out necessary preparation activities, Dagne Taddesse, Programme Coordinator, mentioned.
As Dagne stated, by creating access to financial services through the three Unions until September, 2016, a total of 18,012 food in-secured households will be beneficial. It is also expected that 13,860 of those households will graduate from the Production Safety Net Programme Support, the Programme Coordinator disclosed.
It is known that since January 2012 GRAD has been implemented by ORDA and Care Ethiopia in Libo Kemkem and Lay Gayint woredas with the financial support of USAID.