News & Updates
Women's Microfinance Initiative Update -
SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2009 UPDATE
JOIN WMI AT LOCAL ALTERNATIVE GIFT FAIRS
Several WMI supporters are generously donating their time and energy to represent
WMI at local alternative gift fairs. The fairs
encourage gift giving through donations to non-profits in the name of a friend or
relative. The idea is that Grandpa doesn't actually
need one more tie - but might appreciate a donation to the Red Cross, which provided
him with coffee, donuts and a friendly face during WW II.
Many people would like to be a part of life-saving or transformative global outreach,
but don't have the opportunity to participate.
At these alternative gift fairs, people will have the opportunity to provide the gift
of a loan to an impoverished woman in the WMI program.
WMI will also have hand-made bead jewelry and baskets for sale. If you have an hour
on the week-end please join us at these events:
Saturday November 14, 2009, 10:00 AM-4:00 PM: The Metropolitan Community Club (MCC)
of Montgomery County (a member of the Greater Federation
of Women's Clubs) is sponsoring a Holiday Gift Show at Potomac Presbyterian Church,
10301 River Road, Potomac, MD --free admission-- offering
an array of vendors (e.g. custom jewelry, creative gifts, gourmet foods and much more) -
proceeds will be donated to several local charities.
For more information contact: Vicki Dorman at
swdorman@verizon.net
Saturday, December 5, 2009, 10 AM - 3.00 PM: Pyle Middle School, 6311 Wilson Lane,
Bethesda, MD - booths sponsored by local non-profits will
offer alternative giving opportunities and ways for students to become involved in
outreach projects. For more information contact Alison
Ewing at: alisonhewing@aol.com
Saturday, December 5, 2009, 11 AM - 3.00 PM: St. Patrick's Episcopal Day School,
4700 Whitehaven Parkway, NW, Washington DC - booths sponsored
by local non-profits will offer alternative giving opportunities; crafts items,
jewelry, gourmet food and handmade gifts will be for sale to
benefit the non-profits. For more information contact Beth Tomasello at:
bethdavid@rcn.com
Thanks so much to the volunteers who have involved WMI in these Fairs and are helping
organize the WMI booth:
Vicki Dorman, Alison Ewing, Lisa Sandy-Sobel, Maxine Schnitzer, Meris Sparrow,
Kathy Staudaher and Beth Tomasello
GLOBAL GIVING MATCHING FUNDS NOV. 10 - DEC. 1
This past May, WMI raised $11,000 in matching funds during the Global Giving matching
campaign in honor of Mothers' Day. Global Giving is now
sponsoring a year-end matching campaign for registered non-profits.
The Give More Get More Campaign will begin in 10 days. During November 10 - December 1,
all the funds raised through WMI's project on the
Global Giving web site are eligible to be matched. The organization receiving the most
money or receiving the greatest number of donations
will earn a bonus of $5,000.
Many of you have already donated to WMI this year. Your support has enabled WMI to issue
over $60,000 in loans to impoverished women during 2009.
If you are considering a year-end gift to WMI, please consider making it through the
Global Giving website. This will maximize the impact of your gift.
The link to WMI's project on the Global Giving website is
here.
WMI'S NEWEST INTERNS REACH UGANDA
Margot Vandervossen, daughter of WMI Board member Trix Vandervossen, and Brian Miller are currently in Kampala for a few days before heading up
to Buyobo to assist Olive Wolimbwa, WMI's local director. They will spend a month developing a pre-school curriculum and elementary school
tutoring program which will be held in the WMI building. They will also begin preliminary coordination of the solar panel installation on the
WMI building in preparation for the Internet cafe that the Walt Whitman High School students will help launch in the summer of 2010. Margot
recently graduated from Leiden University in the Netherlands with a Masters degree in International Relations. Brian is in the Masters Degree
program in Education at the University of Binghamton in New York. You can follow their journey on Margot's blog at:
http://travelingwazungu.wordpress.com/
WMI PURSUES GRANT OPPORTUNITIES
Donations from individuals like you helped launch the WMI loan program in January 2008. Your ongoing support has made it possible to expand
the program to over 50 villages in Eastern Uganda. We value your concern for the ladies of Buyobo and believe that it is incumbent on WMI
to pursue foundation funding to compliment the generosity of individual donors. Beth Tomasello, an attorney and WMI volunteer, is coordinating
grant applications and research.
In September, WMI submitted a request for a $10,000 grant to the IMF Foundation. The grant guidelines give priority to organizations designed
to enable persons to emerge permanently from poverty and crisis. The applicants must: have an established track record; reasonable administrative
costs (no paid employees in the US certainly helps!); and financial management. Grants are typically issued in April. WMI believes it falls
squarely within the guidelines for an award.
Also in September, the Bulambuli Widows' Association, WMI's local partner in the loan initiative, submitted an application for a $10,000 grant
to the US Ambassador's Self-Help Program in Uganda. The Ambassador's Program supports small-scale activities that promote self-reliance and
foster development through innovative community-led projects. The grants focus on organizations that: foster community self-reliance; have
community participation and a significant impact; improve basic economic or social conditions at the village level; and are viable and
sustainable in terms of finance.
Currently, John Van Oudenaren, WMI's newest Bethesda-based intern, is drafting a grant request for the Global Fund for Women to be submitted
by the Bulambuli Widow's Association. GFW makes grants only to foreign based entities. The GFW supports women's groups that advance the human
rights of women and girls. They provide grants ranging from $500 to $20,000 for operating and program expenses. GFW values local expertise and
believe that women themselves know best how to determine their needs and propose solutions for lasting change. John is recently returned from
China where he taught English for 18 months. He graduated from St. Mary's University in Maryland with a degree in history.
November 15th WMI will submit a grant application in the Gates Foundation-sponsored 2010 Marketplace on Innovative Financial Solutions for
Development (MIF). The MIF will hold a conference in March 2010 and in conjunction with the event, the MIF is seeking out fresh ideas on
innovative financing methods that can help solve some of the world's greatest development challenges. The goal is to find successful projects
that can be scaled up and replicated broadly. The five best projects will be selected and each will be awarded a $100,000 development grant.
Project proposals can focus on several categories including: the provision of low-cost and accessible financial products to help households or
family-based economic activities, from the farming and informal sectors, stabilize their income. In practice, these proposals might therefore
be aimed at reducing risks faced by households or individuals at the "Bottom of the Pyramid." This is exactly the focus of WMI's loan program
and the Transition Platform it is developing with its Ugandan banking partner.
WMI BEGINS WORLD BANK TRAINING SESSIONS
WMI has been using financial literacy trainers from another NGO in the Mbale area to train new borrowers in basic financial literacy. This worked fine while the loan program was just getting started. However, as the loan program has grown, the need for multiple trainers to teach financial literacy to our borrowers has increased considerably.
This past spring, we contacted 15 trainers who had taken the week long World Bank training-to-train program held in Kampala during April 2008. This WB program sends WB trainers to developing nations to teach local trainers how to educate borrowers in financial literacy. We reviewed the trainers' credentials and selected the most appropriate candidate. The last week-end in October, 10 women selected by Olive Wolimbwa, WMI's Local Director, spent 3 full days in a workshop learning how to train their fellow borrowers in elementary book keeping and budgeting. Our newly minted trainers are borrowers themselves and they live in the villages WMI serves.
These 10 trainers can be assigned to cover all of the women in our loan program and will provide follow up training on a regular basis. Having the trainers selected from women in the local villages will make the training more efficient, reliable and cost-effective.
In addition, borrowers are more likely to relate to other woman from their own village, who understand the business and social problems that they are facing. This is a key factor in having an effective working relationship between the trainer and the women being trained. WMI is very pleased to be able to develop this local infrastructure and expand the capacity of the women in the loan program.
WMI PARTICAPTES IN LOCAL MICROFINANCE FORUMS
WMI is increasing its visibility in microfinance forums in the Washington D.C. area.
On October 13, 2009 WMI was invited to attend the panel presentation and reception for the release of the Consultative Group for Assisting the Poor's (C-GAP) new report, Financial Access 2009: Measuring Financial Inclusion around the World. The Report presents data on access to financial services in nations around the globe. WMI had the chance to speak with all three of the Report's main authors about its original household data.
On October 15, 2009, WMI spoke at the Violence against Women in Conflicts Symposium sponsored by the Honorable Sheila Jackson Lee, (D-TX) at the Rayburn Capitol Office Building. Our remarks focused on microfinance loan opportunities for women during post-conflict reconstruction. We met with the Ambassadors from Sierra Leone and Sudan, who were very interested in the microfinance opportunities WMI has brought to women in Uganda.
On October 23, 2009, WMI participated on the panel on Current Trends in Microfinance presented by the American University School of International Service. Other panel members included representatives from The Microfinance Management Institute, Grameen Foundation and Oikocredit USA.
Although we are only 18 months old, WMI is becoming more involved in discussions in the microfinance community. We bring our own point of view to these forums, where we emphasize that we focus on lending through village level organizations operated by and for women. Even with our abbreviated history, we have found that at forums in the Washington D.C. area we are frequently among only a very small handful of people in the room who have actually been in the field making loans to impoverished women. That gives us an opportunity to bring a different perspective to these discussions.
Please feel free to contact any board members with your input. Thank you so much for your ongoing interest and support. We are all helping change the face of poverty, one loan at a time.
Gratefully,
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