Programs / Microfinance / Communities / Ekumfi Egyankwaa «

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

About Ekumfi Egyankwaa

Ekumfi Egyankwaa has 5 other sister communities that are closely
associated because of proximity and similar socio-economic conditions.
Of all of these, Egyankwaa is the largest and the more developed one.
Also it has access to the main road that cuts through the part of the region.

 

Ekumfi Egyankwaa's Economic Challenge

The majority of the community members rely on agricultural work to support

themselves and their families. They mainly grow maize and cassava.

Another important occupation is charcoal trading. Charcoal provides

community members an alternative source of income as farming is

seasonal. Charcoal is a high-margin business, yet it is not environmentally

sustainable. In desperation for quick returns, community members sell the

charcoal they produce through intermediaries at a very low price, as it saves

them the effort and time of going to the markets. They are so used to the

situation now that they don't even try to break out of this system of

being exploited.

 

Other than the Susus (the traditional savings system), there is no other

access to credit or savings in rural areas. Yet with the way Susus are

structured, there is very low capital injection into the community. Money just

moves from one community member's hand to another's. The community

members therefore have no control over their financial future and are left to

continue this annual cycle, year after year.

 

Microfinance in Ekumfi Egyankwaa

Egyankwaa was the second community the Microfinance Program in Ghana expanded to in June 2011. The Microfinance Brigades in-country team and brigaders from six different universities have worked in this community since then. During this time, staff and volunteers have worked with community members to:

     •  Train and establish a Community Development Fund (CDF)
     •  Provide educational seminars to adults and children in the community on the importance of
        savings, loans, and interest rates.
     •  Promote voluntary savings in the community to reach a level of sustainable capital for the CDF.
     •  Introduce a group loan model and individual loans.
     •  Establish 'Super-Events', a community cooperative run by the CDF Leaders to provide chairs and
        canopies for special events in and around the community.

Our work in Ekumfi Egyankwaa is not done yet. The loan system is still gaining traction with community members. There is still scope to introduce new loan products catered to the major professions in the community. Additionally, there has been huge interest from the community to start a Community Soap Making Business as well as individual business growth.

 

Business Profiles for this community coming soon!

 

A SWOT Analysis of the Community and its Development Fund

 

Strengths

 

     •  CDF Leader Commitment - The CDF leaders that have remained are very knowledgeable and 
        trustworthy. There is an understanding that the CDF is the long-term solution to financial stability
        and look forward to the time it will be functional at the scale to serve all community members at the
        same time.

 

     •  Intrinsically Driven Community Members - After the traditional individual loan system was not
        very successful in the community as there were a lot of defaulters, they come up with the idea to
        introduce the fixed amount group loan system by which the whole group comes together to pay
        the amount at the designated place every 2 weeks after the first month. This has worked
        exceptionally well for them as they are slowly increasing their capital and serving customers in a
        controlled way. They have since started individual loans as well.

 

 

Weaknesses

 

Opportunities

 

     •  Introduction of new CDF Products & Services - There is a huge scope for the MF program to
        introduce more volume of our products through the CDF. They are familiar with the fixed savings
        model through the Susus that work in the community and based of the system the fixed savings
        model would be beneficial to the community, as this will pay back interest.

 

     •  Progression of the Group Loan Model -They are implementing the group loan system that they
        developed, but there is scope to increase the group size or even the loan size. Importantly though,
        there are many factors like financial education and CDF capital to consider before pushing for a

        certain product.

 

 

Threats

 

     •  Susceptibility to seemingly lucrative loan schemes – The community already has a strong
        presence of Susus. There are a total of 6 Susus operating in the community, where most
        community members are part of at least one. The community has not had any bad experiences
        with other financial schemes and institutions in the past and we hope that they do not, yet with this
        confidence we are sensing complacency. We are working to educate the community to make
        calculated decisions to avoid schemes that seem unreliable.

 

     •  CDF Leader Incentives - As the workload for the leaders of the development fund have
        increased, there has been an ask from the CDF leaders for a certain incentive to continue their
        work in the community. This is a discussion that the in-country is having across programs to
        standardize them for all community volunteers.

 

 

Microfinance/Business Brigades Chapters that Worked in Ekumfi Egyankwaa
Brigades Chapter	Month	Program	Volunteers	Brigade Projects
University College London, UK	June 2011	Microfinance	16	•  Brigade groups focused on creating the community development fund within the community.   •  After the CDF was established with leaders in place, they started educating the community about the first product, Savings.   •  Through the brigade groups, community members were encouraged to open accounts at the CDF.
Oxford University, UK	July 2011	Microfinance	30
Columbia University, USA	January 2012	Microfinance	20	•  Based on the old development model the program had, the group concentrated on educating the community about shares and loans.
Dublin City University, Ireland	March 2012	Microfinance	14	•  The group started off by conducting an audit of the CDF to find the accounting problems they were faced after the exodus of funds through loans.   •  The community at this point had issues with the new system because of the CDF Total Capital, and it was decided that it would be better for the community to concentrate on increasing the capital through savings. The group concentrated on this aspect of education.
Columbia University, USA	January 2013	Microfinance	14	•  After the situation was remedied, and all loaning and share operations were suspended till the community was more financially literate level to understand the system, this group continued to work with the education aspect.   •  They concentrated on more savings education at a door-to-door level, leadership training for the CDF leaders, loan repayment plans for the defaulters as well as CDF information dissemination throughout the community.   •  In the past few months the CDF have seen an increase of accounts and capital, stabilizing the fund to a level where they have started giving out loans again.
Oxford University, UK	September 2013	Microfinance	11	•  Share Loan Education Workshop creation and implementation   •  Operations and Marketing Plan for ‘Super Events’ the Community Chair and Canopy Co-op   •  Research on the effect of the traditional financial service of Susus in the community.

 

Current Status

Last Visit: 30th September, 2013

The CDF initiated a third cycle of pilot (group) loans after the loaners had been put through the Loan Education Curriculum by the Oxford Brigaders. The CDF leaders believe they will have a better repayment rate on this loan cycle, which ends in the first week of February 2014.

 

Also after the completion of the Oxford University Brigade in September, the CDF Leaders are in the process of deciding on the best course of action for the implementation of the suggestions in the business plan created for them.

 

 

Visit Other Programs in Ekumfi Egyankwaa

Global Brigades strives to implement a model of Holistic Development in communities through a system of collectively implementing health, economic, and education initiatives to strategically meet a community's development goals. Learn more about the other programs being implemented in Ekumfi Egyankwaa:

  BusinessCHWDentalMedicalPublic Health InitiativeWater