Srey

In contrast to bleak times on global markets, a US$25 loan from her village savings group has led to improving economic prospects in 2009 for Cambodian mother and budding chicken entrepreneur Srey Red Kem. 

Srey used her low interest loan in May to buy wire to make a chicken coup. To help get her started, World Vision provided 20 chickens, and another charity also gave some chicks. 

Just five months later she sold her first 12 chickens – four heavy birds for US$15 and eight lighter ones for US$12. She repaid 30 per cent of her loan and has enjoyed having extra income for herself, her rice farmer husband and their 3-year-old daughter. 

“We also have a home garden and some fish, so this extra money from chickens has further boosted our family income. I encourage other women to take out a loan and specialise if they can. Things like chickens or gardening are good. It means they can earn more cash to cover their family expenses.”

World Vision provided no money to Srey. Instead, when local staff began working in her village they encouraged the community to consider the benefits of creating their own savings group. Nine villagers took up the challenge, each making a monthly contribution equal to what the poorest person could afford. 

“The purpose of the group is to strengthen relationships between families and build the resilience of each family,” says group member Sam Sopheap. “We now support each other and have good relationships. When we go planting we go together. Before, it seemed very individualistic, but now we are in harmony.”    

Sam Sopheap

Members pay five per cent a year in interest and the amount of money available to lend has grown to US$115. Sam and her husband Kuy Ann borrowed US$18 recently to buy netting to go around a large fish pond they have dug behind their house.  

The couple took advantage of World Vision-provided community training in fish farming, home gardening and chicken raising. As a result, their garden now includes a guava tree, lemon grass, egg plants, squash, a crop similar to zucchini, a root crop known as a casava tree and a water-based plant akin to spinach.

Looking to the future, Kuy Ann says: “I hope that through the training we’ve received, our plants and the fish in our pond will grow much better and we will be more productive.”

Other members of the savings group have borrowed money to buy fish fingerlings, have an excavator create a fish pond and kick-start a business making large water storage pots.

These case studies from the World Vision New Zealand funded area development programme in Koh Andaet illustrate the changing face of development practice. For agencies like World Vision, gone are the days of a heavy emphasis on ‘service provision’ – where well meaning staffers worked out what needed to be done and took responsibility for getting things built as quickly as possible. 

The watchword is now ‘community mobilisation’ - with a focus on empowering local people to own the development process. World Vision becomes less a doer, and more a strategic partner, supporter and advisor. Sustainability is boosted for the long term, and short and mid-term results often seem very apparent.

A key focus remains on child wellbeing – delivered via a mix of close monitoring through child sponsorship and a wide range of initiatives designed to build resilience in communities through improved health and nutrition, education, food security and economic development.    

Savings groups kick start small businesses and build trust in a village. Training about toilet construction or hygiene practices lead to substantial health improvements and better school attendance rates. 

A downward cycle is halted and positive momentum grows as people see a way out of poverty and a better life in prospect for their children.