In July 2003 Leonard Cheshire Disability Tanzania, in collaboration with the Directorate of field Education (DFE) of the Moshi Cooperative College, initiated a microfinance project for people with disabilities in and around Dodoma.
The project’s objective is to help people with disabilities in becoming micro entrepreneurs with access to mainstream financial institutions. To achieve that, training is provided on entrepreneurship skills to clients who receive a small loan. The loans range from 50,000 to 300,000 Tanzania Shillings (approximately 50 to 300 US dollars). The clients are mostly women who either have a disability themselves or are mothers or guardians of children with disabilities. Women are viewed as reliable users of loans and invest the profit from their work in caring for and educating their families. Over 300 loans has been disbursed so far.
The clients are organised in groups and trained in basic management skills. Each group takes responsibility for its members. The loans are disbursed with a very small interest rate and are secured by a compulsory saving scheme, whereby a small amount of weekly repayments is invested into savings. The project is thus self-sustained and replicable to more cleints.
The project contributed to significant socio-economic changes in the livelihood of many families, who found with it an opportunity to break the cycle of poverty, become self-reliant, regain a sense of dignity and develop new skills.
