BUJUMBURA, June 27th (ABP) – The platform of organizations that supervise Internal Savings and Credit groups (GECI) organized an advocacy roundtable on Thursday, June 20, 2024, to improve the legal framework for the operation of savings and credit groups.
CARE International’s representative in Burundi, Mrs. Nicedore Nkurunziza, explained that savings and credit groups are made up of 15 to 30 members, mainly rural women, who self-selected by affinity and neighbourhood, for the purpose of social protection and mutual aid. Members of those groups make small savings of between 100 to 1,500 BIF per week, which constitute a contribution to the credit fund, she explained, adding that the contributions are given as revolving loans, starting at 5,000 BIF, to members who so wish. In addition to the savings fund for investment purposes, the groups also set up a social savings scheme to provide assistance in the event of social events, happy or unhappy.
Mrs Nkurunziza explained that the cycle generally lasts 12 months, with members sharing savings and interest. After sharing, members invest in the purchase of livestock, agricultural inputs, school supplies and fees, as well as the rehabilitation of houses and so on.
After the first year, those groups are encouraged to connect to Microfinance in order to benefit from its products and services. Mrs. Nkurunziza emphasized that they also receive training in areas such as associative life, the election of management committees, conflict management, financial education, savings and credit, accounting and agricultural techniques.
Those GECI approaches have entrepreneurial effects, community development activities, notably roads, schools and health centers. There is also support for orphans and the vulnerable in the form of school kits, assistance work for the vulnerable, investment in mutual health insurance, and connection to formal financial services to secure their savings and then benefit from formal financial products and services.
According to Mrs. Espérance Musirimu of the Association of Women Lawyers of Burundi (AFJB), those approaches are having a real and significant impact on improving life in the country.
In the field of education, the children of GECI members have gained access to education thanks to the income from their parents’ petty trading activities. There has also been mobilization to ensure equitable access for young people in difficulty, especially girl-mothers who dropped out of school and were able to return to school thanks to the efforts of NGOs working in that field, she explained.
In the field of health, she reported that the community health mutual purchased by GECI members thanks to their savings are recognized by the Ministry in charge of National Solidarity. Girls and boys are made aware of sexual reproductive health and methods of preventing early pregnancy.
In the field of agriculture, livestock breeding and nutrition, Mrs. Musirimu explained that GECI members collect funds to buy agricultural inputs that will enable them to achieve good harvests, and also build up security stocks and surpluses for sale. She pointed out that 16,069 parents had been sensitized to nutrition education during visits by GECI supervisors.
In the context of environmental protection and climate change, the NGOs encouraged the commitment of young GECI members to respond massively and regularly in community work, alongside the administration, to combat the effects of climate change.
In the area of acquiring the values of good governance, Ms Musirimu also pointed out that the GECIs are committed to discipline and punctuality in everything they do, and to respecting commitments and transparency.
One of the beneficiaries, Mrs Marie Ntakarutimana, warmly thanked the organizations that had thought of them, pointing out that those GECIs had helped her to develop herself and provide for all her children’s needs, and to participate in social solicitations, given that she is a widow.
The organizations or supervisors of those GECIs took the opportunity to ask the Bank of the Republic of Burundi (BRB) to abolish the law that stopped the circulation of money in that type of internal savings and credit group. Alphonse Nyobewumunsi, head of supervision of microfinance institutions at the BRB, called on the managers of those savings and credit groups to register with the BRB so that they can work in peace and in strict compliance with the law.