Responsible banking should not sideline poor people but rather find ways to include them in their services to improve their standard of living, former United States President Bill Clinton said in Dar es Salaam.
Former US President Bill Clinton
Visiting a model Village Savings and Loans Association (VSLA) at one of the poorest suburbs of Dar es Salaam at Vingunguti, Mr Clinton whose Foundation is funding the project in partnership with Plan International and Care International, said the myth that the poor are not bankable is wrong.
“This is what responsible banking should be doing, helping real people do real things,” Mr Clinton, who arrived in the country yesterday to inspect some of the projects funded by the Clinton Global Initiative, pointed out.
The 42nd President of the US between 1993/2001 who is credited with improving the economy with Congressional Budget Office reporting a budget surplus during his last three years in office between 1998 and 2000, said he has been advocating financial inclusion for the poor communities in the past three decades.
“I started this work over 30 years ago long before I became president,” Clinton told a sizeable crowd of beneficiaries of the initiative and residents of the high density suburb. He paid tribute to Barclays Bank, Plan International and Care International for implementing the project which has so far recruited over 2,400 groups of mostly women numbering over 60,000.
Introduced in Tanzania in 2009, Banking on Change has 80 per cent of its members women who have never accessed a bank loan although very few have accounts. Clustered in groups of 30 people, the members have so far mobilised billions of shillings in savings backed by 800,000 (over 1.9bn/-) pounds to organise and train them in organisational skills.
“Banking on Change is not only about statistics but changing people’s lives,” said Catherine French who is Chief of Staff to Group Chief Executive at Barclays Bank. Ms French said for the past four years, the project has transformed many poor women’s lives in Tanzania and six other African countries where it is being implemented.
“Our targets for Phase Two include linking 500 groups or 30 per cent of all groups to Barclays or other formal financial institutions,” she noted, saying over 1.05 million pounds (over 2.5bn/-) will be invested during the next three years of Phase Two starting this year.
Plan International’s Microfinance Advisor Stella Tungaraza said the VSLAs have greatly improved lives of people who three years ago were among the poorest of the poor. “In the next phase, we hope to impart them with entrepreneurial skills and help them open bank accounts,” Ms Tungaraza said.
Clinton who arrived on Saturday afternoon with a delegation of close to 50 people, visited a hair salon of 22 year old Zainabu Rashid who joined Upendo Hisa group in 2011 while renting hair doing equipment but bought hers last year after borrowing 200,000/- from the group.
“Today, many people are interested in joining the savings group because they have seen members opening new businesses and maintaining their houses or adding capital. Women are able to fend for their families without depending on their husbands,” she said as Mr Clinton unveiled that his wife, former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton once operated a salon before they made it in life.
Launched by CGI in 2009, the Banking on Change programme was first implemented in 11 countries during Phase One but is now only focused on Egypt, Ghana, India, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia with an investment portfolio of 10 million pounds (over 26.4bn/-).
Meanwhile, the government and the Clinton Health Access Initiative have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for cooperation in agriculture as the partnerships celebrates its 10th anniversary.
Speaking during the short ceremony, President Jakaya Kikwete said that in the ten years, Tanzanians had immensely benefited and because of it boasts in its success in the fight against HIV/ AIDS and maternal deaths. “Speaking on my behalf and the Tanzanians, there are no words that can express our gratitude, only God knows how much grateful we are,” he said.
The MoU aims at modernising and commercialising the agricultural sector in order to achieve self-sufficiency in food and reduce poverty. The understanding focuses on promotion of improved seed production. Currently the potential demand for improved seeds is over 120,000 metric tonnes per year, the estimated demand is about 60,000 metric tonnes and the supply is 30,000 tonnes.
The government as seven seed farms in the country and the MoU has earmarked the Dabaga Farm in the Southern Highlands for the partnership. It also focuses on horticulture development, capacity building Programmes for farmers and technicians and capacity development in modern irrigation technologies.
The founder of the Clinton Foundation and former US President Bill Clinton said that he was honoured to have been part of progress of saving lives in the fight against HIV/AIDS. “The people of Tanzania should be proud of their government because in all innovations, you always find a good version here and that’s why we are happy to work here,” he said.
President Clinton said that he was devoting the remaining portion of his life in trying to improve the lives of small holder farmers in Africa especially so that they are able to feed properly and later export.
By FINNIGAN WA SIMBEYE and MASEMBE TAMBWE, Tanzania Daily News
