Promoting better health, diet and hygiene

Lendwithcare’s partners typically accompany loans with a range of other services. These include offering savings accounts, insurance and money transfer as well as providing training in basic bookkeeping, financial literacy and marketing. 

Delivery of a workshop to FACES customers by Laura Sarango 

However, they also focus on the general well being of borrowers. Recognising that poor health can adversely impact on the ability of borrowers to work, care for their families and develop their small businesses, lendwithcare’s partner in Ecuador, Fundacion de Apoyo Comunitario y Social del Ecuador(FACES) raises awareness of health, diet and hygiene issues.

FACES decided that since many of its clients, women in particular, only possessed a few years of formal schooling and were sometimes only semi-literate, in addition to disseminating information through specially designed pictorial leaflets, it would also invite clients to regular workshops where health and related issues can be discussed in a relaxed environment.

At least once a month Laura Sarango, who works as social responsibility assessor for FACES, holds a workshop entitled ‘Healthy habits’ in one of the many rural communities where FACES works in southern Ecuador. Generally, around twenty borrowers aged between 25 and 60 years old attend the workshops and around four-fifths of participants are women. The workshop begins by asking participants to list the most common illnesses that affect them and their families; it discusses their symptoms and causes, and then goes on to discuss their prevention and cure.

Laura explains “many of the most common illnesses such as diarrhoea, which is more frequent among children, can easily be prevented through better hygiene practices such as washing hands and also food before cooking and eating, keeping rubbish bins covered and making water safe before drinking it”. However, she goes on to mention, “because of the increased incidence of chronic illnesses in recent years, such as type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure and prostate and breast cancer, we encourage all participants to visit their local health centres and take advantage of free check-ups”.  The workshops are participative and all those attending are encouraged to share their own experiences and ask questions. So far, almost five hundred people have benefitted from attending the voluntary two-hour workshops. The workshops are not restricted to borrowers; indeed borrowers often invited friends, neighbours and relatives to attend as well.

Many of the participants are small-scale farmers or at least have small plots of land surrounding their homes. They are reminded of the importance of growing and consuming their own vegetables and fruits. Laura comments “occasionally, I come across farmers growing only cash crops or selling all that they produce and buying basic foods such as maize and beans, even when it would be much cheaper to grow these items very easily themselves”. She adds that one of the most frustrating aspects is when she lays out refreshments for the participants, “I deliberately offer both healthy and cheap options such as fruit, vegetables and fresh juices as well as unhealthy expensive options such as fizzy colas, cakes and French fries. Unfortunately most participants choose the latter although I go on to explain to them the economic and nutrition benefits of favouring the former”. As well as discussing what constitutes a balanced diet and the types and quantities of food participants should eat, Laura also focuses on children’s diet and ensuring that they have a good breakfast before going to school. She remarks “we found that although children are generally eating well in rural areas, in urban areas they are often simply having a glass of milk for breakfast and then snacking on sweets during the day at school”.  Laura invariably remains behind after the workshops have finished, as some participants prefer to ask questions on sensitive issues such as reproductive health privately.

The workshops have proved to be very popular and the aim is to eventually cover all of the parishes in southern Ecuador where FACES is operational.

By Dr Ajaz Ahmed Khan, Lendwithcare Microfinance Advisor

A woman to put 26.2 miles in perspective

Last March, I made a nervous phone call to a woman called Remzija, in rural Bosnia & Herzegovina. Last June I went to Benin to meet some inspirational entrepreneurs.
And in 2 weeks I’ll be running 26.2 miles through central London.

What do these three events have in common?  Lendwithcare.org of course!


 Working for Lendwithcare last year was truly a privilege, not to mention the opportunity to do so with their microfinance partners in Benin and Togo, where some of the entrepreneurs are based. Having supported CARE since a man knocked on my door when I was 17, it was tremendous to see face-to-face that they do what it says on the tin.

Dignity -  That’s it for me, in a word. It’s enough to sign me up to eight months of training, dieting and tired legs – not to mention my personal fundraising target of £3000.

CARE International don’t spend tons of money on advertising but they’ve been quietly getting on with the task of tackling global poverty for 68 years. Dignity and empowerment is at the heart of everything they do.

But back to Remzija Delic.  18 years ago, she lost her husband; he was murdered in the Srebrenica massacre. When she returned home, she had to rebuild her life from scratch – in a country where women’s rights have been forgotten. The loans she has received from Lendwithcare have helped her to do this and even to start a small business, you can see her profile on the website. In perspective, running 26.2 miles is a pitiful challenge.

I interviewed Remzija  last year for a piece I was writing. If you need a reason to go to my fundraising page, don’t read my quibbles about putting one foot in front of the other, (although if you really want to, you can, this is my blog) read more about Remzija Delic' story  in the summary below or the full version in The Guardian.

The Women of Bosnia and Herzegovina

“On July 11^th 2012, Remzija Delic will see her children again. For most of them it will be a long journey home - from Austria, the Netherlands and the USA. The family left after the war but every year they return to see their mother and remember their father. He was murdered with 8000 others in 1995, in a massacre later described by UN Secretary General Kofi Annan as the worst crime committed on European soil since the Second World War.

In 2002 Remzija returned to rebuild what remained of the family home in Potocari, a small village nestled in misty mountain shadows, 6km north-west of the town of Srebrenica.  She returned alone, without a family and without a job.

When the Bosnian war ended in 1995 the Dayton Agreement was signed and the conditions for a multi-ethnic state were enshrined in the constitution. Today in Bosnia & Herzegovina, the institutional set-up remains the same.  Maintaining equal ethnic representation of Bosniaks, Croats and Serbs has been paramount to the peace-building process in Bosnia & Herzegovina. But in the meantime, has equal gender representation and the rights of ordinary women been neglected?

The constitution of Bosnia & Herzegovina abides by the highest level of internationally recognised human rights and explicitly recognises the principle of gender equality. In 2003, the Gender Equality Law was passed to advance gender equality at every level of the country's administration.

Many laws were amended to bring them into line with the new legislation. Legislation, it seems, is not enough. In March 2012, Amnesty International published a report criticising the government for failing to honour its commitments to survivors of wartime sexual violence. It also commends the work of women's NGOs in Tuzla. One such organisation is Snage Zene, (Women Power).

With long-term unemployment such a chronic problem, self-employment can seem like the only viable option. Yet the 2009 UNDP National Human Development Report advises that starting a business in Bosnia & Herzegovina is more difficult than in any other country in the region.

"It comes down to tradition" declares Seida Saric, Director of Women for Women International in Bosnia & Herzegovina. "Our country has come from socialism. Entrepreneurship is not acceptable, and certainly not for a woman. If a woman starts a business that fails, the entire community will give her a hard time. Women are scared to death of failing. Legally, it is difficult, but socially, it is completely unacceptable."

When help arrives, it comes from women's NGOs. "We are playing the role of the state" remarks Seida. The organisation runs a programme that provides women with the business training and financial support they need to maintain their own economic livelihood and practise their rights.

Outside Remzija's house, a space has been cleared. It is reserved for the people who come to visit. But the people she reserves this space for do not come to socialise; they come to organise. She hosts community group meetings and they lobby the council for change.

In 2006, she completed Women for Women's programme. Today, she has two greenhouses in which she grows an array of flowers, vegetables and herbs that she sells in her local community. Remzija remains optimistic about the future. "The war is still part of the present but things are changing. Women are becoming politically active."

By Emma Howard