Following my donations

Jun Pérez, President of SEED Finance and Amy Lithgoe

It’s not often you get to know how the money you donate to charity is actually spent but today I was able to meet Jun Perez, President of SEED Finance, the Filipino partner of lendwithcare.org.  I’ve always thought the whole concept of lendwithcare.org is fantastic and was keen to find out more about how the scheme actually operates on the ground.

I didn’t think when I emailed the general email address that they’d actually be able to arrange the visit, but within a couple of days they’d put me in touch with Jun. It’s always a concern that when you learn more about an organisation you find out about the issues and problems but nothing was further from the truth with SEED Finance. At the risk that I’m beginning to sound like this is written by their PR company I can assure you that I’m fairly cynical generally and have this week been accused of cross examining the Chairmen of the Quezon City Red Cross in a manner that was apparently more like an interrogation than a Q&A session.

So, at the SEED offices we were shown to the small meeting room and given a history of their involvement with CARE International. Jun was friendly, well informed and enthusiastic as well as keen to talk about their work. Photos on the wall have the caption ‘Micro no more’ underneath and a map has pins showing their coverage of the country.

For anyone else who lends with lendwithcare.org I can assure you from what I’ve heard that your money is being well spent. The individuals we see on the website are all members of co-operatives in the provinces and this is how their loans are administered. Jun made it clear that their loans were not the cheapest in the market but that they offer an extensive support service that extends beyond the loans themselves. This includes technical assistance and training so not only are the loans protected but a sustainable business is created. It seems like these measures are helping contribute to their 97% overall repayment rate, up 57%.

Loans are targeted in the most deprived regions and in places where mainstream banking is difficult to access. Practicalities such as having to get a boat to another island can mean entrepreneurs have to take time away from their business to carry out simple administrative tasks. Mobile banking has been utilised incredibly effectively to address this issue and people can now order supplies, pay utility bills and send money to kids overseas all through their mobile phone and the co-op money card. This is backed by Mastercard and linked to their phone account.

Having introduced this scheme in a fishing village a complaint was made by an entrepreneur that he was unable to access his money one weekend when the cash desk was closed and the ATM wasn’t working. SEED and the co-operative decided to address this by installing mobile card swipe machines in small businesses on the island. This meant there was no need for people to withdraw cash in order to buy materials for their business. Simple solutions like this and utilising the latest technology are great for making the lives of the beneficiaries easier and allowing them to maximise productivity.

Another example of this is how it allows the organisation itself to work more efficiently. At a conference a request was made for funds for a co-op to Jun. He text someone in the office, they made the necessary approvals and the money was available in around 2 hours.

The governance of the organisation reflects the client focus and on the Executive Committee two out of the five members represent clients. There is regular dialogue with area, regional and national conferences to share ideas and best practice.

One of the clever engagement tools used by lendwithcare.org  is the updates from the entrepreneurs. Being of a sceptical nature I’m not sure I quite believed before that these were so accurate as to be about your money. Having heard about their systems and the fact that each beneficiary is visited monthly I’ll now be much more interested in these updates.

Currently only 5% of their income is from individuals with the majority of investment coming from companies. I know after visiting SEED I’ll be happy to put more money in and be confident it’s being well spent.

By Amy Lythgoe

(Posted originally in the author’s blog on 11.04.2013)

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