The Problem: Rwanda ranked 167th on the 2007 Human Development Index, and GNI per capita (US$) is $410 (UNICEF 2008). Among the most vulnerable in an already poor country are HIV-infected and -affected individuals, particularly youth. Many lack adequate funds to cover their most basic needs. For these extremely poor individuals, the problem is not just low income, but unpredictable income and lack of a safety net. The poor often have nowhere to save their money. In emergencies, rich people may be able to choose between dipping into their savings and borrowing money. But for the unbanked poor, in times of shocks and vulnerability, there are often no viable options.
FACE AIDS recognizes that for poor, HIV-affected individuals in Rwanda, there is an urgent need for income, a safe and reliable way to save money, and business skills training to fuel future income generation. Our structured savings and business training program fills a gap in current financial services offered to this population and enables participants to provide more meals for their families, join Rwanda's national health insurance program, return to school, save for consumption smoothing during shocks, and build new or strengthen existing businesses. Promoting the socio-economic status of these individuals also improves the health and development outcomes of their communities as a whole.
Our Program: FACE AIDS partners with HIV associations to provide socio-economic empowerment opportunities intended to reduce vulnerability and promote greater personal agency and independence. Associations are community-based groups of individuals who have come together based on their shared experience of being directly affected by HIV. All members are living with HIV/AIDS, caregivers for a person living with HIV/AIDS, and/or were orphaned by AIDS. On average, 19% of the participants in our structured savings and business training program are living with HIV/AIDS, 50% are AIDS orphans, 38% are the primary caregiver to one or more people living with HIV/AIDS, and 33% are the primary caregiver to one or more AIDS orphans. All of these percentages are significantly higher than Rwanda's national averages.
Each year, FACE AIDS works closely with one to two HIV associations, which involve some of the most vulnerable and impoverished members of the communities. As of June 2010, we have worked with five partner associations, all based in rural communities of Rwanda's Eastern Province. Partnership with FACE AIDS enables HIV associations to expand the social, educational, and economic activities available to their members.
Our structured savings program in many ways resembles a traditional microfinance program: we facilitate access to small loans for the members of our partner associations. The difference, and innovation, of our program is that we train our associations to give loans themselves, and associations are in no way financially indebted to FACE AIDS.
First, FACE AIDS employs partner association members for six months to make beaded AIDS awareness pins, paying them a salary of about $20 per month. Over the course of six months of employment, $50 per member beyond the monthly salary is put into a collective savings fund for the association. For many, this is the first time they have had access to a safe and reliable way to save money. These savings are used to launch the structured savings program. We help association leaders to write and use loan contracts, advise members in how to set interest rates and loan cycle lengths, and support the association each month with the reimbursements. Thus, our partner associations learn how to become small credit cooperatives, making both loans and a system for saving money available to their members. With the profits from their lending project, partner associations are able to give their members larger and larger loans.
Concurrently, FACE AIDS offers business training seminars to all partner association members. With a curriculum developed in partnership with Harvard Business School and Partners In Health, we facilitate seminars on business planning, marketing, customer service, and basic accounting. We also offer health education seminars and question-and-answer sessions on topics that the members request.