|
|
|
|
 |
|
UNITED NATIONS CAPITAL DEVELOPMENT FUND Microfinance |
Issue 3 / May - June 2004 |
|
News | Fighting Poverty and Improving Lives through Microfinance in Pakistan Client stories from the Kashf Foundation By Sadia Saeed of the Kashf Foundation Kashf’s vision is to create a poverty free world – a world where everyone is prosperous and empowered to make choices. Kashf started from a belief that the economic empowerment of women was a key factor in enabling Pakistan to move beyond its current economic and social standing. Current poverty statistics reveal that 50 percent of Pakistan’s population, or 72 million people, live below the poverty line. Access to credit for the poor is typically limited to local moneylenders who can charge in excess of 350% per annum in interest. Hence, in a market situation where current outreach of all MFIs in Pakistan is only 5% of the total market demand, Kashf has taken the lead in providing microfinance services to over 60,000 women in the poorest urban slums and poverty ridden areas in 4 districts of the Punjab province of Pakistan. Its range of products and services includes loans, emergency loans, savings products, and life insurance. Kashf also offers training for clients on gender, human rights and reproductive health. At Kashf we respect and value humanity and are committed towards bringing our poor clients out of the vicious cycle of poverty. Perhaps our greatest achievement has been the impact that Kashf has had on the lives of poor households. The results of our third party impact assessment have revealed that 32% of Kashf client households are able to move out of the poverty trap within one year, while initially 60% of them belong to those earning less than $1 day. The following profiles represent two successful clients from Kasur.
Two years ago Ramzana and her husband used to work long hours as daily labourers in a yarn factory in Kasur. “My husband and I used to leave the house at 8 in the morning and return late in the evening. I had to leave my young children with my in-laws,” Ramzana says. Then Ramzana heard of the Kashf Foundation and learned that the organization provides non-collateralised loans to poor women with the aim to eliminate poverty. So, Ramzana took a loan worth Rs. 8,000 from the Kashf Foundation. She used this money to buy a small rudimentary spinning machine. She stopped going to the yarn factory and started making cloth at home. Once a week her husband goes to the Kasur market to purchase balls of cotton, which Ramzana uses to spin cloth. Ramzana took her second loan worth Rs 12,000 from Kashf Foundation this year. She used these funds to purchase raw material for her cloth business. Currently Ramzana earns a profit of Rs. 6,000-7,000 per month. “Kashf has enabled me to become self sufficient and now I no longer need to work for someone else…I can work at home and also look after my young children,” Ramzana says. She is currently also the Centre Manager and proudly claims that all 25 women of her centre pay their instalments on time.
Sabira Bibi, a cheerful middle-aged woman, lives with her husband and six children in Kasur. She owns a small shop where she sells cold drinks, sweets and groceries to the people living in the adjoining areas. Her shop is small but well maintained, with neat racks displaying a range of snacks. Her husband is aged and unable to work. Three years ago Sabira was unemployed and the meager income coming from her son’s earnings as daily wage laborers was barely enough to sustain the large family. Sabira has now been associated with the Kashf Foundation for two years. She says she was initially skeptical about taking a loan from Kashf as her relatives warned her that it could be ‘another hoax’. However, after consulting her husband she agreed to take an initial loan of Rs. 6,000 from Kashf. Sabira used this loan to open a small shop in one of the front rooms of her house. At that time her shop displayed a few products. Hence, she began to sell these items from her home. With her small-scale business and her son’s income, things began to gradually improve at Sabira’s home. Sabira took a second loan worth Rs. 12,000 from Kashf Foundation to expand her small business and to bring in more products. With this shop she now earns a profit of Rs. 4,000 – 5,000 per month. Sabira says that the profit earned from her own shop enables her to meet her household demands. Currently two of Sabira’s daughters and a son are studying in a nearby school in tenth, eighth and seventh grades respectively. Sabira says, ‘God has been
very kind to me …now I am secure with the knowledge that in order to meet
emergencies I can easily withdraw the savings that I have been depositing with
Kashf Foundation on a regular basis or can take out an Emergency Loan to meet
immediate consumption needs.’ Sabira says she would encourage other women
to take a loan from Kashf so that they are no longer dependent on anyone. Determined
and hardworking, Sabira has succeeded in overcoming many difficulties in her
life.
|
