SUCCESS STORIES

SAVING GROUPS

Save Family Tanzania Charity in partnership with World Vision Tanzania, they are working together to help children in Hope Street Children Project. By recognizing the important of children in the family they understand the contribution of parents and guardians towards their children. Therefore due to these aspects Save Family Tanzania Charity with World Vision Tanzania they formulate the Saving Groups in order to enable parents and guardians to make their own financial flow to help their children as well as their whole family.

World Vision Tanzania and Save Family Tanzania Charity’s saving groups are very important for the poor family. In these groups the members are getting different training such as training for entrepreneurship in order to enable them to make survive in their family as well as in the communities or to manage their daily life.

 

Saving Groups 

What are the Saving Groups?

Saving groups are basically an improved form of the traditional ASCA (Accumulating savings and credit association). They provide member a secure place to save, the opportunity to borrow in small amount and flexible terms example 3% interest of the money borrowed has to be returned in three months period, and affordable basic insurance services. Saving groups are composed of 15 to 30 people self-selected individuals who meet weekly and frequently to save, amounts are based in each member’s ability. Groups then pool the savings to make loan on which they charge a relative high service fee or interest rate which in turn increase the loan fund. Member’s saving and loans are recorded in individual passbooks or one central ledger.

Groups generally operate in 12 months cycle the accumulated savings and interest earnings are shared out among membership thus providing useful lump sums to members. After each share out, groups members keep some saving in the saving share in order to start another cycle of saving and borrowing saving contribution. Members may decide to make an exceptional saving contribution right after share out to recapitalize the loan fund. This allows the loan fund to grow to fairly substantial amounts.

Insurance Fund

This Insurance Fund sometimes referred to as the social fund that serve the variety of emergence and social purpose according to the rules set by the groups. The insurance fund is kept as a separate fund and contributions are normally the same from each member. Any member may request a grant or no cost loan from the insurance fund, approval rest with the group and funds may be disbursed immediately.

Facilitators confessions

Facilitators shared their saving group experience to participants and told them how this idea of forming Saving groups help them to rise capital for their small business at home and eases life. Also when they get problems example school fees, sickness or any other life emergencies social basket fund known as mfukowajamii its always there to help.

                                                                                                   

Formation of Saving Groups

There were five (5) saving groups formed from Uwanja wa Taifa, Fungafunga, Mbuyuni, Kichangani and Kilakala. And field officers already start visiting them to facilitate the new saving groups in each groups, from the information from field officers the new saving groups progressig well.

Achievement & success

      Two groups have been formedalready and three of them are still on going

      All participants had really understood well the importance of saving groups

Environmental Education and Conservation

Between April and May 2013, Save Family Tanzania Charity  organized environmental education and conservation program that culminated into planting 200 trees—of which, 100 saplings were grown in Mwande Primary School and the other half in Mkwajuni Primary School in Kilakala and Kichangani wards respectively. Apart from envisioned benefits of shades, fruits, fresh air and wood, the events of planting plantlets were a successful lesson enough in themselves. The attitude of loving to plant trees was inculcated and environmental education diffused to students, teachers and the surrounding communities at large. Ours was hands-on policy as participants did actual planting of trees.


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Water, Sanitation and Hygiene 

The community of Mwande primary School now enjoys the convenience of having a 3000-litre reservoir on its doorstep. Not only does the tank hold water, catchments to harvest rainwater were put in place. To make the hygiene campaign a full circle, we thanks our generous benefactors whenever we see cheerful students wash their hands at washing sinks sited conveniently outside toilets. This project would never have been possible had it not been for the financial support from America-based Water Charity, and, we as local agency—offered implementing hands.

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Distribution of Scholastic Materials

Before start implementing World Vision’s Hope Street Children Project, Save Family Tanzania Charity through local fundraising strived so hard to support less fortunate children families with scholastic materials. Number of the beneficiaries hardly reached 30 families. Nevertheless, this initiative strategically aimed at keeping students from playing truant, a sort of staying out of school that would breed street children at its worse stage. Today, in partnership with World Vision Tanzania, 150 school children from five wards (Mbuyuni, Kilakala, Mafisa, Kichangani and Uwanja wa Taifa) have been reached to September 2013. The stuff handed out included school uniforms, shoes, school bags, exercise books, pens, pencils and erasers. For the sustainability of this project and longevity of its impact; parents and guardians of supported children have been equipped with various entrepreneurial trainings and organized into Community Producer Groups (CPGs).

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Children Parliament

A unique children forum by children to address issues that matter the most to children ranging from children rights and protection to children care and laws, to mention but a few. This Assembly of its kind consists of 20 children representing student communities from all primary schools supported by Hope Street Children Project. For the first time in the history of the Municipal, the concerns of school children—regardless of their schools and wards of residence—are integrated into one voice in a truest democratic fashion. The quarterly meeting of Children Parliament sat on 13^th day of September 2013.

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