One of the success stories that the Poverty Reduction Unit monitoring team came across while on its visit of the Private Sector activities in West Nile (WENIPS) and Lango sub region (Mid-North) on November 13th 2008, was a savings and credit cooperation in Barr, one of the former IDP camps in Lira.

                   

BARR Rural Development SACCO which started two years ago in the Internally Displaced Camp setting with 30 members is growing from strength to strength. UNDP, through its implementing partner Mid-North Private Sector Development Ltd has, since 2006, trained staff, the board and members of the SACCO in: planning, financial management, loans management, human resource management, governance, marketing, record keeping, and saving.

“I saved with the SACCO and built my house and now I am saving for Christmas”, said Mr. John Etii one of the beneficiaries of the training. He warned that if people do not stop keeping money in their houses, their will be “increased theft and killings”.

      

This year, thanks to UNDP’s support through Mid-North, Barr SACCO was equipped with a strong board, well established operational policies, and procedures and systems. This in turn, enabled Barr SACCO to attract additional funding from GTZ in the form of a computer, solar system, two motorcycles, and rehabilitation of the SACCO premises. With computerized systems, solar power and two motorcycles, the performance of the SACCO has tremendously improved. And with the support of five key staff members, SACCO is able to prepare its PMT report on a daily basis.

 

Membership to the SACCO has grown from the initial 30 members to currently 472 members. SACCO offers five loan products namely; agriculture, produce, commercial and health. With the IDPs now resettled, members are increasingly demanding for money to start and/or grow their income generating activities in order to improve their livelihoods. SACCO has a recovery rate of 80% and a loan portfolio of shs.12, 690,000 which is not enough and some members have to wait for sometime before they get money. The board has now authorized the SACCO to borrow up to Shs. 200 million from Microfinance Support Centre Limited to meet this demand.

 

Mr. Otim Ayita one of the founder members said that, “People of the community realized they had common problems such as rampant poverty, burial expenses and marketing their produce and decided to form a community cooperative which later became Barr SACCO”.

 

The good performance and sustainability of BARR SACCO is one step further towards the resettlement and reintegration of the IDPs in the Lango sub region.