stories of hope :

Members of the Koulbaga Gardeners Cooperative and the women of MECREF have enhanced local food security and achieved significant increases in family income

 



With support from ADF, the members of the Koulbaga Gardeners Cooperative have multiplied their personal incomes by a factor of 10 and ensured food security for their families. Seventy-five percent of Koulbaga's members are women.
The members of the Koulbaga Gardeners Cooperative have multiplied their personal incomes by a factor of 10 and ensured food security for their families. Seventy-five percent of Koulbaga's members are women.


ADF’s support for community-based enterprises in Niger has helped thousands of small-scale producers expand their incomes, build viable small businesses, provide food security for their families, and break free of debilitating cycles of debt. By delivering essential catalyst capital and management, marketing and technical assistance to grassroots producer groups and artisans associations, ADF has provided communities in the world’s second-poorest nation with resources to confront significant environmental and economic challenges.


Success Story: The Koulbaga Gardeners Cooperative

In 1998, ADF provided the 40 members of the Koulbaga Gardeners Cooperative with $197,000 in financing to help the group undertake off-season vegetable cultivation and marketing activities. ADF monies helped Koulbaga’s members install a sustainable, labor-saving farm irrigation system by supporting the construction of 40 wells equipped with 1,500-liter catch basins.



GRAPH 1 : Koulbaga's members have increased their average annual cash income from US $46 to US $476. This increase is well above ADF's original projection of an increase to $302 over five years. Koulbaga members now earn more than twice the Nigerien per capita income of US $118.

GRAPH 1 : Koulbaga's members have increased their average annual cash income from US $46 to US $476. This increase is well above ADF's original projection of income growth to $302 over five years. Koulbaga members now earn more than four times the average Nigerien GDP per person of US $118.

Each well supplies water to a 2,500-square-meter plot of land, and provides drinking water to local families. The concrete-lined water sources have helped Koulbaga members focus on the business of growing food rather than the time-consuming task of annually replacing hand-dug wells.

ADF also supported the development of a tree nursery that provides seedlings for the planting of drought-resistant thorn trees and bramble bushes around the perimeters of members’ farm plots. The vegetation delivers a double benefit to cultivators by providing a barrier against wind-induced soil erosion and by protecting vegetables from grazing animals.

ADF financed the construction of a multi-grain mill, two storage facilities for fresh and dried produce and the capitalization of a credit facility that helps farmers purchase seed, fertilizer and other farming essentials at affordable rates.



GRAPH 2: Koulbaga exceeded ADF's projections for its production growth over five years by 28 percent. Koulbaga started with a baseline production of 20 tons of vegetables in 1998 and produced 194 tons during the 2004 growing season.

GRAPH 2 : Koulbaga exceeded ADF's projections for its production growth over five years by 28 percent. Koulbaga started with a baseline production of 20 tons of vegetables in 1998 and produced 194 tons during the 2004 growing season, well above ADF's projection of 152 tons.

The project has significantly exceeded original growth projections and produced substantial income gains for its members, whose average cash earnings have risen from 25,000 CFA (US $46) per year to 257,000 CFA (US $476), or more than four times the Nigerien per capita gross domestic product (GDP) of $118 per year. Koulbaga’s members have also raised their annual production of vegetables from 20 tons in 1998 to nearly 194 tons in 2004. The number of cultivators who use the cooperative’s irrigation, processing, and storage services has risen from 40 to 120. Seventy-five percent of the cooperative’s members are women.


Success Story: MECREF



Members of a local MECREF women's credit group meet to collect loan repayments and approve new loans for members. A cash box sits in the center of the mat.
Members of a local MECREF women's credit group meet to collect loan repayments and approve new loans for members. A cash box sits in the center of the mat.


The Women’s Mutual Credit and Savings Society (MECREF) was established in 1996 to provide Nigerien rural and urban women with credit access for a wide range of income-generating micro-enterprise activities. As the only Nigerien savings and loan provider solely owned and operated by women, MECREF has dedicated its work to providing Nigerien women – whose limited access to education, food security, and independent income-generating activities ranks them second to last in the UNDP’s gender-related development index – with services that help members purchase essential agricultural inputs and finance profitable small business ventures.


GRAPH 3: MECREF maintained a 98 percent loan repayment rate - three percent above the global standard for micro-loan recovery.

GRAPH 3: MECREF maintained a 98 percent loan repayment rate - three percent above the global standard for micro-loan recovery.

Over the past decade, MECREF has helped more than 10,000 Nigerien women form local credit groups and savings societies. MECREF members have invested their loans in animal-fattening activities (30 percent), small restaurants and other commercial food sales (20 percent), and a variety of local trading activities (50 percent).

MECREF offers six-month loans to its members and provides members who have repaid their loans on schedule with the opportunity to secure larger “step-up” loans. ADF provided MECREF with $233,000 in financing in 2002 to help it extend its services to an additional 3,380 members spread across 169 women’s credit groups. Over the past three years, the organization has exceeded its target for the extension of credit facilities to women’s groups by 60 percent while averaging a loan-recovery rate of 98 percent. The established global standard for micro-credit loan recovery is 95 percent.

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