By Sarah Leavitt | Digital Outreach Manager
Grassroots organizations throughout rural Haiti are making significant strides as they work together to build community-led enterprises in their towns. One such organization that is lighting a spark in their region is The Youth Association of Sel (AJS). The 255 youth members are working in partnership with the Lambi Fund of Haiti, to build a grain storage facility and launch a community credit fund. The grain silo they are building will store surplus grains and seeds for use in times of need – droughts, natural disasters and in between growing seasons. The storage facility will also be a place to store Haitian Creole seeds. With this silo, AJS members are working to increase access to high quality, local seeds that they can share and sell to one another at an affordable rate.
In order to successfully manage and operate the storage facility and community credit fund, members of AJS attended workshops administered by Lambi Fund teaching them grain storage management and operation, bookkeeping, the issuing of loans and how to manage a community credit fund.
To date, 50 low-interest loans have been issued to members who are using the funds to purchase more seeds, tools and organic fertilizers for growing more peanuts, peas and corn in the area. One recipient noted that investments from the loan allowed him to cultivate 25% more land. Each repayment schedule has been paid on time - and since AJS manages the credit fund and interest earnings stay within the community, the fund is growing. In fact, AJS members are planning to issue an additional 19 loans this fall to farmers in preparation for the upcoming planting season. The silo is currently under construction and committees have been formed that will be responsible for managing the food storage unit and distributing the grains and seeds in an equitable manner.
Thanks to your steadfast support in community-led enterprise projects like this, income producing efforts are cropping up throughout Haiti and changing communities.
Links:
By Sarah Leavitt | Digital Outreach Manager
By Sarah Leavitt | Digital Outreach Manager
Project reports on GlobalGiving are posted directly to globalgiving.org by Project Leaders as they are completed, generally every 3-4 months. To protect the integrity of these documents, GlobalGiving does not alter them; therefore you may find some language or formatting issues.
If you donate to this project or have donated to this project, you can receive an email when this project posts a report. You can also subscribe for reports without donating.
