1 2010 toronto microfinance conference delivery of microfinance and the sustainability of...

12010 Toronto Microfinance Conference

Delivery of Microfinance and the Sustainability of Microfinance Institutions

Can ABCD affect delivery and sustainability?

by Martha DeaconFounder and CEO

The Townships Project



Asset-Based Community

Development2 October 2010



The Unicycle

Microfinance

Loan Limitations:1) 20% max voluntary;

80% necessity2) “whack-a-mole”

jealousy;3) Too many doing the

same thing4) Building assets &

infrastructure



The Bicycle

Asset-BasedCommunity Development

Let’s use what we have to get what we want



Belief A community can use what it has

to get what it wants –

Coady International InstituteSt. Francis Xavier University

Antigonish, Nova Scotia



Mathopestat

September course inCanada

November workshop in South Africa



Mathopestat in March

New confidence, new

Success in the fight against poverty



Case Study 1 - Individual

Sanah saw herself as a victim. She was raped first when 8 years old by a teacher and then again at 18. She became pregnant and HIV positive. Distraught, she left her community in shame for Johannesburg. Unable to find work, she returned to her village and stayed with her mother, depending on grants. After an ABCD workshop, Sanah was empowered. She took the lead in organising a community forum, becoming vice chair and is now a respected, elected community leader. She told her story for the first time to a conference held in March in the Senate Chamber at UNISA – The University of South Africa. No longer a victim, she’s an advocate for those living a positive life with HIV.Sanah



Case Study 2 – Business• Joel, 68, an unemployed pensioner• Started a poultry business• Bought a Farmers Weekly, read about raising broiler chickens• Invested his own funds, constructed a chicken coop outside his home• Started with 100 eggs; now sells his chickens every 6 weeks for R45 each• R32,000 ($4,500) a year business • He meticulously follows vaccinations and records all his expenses• Has since started a Business Society to mentor unemployed youth in his communityJoel



Case Study 3 – Community

The village formed a community forum and initiated a number of community projects on their own, based on their own priorities and with no initial outside funding. They began a community policing forum in association with the local SAPS office and started patrolling their streets. They started cleaning up the streets and built a fenced area for their cattle. They started a 2,000 ha community food project that is worked on by 100 villagers. The community forum now manages all their own partnerships.



How did they do that?• Asset-Based Community Development• Asks the question: What do we have?• Starts with appreciative inquiry• Builds the community’s balance sheet



• Asset-Based Community Development• Then the income statement• And then…



• The Leaky Bucket !!• What goes in?• What leaks out?• What stays inside and circulates to

build community assets?



Leaky Bucket Exercise leads to

Community Development Plan

to generate more assets and income

to create businesses and jobs



Asset-BasedCommunity Development

can turn theUnicycle of Microfinance…


Into a SchoolBus!

Where the community is focused on using what it has to get what it wants

1 2010 toronto microfinance conference delivery of microfinance and the sustainability of...

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