Village Savings and Loan Program

Donors needed to support Village Savings and Loan in C.A.R.

So much of what LPGM does creates change from the bottom up. We now have a unique opportunity to help improve the lives of people living in the Central African Republic through the Village Savings and Loan program. It was started in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in the Central African Republic (EEL-RCA) two years ago through a grant from the European Union. With this grant over 160 savings groups were created. The E.U. grant is finished, but the EEL-RCA church leaders want its trainers to continue training new groups in the program so it will keep growing. When the Rev. André Golike, president of the EEL-RCA, was asked about this program, he said, “This is the only way we are going to become a self-sustaining church. If the people think they are poor they will never give; if they don’t understand accountability and reporting how can they demand it from their church leaders? This will change the church from the ground up.”

In a Village Savings and Loan program no outside capital is invested, so the participants do not become indebted to an outsider. Instead, each member contributes what they can at weekly meetings. Loans are made from the combined savings. At the end of a three-month cycle the savings and collected fees from the loans are distributed to the participants. Each group remains together for three three-month cycles. For more information on Village Savings and Loan Associates, click here or go to the VSLA website (http://vsla NULL.net/home).

To continue this program LPGM needs $35,000 in 2012 – just $3,000 a month. These funds will allow us to send trainers out into the villages, manage the program on the ground in C.A.R., and administer the grant from the United States. This is an incredible opportunity to change a country, one person at a time.

Do you feel called to support this program? Are you a member of a church or organization that could commit to one month or three months or the entire year? If so, please contact our office.