EMPOWERING WOMEN’S COOPERATIVE IN CHARGHARE
By Ruby Glasspool (UK Executive Director)
I recently visited the village of Charghare in Nuwakot, Nepal and as I arrived, I walked straight into a meeting of the women’s cooperative group. Curious, I started asking questions to really understand how the cooperative helped these women who live in incredibly remote areas. The project is supported by our partner HICODEF who also run agricultural training programmes in the area.
Women of Charghare conducting their morning weekly meeting
Each member contributes a small amount [200 rupees] into the overall pot each month, creating a larger sum of funds that individuals can then request to borrow for livelihoods projects. These funds provide much needed up-front capital for community projects that ultimately benefit the whole community. Buying a goat for example, provides milk for others. Investing in agriculture provides food and income for the wider village.
The latest resident in Charghare village
Each woman can receive up to 30,000 Rupees a year in loans at favourable interest rates. The interest rates paid boost the overall pot, but the borrower can easily afford them after benefitting financially from whatever project they have invested in. I was impressed by the villagers’ skill in essentially running their own remote banking facility with nothing but a ledger and a large tin box!
The groups’ Chairperson and bookkeeper checking through the entries for that week
The sub-group at Charghare is also part of a much larger cooperative down in the nearby city. Pots of funds are taken down to this larger group and banked, and as this money is then invested and gains interest and returns, larger amounts can be borrowed again by the villagers.
It really is an impressive way to manage small pots of money to enable them to do more and go further, without burdening poorer community members with excessive debts. Of course, the entire operation is based on what our larger worldwide banks do with our money, but with one big difference - self-empowerment! This is a really effective way to foster community ownership and build a sense of empowerment in otherwise fairly powerless rural communities.
The members of the Charghare women’s cooperative group