VUSUMNOTFO - Parenting for a Sustainable Future

Each January we conduct a financial verification exercise with our Savings & Lending Groups, currently standing at 20 Groups with 158 members.

This involves checking their record books compared to their cash count prior to overseeing year-end distribution according to a set formula.

Their results for 2024 were impressive (presented in SZL - for USA equivalent divide by 18):

• Total Savings - SZL 434,680

• Total Loans given to members from their Savings - 634 loans for total Principal of SZL 817,060

• Total Principal Repaid - 99%

• Loss subtracted from Group members - 1% for SZL 4,808

• Year End Distribution - average of SZL 3,697 per member (Individual member’s savings plus share of interest according to 5 performance criteria)

• Average Performance Share per Group - 88%

• Lending to Savings ratio (indicator of how often their savings was used for Loans):

• Average for all Groups - 1.88
• Group with highest ratio - 6.14
• Groups with ratio of 1.5 or above - 9 or 45%

Loans taken by members are for business activities carried out at family level. The profit generated from each member’s business activity is above and beyond these results.

Our Savings & Lending results for 2024 are all the more impressive because:

• Each group keeps their own funds and each member keeps their own records.

• The oldest group was formed in 2012 and is still going strong.

As an added benefit, members spend the majority of their pay out to cover school expenses for their children, thereby improving generational outcomes. 

Thank you for your continued support. This allows us to conduct the structured training and mentoring activities that lay the foundation for these results!

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2. Livelihood Training Programme - to advance sustainable improvements in financial and health indicators at family level

Activity 2.1. Entrepreneurship - i) train in basic financial literacy, ii) form, train and mentor savings & lending groups.

We actively promote growing, eating and seed saving from open poliinated indigenous vegetables, combined with the soil and water wise practices of compost, mulch, and buried water bottles. 

Nutritional short comings in Eswatini are related to lack of micro-nutritients which should not be given that we have plenty of indigenous fruits and vegetables.  

Yet over the years many people have traded in traditional eating for "modern and processed" foods which are now contributing to chronoic health issues. 

Although this is a familiar pattern across the world, the solution in Eswatini is very doable because our climate supports indigenous fruits and vegetables 12-months of the year. 

Therefore we intentionally promote open pollinated indigenous vegetables - for growing, for eating, and for seed saving. 

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2.  Livelihood Training Programme - to advance sustainable improvements in financial and health indicators at family level:

Activity 2.2. Perma-gardening for nutrition - a) train in perma-gardening practices for nutrition, b) provide information and plant "start up' material.