This week, 108 participants in the Springboard Microfinance Program are completing the repayment of their second loan cycle. To date, not a single participant has made a late payment or missed a payment. In addition to repaying their loans in full, each participant saved 9000 CFA through a new structured savings component of the program.  Many participants invested the profits they earned in crucial resources for the health and well being of their families, such as nutritious food, soap, and school fees.

One hundred percent repayment is not a small feat in the communities where we work, where many barriers make it difficult for women to succeed in the marketplace. Most participants have had little or no access to formal education and are seeking to enter the marketplace with little startup capital. Our monitoring and evaluation of the program has uncovered even more daunting barriers. Because Mali's health care system charges everyone fees for medicines and services, regardless of their economic status, several microfinance participants have reported having to use portions of their loan capital to pay for emergency medical care for themselves or their children. Only after great struggle were these participants able to continue their enterprises and finish their loan repayment.  This is why Project Muso is creating a Solidarity Fund through the new Community Based Malaria Treatment Program, to provide free medical care to those who cannot afford to pay. Lack of access TO medical care too often traps families in poverty. The cost of paying for urgent medical care can paralyze nascent enterprises, cutting off a family's hope for earning a sufficient income to pay for food, clean water, and other essential health resources.

Working side by side with the Springboard Microfinance Program, the Community Based Malaria Treatment Program can enable women and their families to stay healthy, so that they can work; the income they earn can in turn provide their children with many tools of healthy living. 

Mutual support structures of women's collectives, systems of mutual accountability, and technical support from Project Muso's team help participants in the microfinance program ensure full loan repayment while they develop their enterprises.  More than one hundred more women are currently hoping to enroll in the program by the end of the summer. Click here to learn about how you can make it happen.