South Sudan's English Daily Newspaper
"We Dare where others fear"
By Okech Francis
Sanduk, a loan scheme that involves people coming up in groups and putting up an agreed amount of money for each member is becoming a quick way of buying valuables in Juba, the capital of South Sudan and its suburbs.
In Rock City, on the suburb of the capital, groups which have formed the sanduk have developed a way that the money they put together works direct to solve their immediate needs, adding value on the use of the loan scheme to lucrative benefits for them.
Sanduk generally entails a group of people coming together and agreeing on an amount they put together to give to one member in a given period, rotating around all the members.
A group of women in Rock City, comprising of housewives and market vendors have however added a touch to it.
“For us, each member has identified exactly what she wants to buy but is struggling to get the money so when the turn of a person to get money comes, we just go and buy for her that particular thing or those things,” Magaret Poni who heads the group, “Allah Karim” told The Dawn.
Allah Kerim has 18 women, housewives and market traders. Most of the items the women would want to buy include household items like saucepans, cups, plates, flask, among others, Poni said.
They put together 10,000 SSP weekly, meaning at least one member has 180,000 in a week to buy items-mostly household items of her choice. This is done weekly until every group member is served.
“When we buy the items one person has decided on, it saves her time and money for a long time,” Poni said.
The saving scheme is one which is highly priced especially in developing countries and if well utilized, highly enhances the economic capability of low and medium income earners and as well improves livelihood.
Also called Village Savings and Loan Associations (VSLAs), they have served as an alternative, informal mechanism for saving and borrowing that do not require external capital or ongoing financial or administrative support from an organization.
The underlying logic is that when the poor can have such finance, it enables them to manage their money differently; for example by investing, acquiring productive assets, acquiring new skills, or opening new businesses.
The East African Journal noted that low income earners who engage in the savings project have access to highly responsive and safe financial services, and this enables them to upscale economic activities, improve household health and welfare, acquire business skills, educate their children, and improve the quality of their social lives both within the family and the surrounding community.
Looking at China, being a traditional social organization, villages are a basic unit of the country’s rural society.
Determined by the nature of agricultural production, cooperation between village members is mutually beneficial and overall productive. Collectivity as social capital has been built up by members’ lifelong attachment and affiliation as well as trust between each other.
The Chinese government has set a clear role for China’s rural banks – they are required to focus on supporting the financial needs of counties and rural areas, particularly small organizations and farmers in those rural settings.
Taking China’s case, “rural banks have been responsible for supporting its rural economy since the 1990s and are integral to the development of the agricultural sector and county-level economy,” the South China Morning Post said on its website.
Such sanduks as that of “Allah Karim” are bound to be the genesis of rural banking, an initiative that helps rural areas and communities with very low access to finance benefit and lead to rural banking.
In Rock City, the group under “Allah Karim” will continue using it to empower the livelihood of households and help women contribute to development.
“After we make it all round, we will again sit together and open another sanduk for other specific needs,” Poni said.
