Report from BHW Uganda Partnership Facilitators Following Visit in late 2019

Key person: Anna Ocen 

Recent Events

Recent years have not been good in Lira and the town itself certainly does not seem to be going ahead. This is coupled with the fact that the first rains this year did not come and there has been massive crop failure in Uganda, pushing food prices higher. Also the ongoing corruption affects the charcoal businesses. It is supposedly illegal now to sell charcoal, but the whole country relies on it. So the police confiscate it, and then sell it themselves. The government has also made fishing on the middle lakes near Lira illegal and have taken violent steps to prevent fishing. This means that traders that have relied on this can do so no longer.

All-in-all it is a very difficult environment.

We found that some beneficiaries were in arrears on their repayments. Most of the 55 original beneficiaries have had some delayed payments but have largely brought them up to date. 19 have not been paying at all but some have recently started. Anna is now fining them for late payments if the payments are more than two weeks late. 

Some beneficiaries, such as Josephine, have been chronically sick (she has HIV). She hadn’t paid anything since September 2018 but is improving and is now catching up her payments.

Anna was frank and said that she has never experienced such challenges before. We discussed some of these things in great detail. Anna spends approximately two weeks a month in Lira and says that the north of Uganda is definitely worse. In reality, because of her health issues, she has also not been able to be in Lira quite as much recently. Several of the businesses (such as selling bedsheets) where only one item is being sold are very vulnerable. Fortunately she is teaching the beneficiaries to not simply rely on one thing and we noticed significant diversification, particularly into livestock, poultry etc. Some of these changes are encouraging and are indicating a new level of resourcefulness or creativity in problem solving. 

Loan Programme

There are now 65 people in this programme, having increased by 10 since last year, and there is a large waiting list of around another 55 people. Penninah manages the payments and collections within the programme. Anna described the people in Lira as being much more aggressive and demanding than the people in Mbale. Nevertheless, they continue with the programme. 

This loan programme uses the same process as the Mbale programme (UGA05) and there are new books in the process of being printed for this programme too. Interestingly, the records are in the process of now being audited. This is a legal requirement where a registered organisation involves children and this programme interlinks with Hope Restoration Centre (UGA03a). Apparently it is quite a slow process and it is not likely to be available until some time mid-2020. 

We have previously reported on the problems with Grace Nam, one of the leaders in the Kirombe Pentecostal Church who was dishonest in collecting repayments and has failed to account for around 500,000 UGX of repayments. She has been removed from the programme but has also threatened to kill Penninah. However, the church itself is continuing to try and resolve the issue.

The largest loan size is about UGX 1.8m (US$490) and lowest 300,000 UGX (US$80). Anna is going to give us a list of all the loan beneficiaries, the amounts borrowed and where they are in repayments. This picture is not a great one and reflects the instability in the Ugandan economy with huge drought and crop losses, and the significant poverty in the north.

There are also other problems with displacement of stall holders from the market previously reported on. Some have been moved to a new and much smaller market on the far west of town. This market is nowhere near as big as the central one and is quite hard to get to. There are not the same buyers and it is described as a big challenge. 

Personal Stories

In an earlier report we have previously interviewed Jackie, a young single mother who first started a stall in the central market area only to have the police destroy it and steal all her stuff so she had to start again. She has had huge struggles and when we met with her this time she was also supporting her grandmother and one other who were in hospital. Her persistence is paying off and she now has a cow, is growing some of the produce she sells and has a good sized stall within the main market in Lira.  We found her story really encouraging and she has just paid off a 600,000 UGX (US$170) loan. 

Conci, who we have also previously reported on, got a further loan of 500,000 after clearing a previous balance of 60,000 UGX. But both this later loan and the earlier one had repayment problems. She is 80 years old and has health issues but has also been tenacious in taking steps to improve her life and the grandchildren that she looks after, and is an inspiration to many.  

Partnership's Influence within the Community

Because Hope Restoration Centre (UGA03a) and this programme are so closely linked we are aware that this programme continues to have a significant positive influence in the community. Certainly to see the change in people like Jackie is inspiring. It is difficult to fully determine how many people are benefiting from this programme but we think it looks like this:

- Direct beneficiaries = 65 families
- Children and grandchildren benefiting = approx 250 (conservative estimate)
- Of the children benefiting our estimate (conservatively) is that 40-60% of those now benefiting and able to go to school and receive medical care would not have had that benefit without the programme. This represents a significant improvement in family conditions, which we have seen with our own eyes.

Plans for the Future

We see good reason for continuing the existing arrangements and continuing to journey with Anna and Penninah. The loan programme continues to be of benefit to many people and it would be appropriate to support it further, at least for this year.

There will be potential, after the conference and training in May 2020, for future loan programmes here to be in the table banking model.

Prayer and Praise Points

1) Resolution of the ongoing, and festering, issue with Grace Nam at Kirombe. This is clearly dragging some members down.
2) That even in extremely challenging circumstances in Uganda people are still progressing, albeit slowly.
3) For Jackie. It was a pleasure to see her and the improvements in her life. She is inspirational and the reason why a good loan programme makes a difference.
4) For wisdom in progressing this group. 

Comments

If Anna provides the information requested on the present loan beneficiaries and takes positive steps to get beneficiaries to come up-to-date in payments then we think this programme should continue to be funded which will allow more beneficiaries to be added. There seems to be the capacity for this, however, this should be with caution as we are unsure how many women could be effectively managed within the programme without it being too big for Penninah and Anna to manage. Also, given the recent economic and political difficulties we are unsure how stable the programme is in regards to repayments of loans taken. This is something that, in the present climate, we think just needs to be accepted as the reality. Anna has proven herself reliable over a long period of time and supporting this programme further will be an encouragement to her.