Women’s Savings and Credit Groups, Income Generating Activities, School Children Health Education, Adolescent Girls Health Education, ESL
Formation of micro savings groups in the villages allows women to take out small business loans to establish income generating activities for themselves and their families. LHCB has community development program offices and supervisors in 5 districts. Group Organizers visit the surrounding villages by motorcycle, by rickshaw and on foot, organizing and supporting the Women’s Savings and Credit Groups. Each village group has 16-20 members who elect a president, secretary and cashier. The LHCB Group Organizer visits regularly to conduct classes and assist in the business and planning for group members.
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The program is modeled after the micro loans program developed by Bangaldeshi economist Muhammad Yunus and the Grameen Bank, recent recipients of the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize. However, the LHCB Savings and Credit Program is funded by the women themselves with no outside loans. A woman may save a few handfuls of rice to sell and will place a few Taka($.10) in the group’s interest earning savings account. The group then decides who may take out a loan, what the interest rate will be, and when the loan is to repaid. There are countless stories of successful income generating ventures by these women and their families. Loan money has been used to buy chickens, cows, rickshaws, sewing machines, and other goods and services used to improved family income. There are presently 300 Savings and Credit groups with over 5,000 members.
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In addition to the opportunity of being lifted out of poverty through microsavings and credit, group members receive basic education in literacy, math, and simple economics. They learn about child care, food and nutrition, safe water and sanitation, family planning through birth control, antenatal and postnatal care, drugs and narcotics. LHCB has a health curriculum that is taught to the children in the village schools. It is an 8 week long course for children in grades 3 – 5 that has proven an effective way of delivering essential health messages to the community. LHCB is in the process of developing curriculum for Adolescent Girls Health Education including hygiene, health, delaying marriage and child bearing, and protection against repression and human trafficking.
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English as a Second Language (ESL) courses are offered for the development of English language skills for the project staff members, their preschool-aged children, and young community children. LHCB is the only organization within the surrounding districts offering this opportunity of learning English for its staff members and children.