Efforts to Mitigate the Impact of AIDS on Clients, Households and Enterprises

Publication Date: Feb 2005
Published by: Small Enterprise Education and Promotion (SEEP) Network
Document Type: Paper (PDF)

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How can microfinance help HIV/AIDS infected communities?

This paper discusses the village savings and lending scheme, called “Kupfuma Ishungu”, fielded by CARE International in Zimbabwe. This program promoted self-managed credit and savings services among poor people in the provinces hardest hit by HIV/AIDS.

The paper describes the program’s:

• Target group;
• Methodology;
• Design concepts;
• Processes and steps in implementation;
• Positive outcomes;
• Indicators for monitoring performance;
• Challenges and lessons learnt.

Further, the paper states that:

• Micro enterprise development services can help families impacted by HIV/AIDS to cover basic expenses, ensure the well-being of the children in their care, increase income and build savings;
• Microfinance institutions (MFIs) need to understand their client’s realities in order to develop demand-driven innovations that protect the institution, while serving the clients;
• Sharing information about current initiatives and sound practices in the micro enterprise industry and the HIV/AIDS field should lead to a better understanding of the economic impact of this disesase on households.

In conclusion, the document states that the purpose of this series is to describe a variety of micro enterprise services that:

• Reach deeply into the poor socio-economic strata of a given community/ geographical area;
• Enable its clients to plan for future crisis, improve income flows, enhance profitability of economic activities, and avoid selling productive assets.