A letter from the Program Manager

I might be fairly new to CHBC SLA but I am not new to program facilitation and to a focus on community empowerment.I have been working with the poor and marginalized communities for the past fifteen years in various portfolios.

There are many funders who see small grants to organizations like ours as being too risky or too time-and resource-intensive. At CHBC-SLA we see things differently. We believe in trust, learning and contributing to a small but effective movement for change at the grassroots and community level. At CHBC-SLA we have engaged in remarkably low-risk financial behaviour, because of the number of our eyes on the “cashbox”within the groups we promote.

Everyone is accountable to everyone. Our grassroot and institutional project indicators verify that CHBC-SLA is moving in the right direction.. I have every confidence that through our conceited efforts and our,open, sincere dialogue with stakeholders,CHBC-SLA will face the challenges of empowering the very poor at grassroots level to eradicate poverty. It may take a long time, but every step we take moves us closer to that desired goal.

My mission as Program Manager of this wonderful group of people is to join together to implement agendas of support and innovative efforts towards social change. Our change process allows for strong collaboration with other likeminded organizations and their unique, complementary advantages. Ours is, a change process allowing those in power to listen to us and to make policy changes benefiing the marginalized in society and those in need.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank all our players and supporters for their positive role in facilitating change and enabling CHC SLA to achieve this level of progress in 2010 and for a prosperous 2011

Wilson Ngosa
Program Manager

Learning, is all about Sharing

Chindwin Home Based Care Savings Loans Assoication visits Kasokota

CHBCSLA last month went on a learning mission to another Communit Based Care organization called Kaokota Mulipurpose Co-operative in Serenje, Mkusi District.

The specific objectives of the exchange visit included:

1.To share project information on sustainable agriculture particularly on various soil improvement methods, tree planting and fish farming.
2.Exchange project knowledge on chicken rearing, small enterprise development and institutional care of orphans and vulnerable children.
3.Enable SLA members acquire relevant business and farming skills so as to impart and share the same knowledge with other group members in the project area.
4.Provide more opportunities for SLA members to learn and share project information so as to help in shaping the way forward for the organization.

Kasokota Women Project.
Project information was presented and shared between Kasokota women and SLA members on business activities conducted and on tree planting. Three fields were visited which were planted with eucalyptus, paw-paw, lemons, oranges and other fruit trees.

Lessons Learnt
SLA members were able to appreciate the fact that in order to effectively facilitate and implement community programmes that included tree planting, broad community support should be solicited through training to enable members appreciate the importance of an activity to be carried out.

The importance of the exchange visit could not be overemphasized. Members from the projects visited and SLA agreed to be visiting each others’ projects so as continue learning and sharing relevant project information for the purpose of contributing to the upliftment of livelihoods in their communities.

Kasokota women indicated that they would soon make arrangements to invite SLA members to help in facilitating the Savings and Loans (SLA) model at Kasokota.

GLM indicated that in the event that SLA needed further training in sustainable farming, the organization would be willing to help out.


Challenges faced:
Very few challenges were experienced. However, communication presented as a major barrier during the network visit. For instance, Bupensebele project confirmed that they would receive SLA members on the 17th of August, 2010. Since, Allison was going to be away for a workshop in Lusaka, she confirmed that she would assign someone else to take SLA members through their project on her behalf. This did not happen. As a consequence of this action, the bupensebele members were not met and fish farming activity was not covered.

SLA Recruites First Employee-Program Manager

Dear Friends,

On behalf of everyone at SLA, we would like to share with you all the most exciting news at SLA. We have finally recruited our first ever employee- Mr. Wilson Ngosa. He joins SLA as a volunteer staff Program Manger. Prior to joing SLA, Mr.Ngosa worked for a rural based organization in Central Province,Mkushi called Fiwila Development Trust; a program funded by HODI Zambia.
Mr Ngosa's primary role will be to help strengthen SLA's organizational capacity, develop strategic plans, facilitate training skills for the board and link SLA to potentional donors in Zambia and abroad.
SLA is also appealing to welwishers and donors for support towards Mr.Ngosa's "monthly salary/allwance pot" amounting to USD500.
Any donations are welcome: USD10,USD20 e.t.c. For more information, please contact SLA Board Chairperson, Mrs Mary Kombe or send email to info@sloansassociation.org

Social Change- The way Forward for SLA

During the last couple of months, SLA has received three key volunteers from the UK and USA with various unique expertise including Research, Accounting and Community participation.

What has come out of the visits is helping SLA realize its potential as a "change agent " in Kabwe, Zambia's central province. So what is Social Change understood by members of SLA:

Mary Kombe: "Social change is letting people change their behaviours and attitude towards HIV/AIDS"

Jean Nkata : "Social Change is a science of that we teach in Primary and secondary school"

Following a group meeting with support from Home Based Care expert and SLA Capacity Building Officer/Board Member, Mr. James Milunga, it was clear that SLA is infact a social change agent."By mobilizing the community to influence policy on at local level, we are infact supporting social change"

In the next few months, SLA will soon be educating most of its members on the theory of social change that will allow people to realize their human rights on issues affecting their lives and that they too can make a difference in influencing those in power. This can only be done through groups of social change such as SLA Community Groups

Farming Season -Another challenge

Most SLA's members, if not all have small "farms" away from homes as a source of additional livelihoods. This process as Jean Nkata explains:

"We spend most of our time in addtion to SLA work to go out into the prepare the land for planting season. For some of us single parents, we have to hire extra labour for help and this costs a lot of money. We depend again from our small profits we share as a group to help out with these costs. Unfortunately we can only do a small portion of the field and that is why we fall back to SLA for help. We have even turned away volunteers due to our unavailability during this crutial time of farming. We need better alternatives"

In the coming season, SLA is planing to hold a general meeting to formulate strategies for long term sustainability such as reinforcing partnerships with the Ministry of Agriculture and learning more from other partners.

A joint partnership meeting with another group from Serenje, that was planned for June will allow members of other groups supported by Color Me In, a US based organizaton to share experiences and chanllenges they face with food security and how to manage time properly.

April News Update- Why "CASH-Transfers" can help reduce POVERTY

Savings Loans Association Chindwin Home Based Care (SLA) has always known from its early days of inception and needs assessments that one of the key solutions to help mitigate the impact of Poverty and HIV/AIDS at household level is through CASH-Transfers.

What is Cash-Transfer? Cash Transers can take many forms. They can be given to households as a unit becuase tehy meet poverty or vulerability creteria, to an individual such as an elderly person or disabled person, or to families based on the pressence of individuals such as children, girls , or orphans. Cash transfers can be unconditional-giving with out obligations-or conditional-tied to obligations of receipients t participate in work or training, education, health, nutrition or other services or activities-or they can be linked to these activiteis but not boligatory.

SLA supports Cash-transfer programs through its small innovative micro loans programs becuase tehy provide for current basic needs of adults adn children such as food and clothing. They can also contribute to development processes, by enabling or encouraging investment in assests that increase people's chances of breaking out of poverty in lthe long-term. Cash transfer programs can also have additional benefits sucha as women's autonomy and capacities, or strengthening capacities of local communites.

SLA has giving out Cash Transfers to 30 members with anverage of USD 200 per group and we kindly appeal for individuals and organizations to help SLA scale-up its program with another grant of USD 10,000 for supporting an additional group of women with cash-transfers that is paid back to the organization so that another group is assisted and hence the cycle of poverty reduction continues

For more information, please visit our webste www.sloansassociation.org or send us an e-mail on info@sloansassociation.org

Financial Satement- December 31st,2009

SLA have finally published it's first ever financial report-auditted by Alexis Murray-Jones. We are thankful for his time and passion to help us begin on the "right foot"


Cash Income/Expenditure schedule reveals an encouraging performance for 2009

 Average loan disbursed: $130
 Portfolio at risk: 3%
 Yield on Portfolio: ~45%
 Operational Self-Sufficiency: ~70%
 Borrowers per Loan Officers: 5
 Client turnover: 5%

Key Statistics

Exchange rate assumed: USD 1 = ZKW 4,500.

 Solid financial performance has allowed
$6,000+ to be donated to community
initiatives

 43% surplus margin highlights SLA’s efficient
operating structure and limited overheads

 SLA has not yet reached self sufficiency and
still relies on donations for most of its funding

Highlights

Income
External Donations 16,626 61%
Loan Repayments 10,707 39%
Fines & Penalties 28
Total Income 27,332 100%

Expenditure
Micro-loans 12,186 45%
Operational Costs
Consultancy 1,467 5%
Administration 1,031 4%
Transport 942 3%
Total Operational Costs 3,440 13%
Operational Surplus 11,706 43%
Community Donations
Supplementary Feeding 2,680 10%
Education 1,256 5%
Training 1,511 6%
Other donations 773 3%
Total Community Donations 6,220 23%

Total Expenditure 21,846 80%

Net Surplus 5,486 20%