A cell group in Shyogwe meets together each week representing 15 different families. Each agrees that the weekly contribution will be 200 RWF ($0.36 USD), which makes the group's total weekly contribution 3,000 RWF ($5.45 USD). After meeting for a short time, there was an incident that changed the way they saved. A single mother in their community became unemployed and had difficulty caring for her 3-year-old child. Economically empowered and mutually encouraged, the cell group intervened.
Each of the members agreed to contribute an immediate emergency fund of 20,000 RWF ($36.36 USD) per person, a total of 300,000 RWF ($545.45 USD). This is an impressive amount of capital. The purpose of this emergency offering: 50,000 RWF ($90.91 USD) per month for rent over the next 6 months.
They paid her rent for a half of a year in advance.
This cell group decided their policies needed to change. Now, the 15 members still contribute 200 weekly, but 150 goes into the accumulating ASCA account, and 50 goes into an emergency fund they can use to support their community. That's how they do economic development.
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