Análise de gênero nos bancos comunitários do projecto Promiza na Zambézia

Abstract

This work focuses on the practice of micro-credit in community banks from a gender perspective in the district of namacurra, province of zambézia. This work was carried out in a world vision project called promiza (Zambézia micro-credit project) which is essentially dedicated to granting small loans to groups of peasants in order to develop a business activity. Promiza uses community banks to extend credit. A community bank is a self-help group of about 50 members, usually women, who meet once a week to give small loans that allow for self-employment. The initial objective of the promiza and the project donor (dfed-department for development) was to benefit the poorest of the poor and that 70% of clients would be women. However, during the first loan cycle, only about 11% of clients were women. The main objective of the study was to study how to improve the involvement of women in the promiza community banks, and to formulate a gender strategy. For data collection, semi-structured interviews were conducted for members of community banks and non-bank members, totaling 80 people, half for each category and half for each sex. Informal interviews were also carried out with project technicians in order to have concise information to achieve the objectives of this study. The results showed that the low number of women in community banks is due to lack of time as they practice more agricultural activities. Fear of debt responsibility has also led to many women not joining the banks, illiteracy among women is another problem that has caused women not to participate in banks. It is also related to the perspectives of promoters, culture and distance from markets. The promoters still have little experience in working with banks