Swan Yi Newsletter 1

Women Leading the WaySwan Yi: Strengthening Abilities for Womens Economic Empowerment

Swan Yi NewsletterJune 2013 | Issue 3

The Swan Yi project with funding from the Coca-Cola Foundation aims to empower nearly 25,000 Myanmar women through village-based banking and microenterprise development. Since the project began, a total of 10,935 women from six townships are now participating in WORTH groups. Almost all of them have started saving, making the average rate of savings per woman 650 kyats ($0.65 USD) per week. To date, the total amount of savings of all groups is $73,022 USD.

A total of 4,079 loans have been taken out, reaching a value of $105,151 USD. The average loan amount is 23,000 kyats ($23 USD). For most of the women it is their first WORTH loan and 70% of them are using the loans for start-

Swan Yi Newsletter 2

Loans Disbursed

ing microenterprises (small food or service shops) and agriculture and farming activities. For the other 30% of the women, they are using loans to address personal or family emergencies. WORTH loans are an easily accessible financial service, which enable women to fulfill their family needs, such as education, health and living standards. While some women have had access to outside credit pre-viously, it has been through money leaders which charge high interest rates, making it extremely difficult to repay loans, much less earn a profit. In contrast, WORTH loans offer an interest rate on average nearly seven times less than these money lenders, allowing women to be able to save more money, use more on their daily family expense, or invest more back into their businesses.

Achievements to date: 10,935 women participating in 503 WORTH groups 9,118 women saving weekly and established their

WORTH groups village banking system 4,079 loans taken out for microenterprise development

or for emergency purposes 386 Management Committees formed including

1,544 committee members 8,918 sets of Selling Made Simple: Modules 1-3

Pacts self- learning materials distributed to 344 WORTH groups.

emer

genc

y

29% 21%

50%

microenterprise - non-agriculture

microenterprise

- agriculture

Swan Yi Newsletter 3

In Yin Nwae village, Mahlaing Township, many villagers earn their living by weaving mats. Daw Myint Kyi, 45 years old, is one of them. She has weaved mats for many years but has struggled because the bamboo needed for weaving can be quite expensive. She has often had to borrow high interest loans from other villagers in order to be able to af-ford the bamboo and other supplies needed. Sometimes she faced difficult times with little income, unable to run her business. Daw Myint Kyi could survive, but had no money to use for health purposes or save in case of an emergency.She joined the WORTH group in her village on February 9th, 2013. Her life changed quickly for the better as she was

able to easily access the financial resources needed for her business by borrowing funds from the group. First, she bor-rowed 20,000 kyats ($20 USD) with a three percent interest rate from the group fund. The low interest rate enabled her to make more profit from her business because the burden to pay back the loan was minimal. Eight weeks after she took out the loan, she began to make weekly payments and soon paid it off. Then, she took out a second loan to expand her business even more. Now, if she invests 10,000 kyats ($10 USD) to weave a mat, she makes 2,500 ($2.50 USD) in profit. Her income continues to grow enabling her to save money for her future.

her storyDaw Myint Kyi

Swan Yi Newsletter 4

On June 4th, Pact Myanmar joined its donor The Coca- Cola Foundation in celebrating the opening of the first Co-ca-Cola factory in Myanmar, in Hmaw Bi industrial zone on the outskirts of Yangon. The Coca-Cola Company says it aims to provide growth and development opportunities for the people of Myanmar. As part of this commitment, last year The Coca-Cola Foundation provided Pact with a 3 million dollar grant to implement Swan Yi a womens empowerment project targeting eight townships in the country. Swan Yi aims to empower nearly 25,000 Myanmar wom-en through village-based banking and microenterprise development. The project trains women on financial literacy, entrepreneurship and business management. Since

it commenced in July 2012, it has already provided train-ing to 10,000 women, some of whom have gone on to start microenterprises.

In attendance at the event were VIPs such as Coca-Co-las CEO Muhtar Kent, US Ambassador to Burma Derek Mitchell, former US Secretary of State Madeline Albright, Myanmar singer Sai Sai, Pacts CEO Mark Viso, and Pacts Regional Vice President Kurt Macleod. Also in attendance were two female Swan Yi beneficiaries from the Yangon urban region, Daw Nyo and Daw Hla Hla Htwe, who were selected based on their leadership qualities and successes expanding their businesses after taking out loans from their group banks.

Swan Yi featured at Coca-Cola Myanmar launch event

Swan Yi Newsletter 5

From June 5-11th, Swan Yi provided a Training of Train-er (TOT) session on how to run effective trainings for WORTH group Management Committees. It was provided to 19 WORTH Trainers and six Township Managers in Yangon. Each WORTH group is run by a democratically elected Management Committee that takes responsibility for the groups accounting system and ensures the growth

of the village bank. Swan Yi staff play an important role in providing a five-day training to Management Committee members in order to ensure standards and rules are in place to maintain transparency and accountability of the group. Trainings topics covered include how to open and close each banking cycle, keeping a bank ledger, managing funds and relations with group members.

staff capacity developmentTraining of Trainer (TOT) on WORTH Management Committees

Swan Yi Newsletter 6

For More Information

Ei Thinzar Min Min Oo Program Coordinator, Pact Myanmareioo@pactworld.org

Andrew MeauxSenior Program SpecialistWashigton, D.C. ameaux@pactworld.org

WOMEN IN 503 GROUPS

100%

50%

0%

step 1. community orientation workshops.

step 2. WORTH groups formed (mobilized).

step 3. training, roles and responsibilities of members and how to select group leaders.

step 4. management committees formed.

step 5. training, conduct vilage bank meeting and safe money handling.

step 6. introductory workshop, selling made simple books (SMS workshop).

step 7. training, saving.

step 8. training, loaning.

step 9. training, appreciative planning and action (APA) and building a strong group.

step 10. training, basic MC record keeping training.

step 11. management committee training (MCT).

step 12. road to wealth (RTW) introductory workshop.

10,935TOTAL SAVINGS (USD), 9 ,118 WOMEN SAVING WEEKLY

$73,022

SETS OF SELLING MADE SIMPLE MODULES DISTRIBUTED, TO 344 WORTH GROUPS

8,918MANAGEMENT COMMITTEES FORMED, WITH 1 ,544 MEMBERS

386

TOTAL LOANS (USD), 4 ,079 LOANS

$105,151

key Percentage increase over previous report.

Swan Yi Progress Toward Goals