Meet ECLOF Clients

Sustainable, human development requires more than just financial assistance or a loan; it also requires a lending strategy and policies rooted in the concept of community.

- ECLOF feels a strong solidarity with peasant farmers because:
- they make up the poorest sector of the population in most countries;
- they have the most restricted access to credit;
- their way of life constitutes the traditional fabric of community, with roots in the family as the basic unit of society and production.

Two examples of ECLOF loan strategy:

Zimbabwe

Bolivia

ECLOF helps Zimbabwean small-scale farmers

ECLOF Zimbabwe (ZECLOF) has taken the decisive step to extend the outreach of its activities to the peasant family farming sector in the country. This move began through the encouragement of the Zimbabwe Farmers' Union (ZFU). ZFU is made up of peasant farmers, most of who have been on their lands since voluntary distribution took place after independence and have no intention of moving to new land.

Members of the KMMMMT Association of the Zimbabwe Farmers' Union. Their ECLOF loan averaged the equivalent of US$288 each. The farmers used the money to buy inputs for their small-scale farms.

The partnership between the two organisations was forged when ZFU members could no longer get agricultural credit from a Zimbabwean parastatal organisation after it was converted into a commercial bank.

True to its philosophy that credit is but one instrument to development, ZECLOF was also highly amenable to the undertaking because there was yet another partner called the Zimbabwe Farmers' Development Trust (ZFDT). The ZFDT is a service organisation that works with the ZFU to provide ZFU members with technical assistance and training.

ZECLOF, ZFU and ZFDT are now commonly referred to as the “3Zs”. They work together to foster closer and more direct ties with ZFU members by providing co-ordinated and comprehensive responses to problems that go beyond the provision of credit.

The 3Zs partnership came at a particularly unstable moment in Zimbabwe's political and economic life. With maize prices frozen by the government, tensions rising over demands for land and the political climate worsening, the 3Zs provided established small holders with the financial and technical support they needed to stay together and to be productive in relative stability.

Building community and self-reliance among peasant women in Bolivia

ECLOF Bolivia has helped to establish community banks for peasant women, who are one of the most economically marginalized sectors of the country's population.

Each community bank is self-managed, with elected officers, and maintains a self-sustainable system of credit

To qualify for a loan, women must form themselves into groups of at least three and sign for the loan jointly and separately. They are required to save a small amount with their community bank every month, but can withdraw the cash, with interest, at any time. The banks entrust ECLOF Bolivia with the savings to lend back to other bank members in order to finance their micro-enterprise projects.

In this undertaking, ECLOF Bolivia has partnered with CARE International, which is responsible for training the women and providing them with technical support.

The president and treasurer of the newly formed peasant women's community bank in Ancoraimes, Bolivia (near Lake Titicaca) disburse first step ECLOF group loans amounting to US$ 80 per member.

This system of community banks not only offers a source of accessible and affordable capital for women, but it also enables them to have a source of pride in their ability to achieve credit self-reliance, manage their own affairs, work together in community and take decisions independently and democratically.

ECLOF Bolivia, like all national ECLOF committees, gives small-scale group loans in increasing increments rather than one large sum. Group members cannot access the next higher loan amount until all the members have repaid their part of the current group loan. Individual members can decide if they want to continue up the scale or stop at any time. This process provides intensive and practical training in credit, financial planning and decision making. (See “Credit Steps” below.)

ECLOF Bolivia
Solidarity Group Loan Program
Credit Steps