Today was spent doing paperwork, meeting with officials, and generally getting ready for visits.  One key item we did was to go over to the regional Joint SACCOS officer and complete the registration by picking up the certificate and signing for it.  It has taken us 8 months to get this registration.  Still, we are the only one granted in the past two years - so I guess we are lucky.

What we are doing is forming a micro finance structure that can grow and support the villages.  At the village level are Savings and Credit Cooperative Societies - or SACCOS.  These then join a Joint SACCOS that gives them direction, training, etc.  Think of the Joint SACCOS (named Iringa Hope) as a central bank and the village SACCOS as a local branch bank.  We are doing this so we can help the local SACCOS develop good management practices and grow their services to include things beyond lending.  We are also working to ensure that in the future, when the SACCOS are big enough, we will have a structure that can borrow money at lower rates from other sources (maybe from KIVA for example).

We also have developed our visit schedule some more.  Right now we are planning on visiting one village per day, six days a week, for the next 4+ weeks!  If the rains hold off and the truck don't break, we may actually be able to do this!

Our Registration Certificate!!!

The First Page Of Our Visit Schedule!