Financial education

Financial education is not only important for investors but is becoming essential for the average family trying to balance its budget, fund the education of their children, save to buy a car or afford a house or plan for retirement. Nowadays, a wide range of options are offered to people to borrow and save money but if the person is not financially educated, he can choose an option which will have a terrible impact on his life and family. Moreover pensions are being shifted to workers and away from government and employers.

The Village Microclinic empowers individuals with financial education to allow them save and challenge financial service providers to develop products that they truly need for their investment and economic growth.

Le développement économique

The Village Microclinic a adopté un programme d’une année pour graduer afin de contribuer à la réduction de l’extrême pauvreté. Le programme offre à un groupe de 3 entrepreneurs un capital de base, la formation et le mentorat continu par un un entrepreneur local. 10 groupement de 3 entrepreneurs chacun se mettent ensemble pour constituer des groupes de solidarité et d’épargne et crédit pour leur permettre d’avoir accès à la croissance du capital, offrir un cadre sain et sécurisé pour réaliser l’épargne et constituer un capital social.

La formation : La formation est basée sur un cursus de 16 sessions couvrant les thèmes suivant : la planification et la gestion du business, la maintenance des données, marketing, la gestion de l’épargne et crédit, le suivi et l’évaluation du business. Un mentor du business local dirige les sessions de formation pour un groupement de 30 participants. A la fin de la formation des groupements de 3 personnes sont mis sur pied. Chaque groupement rédige un plan d’affaires et commence le business ensemble.

Octroi du capital : Après la formation initiale chaque groupement reçoit un capital initial de 100 Dollars américains (environ 200 000FBU) pour commencer leur entreprise. Un complément du capital équivalent à la moitié du premier montant est fourni après 6 mois de fonctionnement. L’octroi du second montant est conditionné par un bon usage du premier capital et la participation régulière dans  activités d’épargne. Mentorat : Les mentors du business ainsi que les coordinateurs de terrain sont recrutés localement et fournissent un accompagnement et un coaching continu des groupes de business. Ils assurent le suivi du fonctionnement des groupes de business, l’usage du capital, offrent des conseils et suggestion sur les défis rencontrés.

Economic Development

The Village Microclinic has adopted a one-year graduation program to contribute to end extreme poverty. The program provides groups of three entrepreneurs with seeds capital, training and ongoing mentorship by a local business mentor. Business groups are organized into business saving groups of 30 entrepreneurs (10 business groups) to allow access to growth capital, provide a safe place for savings, and build social capital.

Training: The training is based on 16 sessions including the following topics: business planning and management, records keeping, marketing, savings and loans management, monitoring and evaluation of business.  A businessmentor leads the training for a group of 30 participants. At the end of the training, small groups of 3 persons each are made. Each small group writes a business plan and starts a small business together.

Capital grant:  Three months after the beginning of the training, each small business group receive an initial grant of around USD 100 (around 200,000 BIF) to start their enterprise. A second grant equivalent of the half of the first amount is provided six months later. The second grant is conditional on the group’s proper use of the start-up capital and regular participation in the saving groups.

Mentoring: business mentors as well as field coordinators are recruited locally and provide ongoing mentorship and coaching to the business groups. They monitor how the small business groups use their capital, give them advice and suggestions on the challenges they face.

Community Public Health Outreaches

The Village Microclinic considers health more broadly than lack of illness. The Village Microclinic is aware that health is highly influenced by the conditions in which we live and work and our illnesses start long before we go to see a medical doctor. The Village Microclinic educates our communities to understand and consider health as something which starts in our communities, churches, schools, offices long before we go to consult a medical doctor.

 The Village Microclinic has implemented a five step process to recruit, train, equip, manage, and pay talented community members to provide lifesaving healthcare and services to their neighbors. Community health workers support their community through: community education on prevention of Diabetes, High Blood Pressure, malnutrition, HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and neglected tropical diseases; home visits to support persons living with HIV, Diabetes, High Blood Pressure, malnutrition and neglected tropical diseases.

In Burundi, most families have to walk many kilometers on foot to reach the nearest health facility. The Village Microclinic organizes mobile clinics on a regular basis to reach out the communities we serve in our medical hubs. Mobile clinics offer a variety of services including: low cost medical consultations, non invasive low cost screening tests, health education, lifesaving medicines, emergency transportation, free screening of diabetes, hypertension and HIV.

Adult health

The Village Microclinic offers a wide range of medical services to adult including prevention and management of communicable diseases, laboratory services, preventive services and pharmacy.