Efforts to Mitigate the Impact of AIDS on Clients, Households and Enterprises

This paper discusses the village savings and lending scheme, called Kupfuma Ishungu, fielded by CARE International in Zimbabwe. This program promoted self-managed credit and savings services among poor people in the provinces hardest hit by HIV/AIDS.

The paper describes the programs:

• Target group;
• Methodology;
• Design concepts;
• Processes and steps in implementation;
• Positive outcomes;
• Indicators for monitoring performance;
• Challenges and lessons learnt.

Further, the paper states that:

• Microenterprise development services can help families impacted by HIV/AIDS to cover basic expenses, ensure the well-being of the children in their care, increase income and build savings;
• MFIs need to understand their clients' realities in order to develop demand-driven innovations that protect the institution, while serving the clients;
• Sharing information about current initiatives and sound practices in the microenterprise industry and the HIV/AIDS field should lead to a better understanding of the economic impact of this diseases on households.

In conclusion, the document states that the purpose of this series is to describe a variety of micro enterprise services that:

• Reach deeply into the poor socio-economic strata of a given community/ geographical area;
• Enable its clients to plan for future crisis, improve income flows, enhance profitability of economic activities, and avoid selling productive assets.