UYUI District Council has disbursed loans worth 135m/- to women, youth and people with disabilities in response to the government’s directives to all councils to set aside 10 per cent of their revenues to these groups.
Handing over the cheque recently, the District Executive Director, Mr Hemed Magaro said that loan beneficiary groups in 2020/2021 were 23 women, which received 135m/-, 13 of youth (89.5m/-) and one of the people with disabilities (13m/-).
“Today, we are giving only 135m/-. The other amount was given in December last year. It means that in this financial year, the Council has already offered a total of 237.5m/-,” said the DED.
The beneficiaries of the loan scheme in Uyui were 230 women, 130 youth, 13 people with disabilities wherein the recorded advantages include an increase in households’ income and expansion of investment capital.
Stabilization of economic projects and expansion of entrepreneurship activities were also part of the recorded success of loan beneficiaries, with many families being able to have three meals a day, he said.
“They have been proving that they are also able to provide school materials to their children, afford health services expenses, building modern residencies as well as acquiring more capital to invest in village community Banking (Vicoba),” he said.
However, the major challenge is that many beneficiaries have been failing to timely pay back the loans while the demand is higher than the Council’s budget, affirmed Mr Magaro.
As ways forward, he said, the Council conducts regular entrepreneurship education and makes the follow-ups to loaners, for in timely payback to serve as many needy as possible.
A loan beneficiary, Ms Saada Isiaka, urged his fellows to allocate the loans as per intended purposes, for not only personal economic gain but also timely loan payback.
“These loans are typically unconditional aid because of no interest, we should therefore be faithful and honest,” said the beneficiary.