New members
Daw Aye Kywe has joined the ECLOF Geneva board on behalf of the NEC Asia/Pacific constituency. She is general secretary of the Myanmar YWCA; three years ago she became its representative on the ECLOF Myanmar board. Daw Aye specialises in the conception and implementation of community development programmes. She holds a degree in economics and lives in Yangon.

Jessika Kehl-Lauff is a representative of ECLOF’s Swiss constituency. She comes from a rural and traditional part of Switzerland where women did not win the right to vote in local elections until 1989. This probably explains why Jessika decided to take up the cause of women’s rights, particularly those of rural women. She began by taking a law degree from Basel University in Switzerland. She next established a successful and respected network and was then elected as a judge by the all-male parliament. Since then, she has twice been elected by a popular vote in her home canton of Appenzell as a judge of the Court of Appeals. As well as being active within her church at local regional and international levels, Jessika is a member of the board and permanent representative of the International Alliance of Women. She has spent two years in the Republic of Gabon where she helped develop a pre-school programme, and currently chairs the Swiss support group of a Zimbabwean NGO that promotes rural pre-school and health programmes.

Guillaume Taylor also represents the Swiss constituency on the board. He is from a British/US/Swiss family and was educated in Switzerland and the United States of America. Guillaume is now a professional banker; previously he worked as a financial correspondent for a leading French daily newspaper. He lives in Geneva, is a member of the Swiss Protestant Church and vice-president of St. Pierre Cathedral.



Elly Vandenberg is an independent development consultant and a member of the United Church of Canada. She is no stranger to ecumenism and has worked overseas with both churches and non-governmental organisations, and in Canada for over 10 years with the relief and development fund of the Anglican Church. Elly joins the board as a representative in the churches category.

Re-election
Joy Lumbag has been re-elected to serve on the board for a second and final term. She represents the NEC constituency from the Asia/Pacific region. At the same time, Joy was elected to the executive committee and projects committee. She lives in Baguio City in the Philippines and is a member of the Indigenous Peoples community of the Cordillera region. Joy is a professional accountant and runs her own consultancy firm. She also heads a non-governmental organisation that meets the housing needs of the poor. She recently became the treasurer of ECLOF Philippines having previously served as secretary. Over the years, ECLOF has greatly benefited from Joy’s eclectic and pragmatic talents.

Retirement
Israel Paulraj, chairperson of ECLOF Sri Lanka, recently retired from the Geneva board. He had served since his election in 1995. In a letter, the board chairman, Rev. Dr Christoph Stückelberger thanked Israel on behalf of the board and staff for his contribution to the work of ECLOF not only during board discussions but also as a member of the projects committee. He wrote, “Both as a member of the board and projects committee, you were among the first to return your ballot papers without fail whenever voting was required, thus greatly facilitating the work of the projects committee. From the record, you attended all the board meetings since you joined the board!”

The Colombian government, through privately owned entities known as Cajas de Compensación, offers loans to members of the cajas who are in social need and wish to buy low cost housing.

To qualify for a loan, applicants have to be a family unit with a monthly income of up to four times the official minimum salary and must not own a house already.
Once the loan has been approved it can take up to four months for the money to reach the successful applicants and can mean an even longer delay in the construction of a house.

This is where ECLOF Colombia can intervene by granting a bridging loan to solidarity groups made up of people who have applied for government housing loans. An ECLOF loan enables people to complete the construction of their new home and begin to enjoy the benefits of living in decent accommodation.

The new houses are located in gated communities and, although simple, have basic utilities including drinking water, electricity, gas and telephone. There are good roads and recreational areas. Previously, the residents lived in dangerous squatter areas without public services or roads but where nevertheless up to 60% of their monthly salaries went on rent.

Over 70 families have so far benefited from ECLOF’s bridging loans. Young married couples, each with two children, make up half of this number and almost 60% of recipients are women.

In addition, new homes lead to new employment. It is estimated that one job is created for every 50 square metres of social-need housing built.

Olga Lucia Alvarez is Executive Director of ECLOF Colombia.

ECLOF Colombia’s most recent initiative to maintain its programme in particularly difficult economic conditions is in the context of local fund raising. On the basis of its performance, ECLOF Colombia has qualified for a low interest government financing arrangement for lending specifically to micro enterprises to enable them to develop their productive activities. In theory, ECLOF Colombia could use this line of credit for up to a maximum of COP120 million (approx. US$60,000) and can apply for extensions on a yearly basis.

Manila workshop
Since 1977, the Christian Conference of Asia (CCA), in co-operation with EZE, has operated a community based savings and micro credit program. Under the aegis of CCA’s Development and Service desk, the programme works at village level. It promotes people’s participation, and supports self-help and sustainable development.

In June of this year, the CCA ran a workshop in Manila, Philippines, to evaluate the programme and explore strategies to improve it. Around 25 people attended from nine Asian countries. ECLOF Philippines organised field visits to micro finance projects for workshop members.

A final statement from the workshop called on the churches to participate actively in community development through community based savings and credit programmes.