Director's message

Four years ago, while reviewing loan applications from one of the national ECLOF committees, we noticed an increase in the number of dependants, mainly children, among young families.

In one group that had received an ECLOF loan but was having problems with repayments, we discovered that some of the members had died from unspecified causes. This had affected the overall group performance. Further detailed study revealed the same was true in a number of other countries where ECLOF works. It turned out the cause of the deaths was related to HIV/AIDS.

ECLOF Zimbabwe (ZECLOF) quickly responded to this situation and successfully piloted a scheme to mitigate the effects on those infected and affected by HIV/AIDS. In this issue, we share ZECLOF's experience, as well as other HIV/AIDS-related work by our partners. We hope that national ECLOF committees elsewhere will follow Zimbabwe's example.

Our lead article is a presentation made by Mr. V. Chandar Rao on information technology and microfinance at the EurAsia/Pacific regional workshop. The need for appropriate software to manage a credit programme has been a focus of discussion in the ECLOF network for some time. Some have spent considerable amounts changing from one software package to another but have yet to discover the ideal one! Mr. Rao's advice included: identify and specify your needs, and determine your priorities; do not try to reinvent the wheel; verify software developers' claims by speaking to those who have used their products; there is no software that will answer all your needs.

We are also delighted to publish highlights of the new EurAsia/Pacific regional workshop, hosted by ECLOF India, as well as visits to ECLOF India clients.

You will also find details of ECLOF Ghana's new loan product to support women in their traditional fish processing businesses. We share the success of small scale farmers from Zimbabwe; this demonstrates that ECLOF continues to focus on providing credit to women, and for food production. It is worth recalling that a 2001 external evaluation of our global programme said, "The profits made from economic activities are used principally to maintain the family . buy food, pay school fees and take care of medical problems."

Muhungi Kanyoro