Thousands learn about microcredit

ECLOF involved in WCC assembly

By Richard Pavlic*

*Richard Pavlic is a former staff member of ECLOF International in Geneva. He now lives and works in Brazil.

 

(From left) Muhungi Kanyoro, director of ECLOF with Bishop Adriel da Souza Maia, president of ECLOF Brazil (CEADE) and Prime Bishop Ignacio Soliba of the Episcopal Church in the Philippines, after the joint ECLOF/ICCO/OIKOCREDIT workshop on rural microcredit.

Speaking in Porto Alegre, Brazil, at the World Council of Churches (WCC) ninth assembly last February, ECLOF director Muhungi Kanyoro reported on ECLOF's successful attempts to increase lending and services to rural communities, despite the risks and high costs involved in such a policy. The ECLOF director explained that in ECLOF's 60th anniversary year, 60% of the agency's loans are now going to rural areas, with 30% focused on small-scale agricultural production and processing projects.

Transformation

The WCC choose “God, in Your Grace, Transform the World” as the theme for its Brazil assembly. In a variety of ways, ECLOF presented itself to the thousands who attended, and explained how ECLOF loans made available to those who cannot get credit from mainstream banks lead to the transformation of many poor people's lives.

Most people who attend a WCC assembly for the first time leave amazed and with a strengthened conviction that the ecumenical movement, which seeks the unity of the churches, is not just a concept but a reality to spread and live by the word of God. In many ways, a WCC assembly shows that this reality is present and functioning throughout the world, in all its immensity, complexity and diversity.

Worship, meetings and multirão

Rallying over one thousand official delegates from the four corners of the world, the assembly took stock of ecumenical activities since it last met in 1998 in Zimbabwe, and, following much discussion, set the course for the WCC's work until the next assembly in about seven years.

In addition to the delegates, an estimated 3,000 people were involved in other elements of the assembly, and many thousands of visitors came to see a host of exhibits and take part in many workshops, as well as worship and cultural events. The presence of such distinguished figures as Nobel laureate Bishop Desmond Tutu from South Africa, and the President of Brazil, Luis Inácio Lula da Silva, emphasised the significance of the assembly.

Each day, the assembly focused on an aspect of transformation: of our world, earth, societies, lives, churches and witness.

Multirão

Parallel to the constitutional side of the assembly, there was a multirão, which is a Brazilian word with indigenous roots, and means an occasion for people to come together and work for a common purpose. Through various activities, the multirão provided an opportunity for church members, ecumenical partners and civil society groups from around the world to develop the assembly theme. This took place through a massive and diverse exchange of information on a wide range of issues in a spirit of ecumenical sharing, celebration and learning.

ECLOF formed part of the multirão, in which it shared with others its ecumenical mission to provide fair credit for churches, sustainable communities and human development. Rather than participate in the multirão independently, ECLOF joined six other ecumenical organizations that work in similar circles, in a common booth area under the title, "Acting together - Transforming the world". This allowed the groups to make a greater impact, and also symbolically illustrated the ecumenical association and solidarity of the organizations while giving them space to illustrate and explain their individual identities and activities.

Rural microcredit workshop

In addition to a number of exhibition areas, the multirão provided the setting for workshops on the assembly theme and sub-themes. The workshops widened the scope of the assembly deliberations and helped guide the work of the many churches and ecumenical organizations taking part in the assembly.

ECLOF organized a panel workshop on rural microcredit in partnership with its sister, church-related credit institutions ICCO, the Dutch interchurch organization for development co-operation, and Oikocredit, which was one of the six ecumenical agencies with whom ECLOF shared the collective multirão stand.

Workshop panel members were Muhungi Kanyoro, director of ECLOF International, Tor Gull, executive director of Oikocredit, and Hans Brüning, international director of ICCO.

 

ICCO Hans Brüning gave an introduction to the increasing role of microcredit in development work and ICCO’s activities in this field. He highlighted the importance of sustainability, and emphasised that this was in line with the ecumenical family's principles of justice and dignity, rather than charity and subservience. The ICCO official also referred to rural credit, and said it was important to design appropriate credit products to support rural economies, despite the many challenges that included high transaction costs due to sparse populations, risks due to natural disasters, mainly on account of the weather, and lack of infrastructure and market access.

Young Dutch supporters of ICCO, one of ECLOF's partners, completed the ECLOF microcredit quiz at the multirão during the WCC assembly in Brazil.

ECLOF

ECLOF director Muhungi Kanyoro outlined the development of his agency, and spoke of the evolution of ECLOF as an ecumenical credit organization that now constitutes a partnership between churches and community organizations. Emphasising that the majority of ECLOF loans go to people in rural areas, Muhungi Kanyoro said that in addition to the difficulties mentioned by Hans Brüning, there were also risks arising from political instability and government interference.

Oikocredit

Tor Gull opened his remarks by defining microcredit and highlighting the differences between ECLOF and Oikocredit. Oikocredit traces its beginnings to a call at the 1968 WCC assembly for churches that invested in mainstream banks that might well channel their investments to Vietnam war industries or activities that support apartheid in South Africa, to have an alternative investment instrument, in the interests of the poor. Subsequently, in 1975, the Oikocredit Ecumenical Development Cooperative Society U.A. was established. Oikocredit is, in effect, an ethical bank and continues to provide a way to invest more in line with the social teaching of the church. Oikocredit is a privately owned and unique co-operative society, and today is one of the largest financiers of the microfinance sector worldwide, with more than 60% of its outstanding capital going to financial intermediaries, so-called microfinance institutions (MFIs).

Brazil and Philippines

Bishop Adriel de Souza Maia of the Methodist Church in Brazil, and president of ECLOF Brazil (CEADE), outlined to the workshop details of CEADE's work with rural communities and the challenges this poses.

Prime Bishop Ignacio Soliba of the Episcopal Church in the Philippines, and a member of the ECLOF Philippines board, pointed out how ECLOF Philippines had also branched out into rural areas. He also mentioned that the country's churches are challenging ECLOF to extend its work to rural parishes. Prime Bishop Ignacio Soliba said that, significantly, the Filipino churches are committed to ECLOF's mission and have demonstrated this by lending ECLOF Philippines US$222,000, with the Prime Bishop’s own church having contributed US$185,000.

A spirited dialogue between the audience and panellists touched on a number of issues, such as writing off loans in the case of a disaster like the December 2004 tsunami, supporting local co-operatives, traditional savings and credit associations, and capacity training for microcredit clients.