Five Talents, a Christian development organisation supporting microfinance, has joined a consortium of organisations from the Christian micro-enterprise development (CMED) industry to fund a micro-credit program in Southern Sudan. The village banking initiative in the Wau Diocese was started in 2005, providing adult education, local savings mobilization, business development training, small business development investing and rural micro-credit provision.
The other members of the consortium include World Concern and World Relief from the USA, as well as the Strømme Foundation and Integra Foundation, both from Scandinavia, who are all Christian non-profit NGOs operating in international development.
Five Talents has provided funding, consulting, or training for micro-entrepreneurs in 14 countries in the world since operations began in September 1999. Loans have typically ranged from USD 50 to 300, each financing a microbusiness that, in turn, supports up to six other people. The organization had 10,000 clients in 2006.
In 2005 it was reported in the Christian Science Monitor that the Oxford Center for Mission Studies in Britain claimed that there were 1,200 CMED organizations operating among two-thirds of the world’s population. The Christian Transformation Resource Center in the Philippines reckoned that was up from 505 in 2001 and that by 2025, the number of Christian development organizations, most of which offer microloans, is expected to grow by 75 percent.
Amy Rennison, MicroCapital writer
Additional Sources:
Five Talents Press release:
http://www.fivetalents.org/content.asp?pl=423&contentid=551
Christian News Wire:
http://www.christiannewswire.com/news/623024865.html
Christian Science Monitor
http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/0512/p01s03-woaf.html
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