12180: Fonkoze e-newsletter #12: Building Economic Democracy in Haiti (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Fonkoze News <fonkozenews@yahoo.com>

Greetings from Fonkoze, Haiti's Alternative Bank for
the Organized Poor. We seek to build the economic
foundations for democracy in Haiti by offering
essential financial and educational services to
Haiti's organized poor. Our particular focus is
providing these services to women and rural citizens.

In this e-newsletter, please find an excerpt from a
survey conducted jointly by Fonkoze and Concern
Worldwide in Saut D'eau, Haiti:

RURAL HAITIANS SHARE THEIR OWN IDEAS ON WHAT IT MEANS
TO BE "POOR"

This excerpt summarizes the results of a series of
interviews with rural Haitians in which they are asked
to define the characteristics of "small", "medium" and
"large" merchants in their area. They also define
their ideas of families that are "low", "middle" and
"high" in terms of wealth.

This piece is the first part of a two-part series.
Next month's article will discuss the new loan product
Fonkoze and Concern have designed for the poorest of
the poor.

To subscribe or unsubscribe to this newsletter, please
click the subscribe link on our website:
http://www.fonkoze.org

If you would like to learn how you can support
Fonkoze, to join our postal mailing list, or to
receive other information, please contact:

Fonkoze USA
PO Box 53144
Washington, DC  20009
(202) 667-1277
fonkozeusa@cs.com
______________________________________

RURAL HAITIANS SHARE THEIR OWN IDEAS ON WHAT IT MEANS
TO BE "POOR"

The following excerpt is from a survey entitled
"Environment for Microfinance Survey in Saut D'eau and
Mirebalais". It was conducted between November, 2001
and January, 2002.

It defines in the eyes of residents of one rural
Haitian community what makes a merchant (trader)
small, medium, or large, and what makes a family poor,
medium, or rich. It is not intended to serve as a
conclusive definition, but rather to give insight into
how rural Haitians perceive their environment. Fonkoze
clients would likely include individuals from all of
the categories below.

"Capital" refers to the total amount of money people
have invested in their business or commerce. All
amounts have been translated to US dollars at 27
gourdes = $1 US:

CHARACTERISTICS OF TRADERS - as in Saut D'eau, the way
people characterize small, medium and large depends on
their experience but in general can be defined as
follows:

Large Traders:
- sell in large quantities (e.g. bucket of cooking
oil, sack of rice, box of washing powder, box of dry
fish, sack of sugar) and occasionally in small
quantities
- sell a wide range of products
- have a large stock (e.g. many sacks of rice, drums
of cooking oil, boxes of dry fish)
- sell to small and medium traders, sometimes on
credit
- capital ranges from US$370 to US$5,555

Medium Traders:
- buy in large quantities to resell in smaller
quantities (e.g. rice by the can, cooking oil by the
gallon, washing soap by the bar)
-buy on credit from large traders and repay them at
the end of the day
-capital ranges from US$111 - US$740

Small Traders:
- sell merchandise from a small wooden tray or basket
- sell in small amounts (e.g. a few stock cubes, half
a gallon of kerosene, and produce from the garden)
- buy and sell in the same market
- women stated that capital ranges from US$7 - US$28;
men stated that capital ranges from US$55 - US$185

WEALTH CHARACTERISTICS - these are relative to
people's experience, but in general rich, medium, and
poor people are characterized (by rural Haitians) as
follows:

Rich:
- Housing - brick or concrete walls and tin roof,
large house with about 4 rooms
- Assets - refrigerator, gas stove (no oven), large
bed with mattress, lots of utensils, big radio, lots
of gold jewelry (in town also a TV, fan, carpet)
- Animals - chickens, pigs, goats, mules, donkey, cow
(not necessarily all at once)
- Employment - employ people to work in the house and
care for animals
- Usually have children studying in the US or
relatives who send money

Medium:
- Housing - concrete block house with tin roof, very
small, maybe two rooms
- Assets - charcoal stove, small radio, utensils,
small bed with a mattress, usually inherited land with
no title, TV (in town)
- Animals - chickens, pig, goats, mule, maybe a cow

Poor:
- Housing - mud wall and floor, thatch roof
- Assets - bed made of branches / sleeping mat, 1
small cooking pot, 1 cup, 1 coffee pot, not many
plates or utensils, no stove (cooking is on the
ground)
- Animals - chickens and maybe goats
- Employment - daily labor or farming for large
landowners

>From this information along with other information
gathered in the survey, Fonkoze is working to design a
loan product for "small traders" and "poor" families
as defined above. That product will be the topic of
next month's newsletter.















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