Provide financial support tailored to women in situations of extreme poverty and risk of exclusion, so they can start businesses and gain autonomy.
Relieve the family burden they bear and promote equal opportunities for them and their children.
Improve the social status of women, giving them decision-making power over their lives and those of their children, even in vulnerable situations such as widowhood.
Train women in basic financial and social matters, strengthening their skills to manage businesses and their daily lives.
Burkina Faso is one of the poorest countries in the world and, in neighborhoods like Rimkieta—one of the most disadvantaged areas in the capital, Ouagadougou—social exclusion especially affects women. When they become widows, many lose their belongings and even custody of their children, who are seen as part of the husband’s family inheritance. Without access to the microfinance system, they lack the minimum resources to start a business and gain autonomy.
To address this situation, since 2007 the Amigos de Rimkieta Foundation has been granting microcredits to women living in extreme poverty, in order to boost their personal and professional development. These loans allow them to start small businesses such as selling food, vegetables, or charcoal, or working as weavers, promoting their independence and equal opportunities.
The program includes organizing women into groups, offering commission-free savings accounts, and two months of training in financial management, health, and civil rights. So far, more than 1,560 microcredits have been granted, with a repayment rate of 99%. Thanks to these loans, many women have been able to support their families, improve their social status, and ensure their children’s education.
Informative sessions for women in the neighborhood to explain the project and encourage them to form a group.
Two months of mandatory training on financial topics (microcredit management, saving, sales) and social topics (health, family, cohesion, and solidarity).
After training, requesting individual microcredits, recording them on follow-up sheets, and evaluating each request monthly, offering guidance if not approved.
Monthly meetings to review the progress of the loans and reinforce the training received.
Granting loans of about €115 on average, to be repaid over one year and reinvested into new microcredits, benefiting between 200 and 300 women per year.
Women living in extreme poverty and social exclusion in the Rimkieta neighborhood—a very impoverished area of Ouagadougou, the capital of Burkina Faso—who have no access to the conventional microfinance system of Burkina Faso.
Amigos de Rimkieta (link)