ProjectCASSA

Our Goal
Our goal is to create a sustainable revenue source for these villages that could help employ some of the women in these conditions. We hope to accomplish this through a small loan given to the village which would be used to buy goats, raise them, breed them and take care of them and then use goat milk and meat to pay back the loan, employ the women and be able to have the women eventually buy their own goats and become self employed entrepreneurs. We chose goats because of their significance in African culture. In Ghana goats are used as a dowry, for meat in traditional foods and as a source of milk and cheese. This threefold use of goats will ensure there is always a market for goats and goat products in Ghana. When the women make their profits from the goats and pay back their loan, that money will be reinvested in another village continuing the cycle of upward mobility for the poorest in Africa.

Our Current Project
Our project is based in the country of Ghana in the district of Hohoe. Our first loan in Ghana is in a Village called Leklebi Agbesia. Leklebi is a small farming village about two hours outside of the provincial capital of Ho. It relies on agriculture and tourism as its main sources of revenue. One of our members traveled to Leklebi to do community building there in the summer of 2006 and thus ProjectCASSA was born.

The situation in Leklebi can look bleak for some of the poorest residents. Most of the villagers live on less then 5 dollars a day and in the Patriarchal, agrarian society it is even harder to get work if you are a female without any land to take care of or any skill to utilize. As a last resort many unskilled female laborers turn to activates such as breaking rocks to scrape together a living. When the rocks are broken small particles are thrown into the air and inhaled by the women, these particles can cause emphysema and other respiratory ailments for the women who break them. Many times breaking rocks becomes the only means of survival for young children or widows without any family to take care of them. Girls can be as young as 9 when they start breaking rocks.

Why MicroFinance?
Microfinance provides a means for those that have the vision and drive to improve the economy to do so, on their own, in a sustainable way. In many cases, people simply need a bit of initial aid to get started. While Charity is a one time stimulus that is quickly depleted and often ineffective, Micro finance depends on the motivation of the borrower to make their own way and each loan is recycled. So we can use the same 100 dollars donated to us in one village and when its paid back invest it in another village.

Why Should I Believe in ProjectCASSA?
We are trying to create a small source of revenue in a town that we are invested in. We will never become a large multi-million dollar NGO, we want to make small sustainable changes in villages, each loan we give out we will live and breath that loan, the situation in that village, and what needs to be done to make sure that that loan is a success. As American cultural anthropologist Margaret Mead said “Never underestimate the power of a small group of committed people to change the world. In fact, it is the only thing that ever has.”