SUDAN / WOMEN MICROFINANCE

In October 2017, the United States lifted a raft of sanctions on Sudan ending two decades of restrictions on international banking transactions. Three months on, there is optimism that a flow of cash within the country will boost a finance scheme designed to benefit the poorest of the poor with rural women among the most disadvantaged. IFAD

• Categories: News & Features / News Stories / Unifeed
• Video Length: 00:03:50
• Production Date: 31 January 2018
• Asset Language: Arabic
• Corporate Name: INTERNATIONAL FUND FOR AGRICULTURAL DEVELOPMENT - IFAD
• Subject Topical: AGRICULTURE; MICRO-FINANCING; WOMEN
• Geographic Subject: SUDAN
• MAMS Id: 2084335
• Parent Id: 2084335
• Alternate Title: unifeed180131b

Description

STORY: SUDAN / WOMEN MICROFINANCE
TRT: 03:50
SOURCE: IFAD TV
RESTRICTION: NONE
LANGUAGE: ARABIC / NATS

DATELINE: 19-23 DECEMBER 2017, NORTH KORDOFAN, SUDAN

Shotlist

1. Med shot, bucket tumbling down well
2. Wide shot, people getting water from well
3. Wide shot, donkey pulling cart
4. Med shot, sheep
5. Wide shot, woman walking towards sheep
6. Wide shot, woman grazing sheep
7. Wide shot, woman in field harvesting hibiscus
8. Close up, woman’s hands harvesting hibiscus
9. Wide shot, ABSUMI office, woman walking out of door
10. Wide shot, Agricultural Bank of Sudan
11. Wide shot, goats
12. Med shot, woman taking money out of purse and giving it to another woman
13. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Atika Amin, Community Development & Gender Officer:
“ABSUMI focuses on women because women’s access to finance is not as easy as for men. Women are keen to repay on time. The investments by women are always for the good of the family as a whole.”
14. Wide shot, Village Savings and Credit Group (VSCG) meeting
15. Med shot, women at VSCG
16. Med shot, women at VSCG with Credit Officer (wearing pink headscarf)
17. Close up, money being counted (by Buthaina Ahmed Ibrahim)
18. Med shot, Buthaina Ahmed Ibrahim counting money
19. Med shot, women at VSCG
20. Med shot, Buthaina handing over money to Credit Officer
21. Close up, money being counted by Credit Officer
22. Med shot, Buthaina sweeping
23. Med shot, Buthaina picking up basket of sesame seeds
24. Med shot, Buthaina pouring sesame seeds into sieve and seeds being sieved
25. Close up, sesame seeds being shaken in basket
26. Med shot, Buthaina in kitchen
27. Close up, onions being stirred in cooking pot
28. Wide shot, children running out of house
29. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Buthaina Ahmed Ibrahim, Farmer:
“I now know how to save money and use the money. I participate in decision-making and I now have confidence in myself.”
30. Close up, broom sweeping sesame
31. Med shot Buthaina sweeping sesame
32. SOUNDBITE(Arabic) Mohammed Youssif El Nour, Programme Principal Coordinator:
“Definitely, the lifting of US sanctions on Sudan will help the banks to get more capital and to get more money and this in turn will increase the ceiling of microfinance and this will enable more women to be provided with financial services in Sudan.”
33. Close up, Buthaina
34. Med shot, Buthaina thrashing sesame
35. Wide shot, Buthaina and man thrashing sesame

Storyline

Twenty years of isolation have had a devastating effect on Sudan, with the rural poor the hardest hit.

In October last year, the United States lifted various sanctions - including restrictions on international banking transactions – which have raised hopes for the expansion of a micro-finance scheme which has already helped 30,000 rural women access funds to build their businesses.

Called ABSUMI, the scheme was set up seven years ago by the Agricultural Bank of Sudan with support from the Central Bank of Sudan and the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD). It was a radical step as banks rarely venture into rural areas and few rural people have bank accounts.

SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Atika Amin, Community Development & Gender Officer:
ABSUMI focuses on women because it is much harder for women to access finance than it is for men. Also, women are good at repaying loans on time and they reinvest the money they make for the good of the family.

Villlage Savings and Credit Groups are a cornerstone of the ABSUMI scheme. There are now more than 2,000 in Sudan.

Group members can apply for loans of between 150 and 1,200 USD.

If anyone defaults on a repayment, other group members must repay for them - or lose access to future loans. So far, almost 100% have been repaid.

Six years ago Buthaina Ahmed Ibrahim had no earnings and no collateral to get a bank loan to start a business. She has now taken out six ABSUMI loans in as many years.

Today she is a successful sesame farmer with her production and income increasing every year, enabling her to extend her house and pay for her children’s school fees.

SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Buthaina Ahmed Ibrahim, Farmer:
“I now know how to save money and use the money. I participate in decision-making and I now have confidence in myself.”

The lifting of the embargo on Sudan has boosted hopes for the scheme’s future.

SOUNDBITE(Arabic) Mohammed Youssif El Nour, Programme Principal Coordinator:
“Definitely, the lifting of US sanctions on Sudan will help the banks to get more capital and to get more money and this in turn will increase the ceiling of microfinance and this will enable more women to be provided with financial services in Sudan.”

By 2025, the aim is for ABSUMI loans to reach a million rural women and their families - giving hundreds of thousands more women like Buthaina opportunities they would never have had before.