SAFOD

Southern Africa Federation of the Disabled

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Poverty Alleviation Strategy (PAST)

Assists persons with disabilities to engage in self-help activities by giving them appropriate training in business management and providing advisory services on how to secure financing and/or loans for their businesses or projects.

Since 1996 SAFOD run a revolving loan fund system with the support of several donor organizations under the name Small Scale Enterprises and Economic Development Programme (SEED). Disabled people in the SAFOD member countries could come up with a business idea and could get a loan with low interests and a long term period to pay back. Even the bay back moral was not very good, some National Assemblies now have funds left for further beneficiaries.

In 2004 SAFOD started to restructure its oldest Regional Development Programme. A SEED-Coordinator Workshop in April in Gaborone, Botswana paved the way to restructure SEED into a Poverty Alleviation Strategy (PAST) for People with Disabilities in Southern Africa.
The new decentralized Poverty Alleviation Strategy is owned and driven by the National Assemblies, the National Executive Committees and the National Secretariats.

The National Assemblies will put in place a Coordinating Committee including representatives of their member organizations. The NA will create Trust Funds at national level, where the loans are coming from. SAFOD will be involved in the training and in training of trainers. And SAFOD will monitor the PAST programme on biannual basis and whenever the need arises and will participate in the evaluation of the national programmes.
 

After giving loans monitoring is necessary to keep the business running: SEED officer Phillimon Simwaba (left) and SAFOD Finance Officer Modicai Gumbo (second from right) on their country visit in Zambia in 2003 monitoring the national projects.