Vicoba improve rural livelihood

Dar es Salaam. Kilwa residents are happy with village community banks (Vicoba), saying they have improved their living standards.

They say vicoba have helped them pay school fees for their children as well as buy quality seeds and fertilisers.

According to Somanga villager Nassoro Makinda, who joined Vicoba in 2009, he has also been able to contribute Sh10,000 annually to the Community Health Fund (CHF) for six members of a household.

He has also been paying fees for his four schooling children.

CHFs were established by the government in support of the World Bank to enable communities to contribute to their health care costs. “This has help villagers to get medical care on time,” Mr Makinda said.

Jitegemee Vicoba chairperson Mwanaidi Juma is happy that she has set up a business, which has raised her income.

She pays school fees for her two children and supports her family.

Group member Mwanahawa Salum, has been able to operate a number of small-scale businesses since she joined the Vicoba four years ago.

“I have a grocery which generates money for buying food, medicine and foot other expenses. Before, my family wholly depended on my husband for a living.”

She called upon women to join Vicoba to improve their living. “They should stop believing that Vicoba are the work of Freemasons and therefore satanic. That’s not the case.”

However, she is sad that many low-income Tanzanians have no business education. “The government and private organisations have to conduct a series of training on business administration,” she proposed.

Recently, the Fisheries Co-Management Project executant for the World Wildlife Fund in Lindi, Mr Thomas Chale, visited Kilwa to assess the achievements made since Vicoba were introduced in the area in 2009.

With once poor villagers enjoying good life, the project is doing well.

What should be done, as Ms Salum said, is to conduct training on investment and financial management for villagers’ businesses to grow.