Swan Yi Newsleter 1

Women Leading the Way

Swan Yi: Strengthening Abilities for
Womens Economic Empowerment
Swan Yi Newsletter
June 2013 | Issue 3
Te Swan Yi project with funding from the Coca-Cola Foundation aims to
empower nearly 25,000 Myanmar women through village-based banking
and microenterprise development. Since the project began, a total of 10,935
women from six townships are now participating in WORTH groups. Almost
all of them have started saving, making the average rate of savings per woman
650 kyats ($0.65 USD) per week. To date, the total amount of savings of all
groups is $73,022 USD.
A total of 4,079 loans have been taken out, reaching a value of $105,151 USD.
Te average loan amount is 23,000 kyats ($23 USD). For most of the women
it is their frst WORTH loan and 70% of them are using the loans for start-
Swan Yi Newsleter 2
Loans Disbursed
ing microenterprises (small food or service shops) and
agriculture and farming activities. For the other 30% of
the women, they are using loans to address personal or
family emergencies. WORTH loans are an easily accessible
fnancial service, which enable women to fulfll their family
needs, such as education, health and living standards.
While some women have had access to outside credit pre-
viously, it has been through money leaders which charge
high interest rates, making it extremely difcult to repay
loans, much less earn a proft. In contrast, WORTH loans
ofer an interest rate on average nearly seven times less
than these money lenders, allowing women to be able to
save more money, use more on their daily family expense,
or invest more back into their businesses.
Achievements to date:
10,935 women participating in 503 WORTH groups
9,118 women saving weekly and established their
WORTH groups village banking system
4,079 loans taken out for microenterprise development
or for emergency purposes
386 Management Committees formed including
1,544 committee members
8,918 sets of Selling Made Simple: Modules 1-3
Pacts self- learning materials distributed to 344
WORTH groups.
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Swan Yi Newsleter 3
In Yin Nwae village, Mahlaing Township, many villagers
earn their living by weaving mats. Daw Myint Kyi, 45 years
old, is one of them. She has weaved mats for many years
but has struggled because the bamboo needed for weaving
can be quite expensive. She has ofen had to borrow high
interest loans from other villagers in order to be able to af-
ford the bamboo and other supplies needed. Sometimes she
faced difcult times with little income, unable to run her
business. Daw Myint Kyi could survive, but had no money
to use for health purposes or save in case of an emergency.
She joined the WORTH group in her village on February
9th, 2013. Her life changed quickly for the better as she was
able to easily access the fnancial resources needed for her
business by borrowing funds from the group. First, she bor-
rowed 20,000 kyats ($20 USD) with a three percent interest
rate from the group fund. Te low interest rate enabled her
to make more proft from her business because the burden
to pay back the loan was minimal. Eight weeks afer she
took out the loan, she began to make weekly payments and
soon paid it of. Ten, she took out a second loan to expand
her business even more. Now, if she invests 10,000 kyats
($10 USD) to weave a mat, she makes 2,500 ($2.50 USD) in
proft. Her income continues to grow enabling her to save
money for her future.
her story
Daw Myint Kyi
Swan Yi Newsleter 4
On June 4th, Pact Myanmar joined its donor Te Coca-
Cola Foundation in celebrating the opening of the frst Co-
ca-Cola factory in Myanmar, in Hmaw Bi industrial zone
on the outskirts of Yangon. Te Coca-Cola Company says
it aims to provide growth and development opportunities
for the people of Myanmar. As part of this commitment,
last year Te Coca-Cola Foundation provided Pact with a
3 million dollar grant to implement Swan Yi a womens
empowerment project targeting eight townships in the
country.
Swan Yi aims to empower nearly 25,000 Myanmar wom-
en through village-based banking and microenterprise
development. Te project trains women on fnancial
literacy, entrepreneurship and business management. Since
it commenced in July 2012, it has already provided train-
ing to 10,000 women, some of whom have gone on to start
microenterprises.
In attendance at the event were VIPs such as Coca-Co-
las CEO Muhtar Kent, US Ambassador to Burma Derek
Mitchell, former US Secretary of State Madeline Albright,
Myanmar singer Sai Sai, Pacts CEO Mark Viso, and Pacts
Regional Vice President Kurt Macleod. Also in attendance
were two female Swan Yi benefciaries from the Yangon
urban region, Daw Nyo and Daw Hla Hla Htwe, who were
selected based on their leadership qualities and successes
expanding their businesses afer taking out loans from their
group banks.
Swan Yi featured at Coca-Cola Myanmar
launch event
Swan Yi Newsleter 5
From June 5-11th, Swan Yi provided a Training of Train-
er (TOT) session on how to run efective trainings for
WORTH group Management Committees. It was provided
to 19 WORTH Trainers and six Township Managers in
Yangon. Each WORTH group is run by a democratically
elected Management Committee that takes responsibility
for the groups accounting system and ensures the growth
of the village bank. Swan Yi staf play an important role in
providing a fve-day training to Management Committee
members in order to ensure standards and rules are in
place to maintain transparency and accountability of the
group. Trainings topics covered include how to open and
close each banking cycle, keeping a bank ledger, managing
funds and relations with group members.
staff capacity development
Training of Trainer (TOT) on WORTH
Management Committees
Swan Yi Newsleter 6
For More Information
Ei Tinzar Min Min Oo
Program Coordinator,
Pact Myanmar
eioo@pactworld.org
Andrew Meaux
Senior Program Specialist
Washigton, D.C.
ameaux@pactworld.org
WDMEN I N 503
6RDUP5
100%
50%
0%
sfen . community orientation workshops.
sfen z. WORTH groups formed (mobilized).
sfen s. training, roles and responsibilities of
members and how to select group leaders.
sfen o. management committees formed.
sfen s. training, conduct vilage bank meeting and
safe money handling.
sfen e. introductory workshop, selling made simple
books (SMS workshop).
sfen :. training, saving.
sfen e. training, loaning.
sfen s. training, appreciative planning and action
(APA) and building a strong group.
sfen o. training, basic MC record keeping training.
sfen . management committee training (MCT).
sfen z. road to wealth (RTW) introductory
workshop.
10,935
TDTAL 5AVI N65 ( U50) , 9, !!8
WDMEN 5AVI N6 WEEKLY
$73,022
5ET5 DF 5ELLI N6 MA0E 5I MPLE
MD0ULE5 0I 5TRI BUTE0, TD 344
WDRTH 6RDUP5
8,918
MANA6EMENT CDMMI TTEE5
FDRME0, WI TH !, 544 MEMBER5
386
TDTAL LDAN5 ( U50) , 4, 079 LDAN5
$105,151
kev Percentage increase over previous report.
Swan Yi Progress Toward Goals