JUAf is a village of resources focusing on empowering vulnerable women and children to empower themselves. We believe in giving the community the tools to succeed and providing opportunities for growth!  Collectively, the services we provide allow a more holistic resource base to move towards  poverty eradication.

JUAf resides on eight acres of land in the Maweni Village near the base of Kilimanjaro, Tanzania.  We provide a village of  resources involving: Microfinancing, Village Banking, Early Childhood Education, Clean Water,  Solar Energy, Agriculture and Fish Farming.

Microfinance is a general term to describe financial services to low-income individuals or to those who do not have access to typical banking services. Microfinance is also the idea that low-income individuals are capable of lifting themselves out of poverty if given access to financial services. At JUAf, we provide microfinancing loans to the most vulnerable women of our community.  The selected women receive an initial loan of $75 to create a small business. This loan is partnered with three days of microfinancing education courses that cover banking, loan payment, profit/loss and general business management. The initial loan period is one year and is repaid at 10% per month following the sixth month.  JUAf currently has a 98% payback ratio.

Village Banking is introduced to remote villages where access to a traditional banking system is non-existent.  Village Banking provides the opportunity for group members to purchase shares, withdraw loans, and have a savings account for cash withdrawal. A village bank is an informal support group of 20-30 members, predominantly female. In a typical village bank, about 50% of all new members are severely poor. At JUAf Village Bank, 100% are severely poor.   These women meet once a week at our community center to purchase shares, provide documentation, withdraw loans and receive skill training, mentoring and motivation.  It’s a safe place to save.  Loans normally start at $50-$100 and are linked to savings; the more a client saves, the more she can borrow. The normal loan period is three months and is repaid in 12 weekly installments.

JUAf serves a community where early childhood education is non-existent. Children in the community start primary school at the age of eight.  Prior to age eight, children have no access to learning. This is a very critical stage for development.

We offer an English medium preschool education to children in the community, ages 2-7.   The JUAf school is the only school in the area offering preschool education, and the only school in the area offering education at any level in English.  We provide three meals a day to the children so they are well nourished for learning.  Offering preschool classes to the community helps support the mothers in our microfinancing group so they can focus on their small businesses while their children are in school.

We have partnered with USAID and the Tanzanian Agriculture Productivity Program (TAPP) to create a 1 acre demonstration garden. We were taught how to create raised beds, boil the soil for our seedlings and plant in plastic containers before transferring to the soil. We also learned how to set up a drip irrigation system, which we use to maximize the amount of water transferred to the plants. We are working towards cultivating an additional 4 acres on our site to bring in additional revenue for the program. Your donation will help us achieve this goal.

Providing loans and infrastructure can only go so far toward economic development if a community cannot meet its basic needs—particularly fresh, clean water. In response to this need, JUAf raised capital and engaged the community in building a well in 2011. More than 100 village residents now have access to clean water, improving overall health and sanitation community-wide.

After completing the well project, it became clear that the energy input required to operate the well pump—a gas-powered motor—was unsustainable. With a $5,000 investment from JUAf and the work of the community, a solar panel system was built in 2012.   This clean energy will support both the needs of pumping the well water and the need of providing electricity to the JUAf Community Center.

A second initiative with our partnership with USAID is Fish Farming. We had a 180’ long x 6’ deep fish pond created for JUAf. We hired local labor to dig this pond which took a few weeks to dig. It’s a big fish pond! We partnered with USAID in providing us a heavyweight tarp to line our fish pond so water won’t seep thru once it is filled. We are currently talking to various partners in the region who specialize in providing fish and to help us find the market to purchase the fish once they are large enough for consumption. Now that we have the fish pond, we are looking to raise enough money ($2,000) to purchase the initial round of fish and fish food. This is another project that will allow JUAf to become fully sustainable and help us to pay for additional empowerment programs for the community.