A "Life" giving project!
The Jeevan Bank Project is a microcredit program helping the very poor start small businesses to overcome poverty. In Hindi, Jeevan means “Life.” After our first 6 months of living in India we were bombarded with the poverty and felt a desire to help. It was in November of 2007 that God opened up the doors for us to start the Jeevan Bank Project. Throughout a 3 year period we were able to give over 200 micro loans to the poor here in India. After borrowers successfully launched their business and paid back their micro loan over a one year period we were then able to give a larger second generation loan as well. After giving all of the second generation loans we felt that we needed to wind down this aspect of our ministry. Although the project was highly successful it became difficult for us to manage alongside the other areas of ministry which we are pursuing. We are still very interested in helping the less fortunate and are still taking several opportunities to give towards helping the poor.
We decided to leave some information on our site about our micro-credit program because we believe it is an excellent method of helping to fight poverty. Please read through what we did and also read some of the testimonies as well. Thanks.
Why Micro credit
Inspired by Grameen Bank
We were first introduced to the concept of microcredit from reading the book Banker to the Poor by Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammad Yunus. This man founded the Grameen Bank in Bangladesh over 30 years ago. Since then the bank has loaned hundreds of millions of dollars to the absolute poor and has helped them make a real life for themselves.
Teaching money management
It is important to understand that this does not promote debt. These loans are very small (less than $50.00) and the borrower has one year to pay it back making a small, easy-to-make payment every week. The purpose is to help the borrower learn how to save and manage money properly. It also instills a feeling of accomplishment and gives the borrower a very strong devotion and commitment to their business because it was not just given to them for free.
Over a 3 year period we have seen many living impacted by this project. It is a great blessing to see people’s lives being improved. It is a great blessing to see people’s lives being improved.
Forgoston International Ministries Inc. was always a separate entity from the Jeevan Project. FIM never actually made any loans or received any pay back. All monies given from FIM to the Jeevan project were given freely for the purpose of expanding the project. Any leftover returns from the loans is given directly to a registered charitable institution in India who does social works primarily helping orphans and elderly widows.
How it Works
The Jeevan loan system
To start a group, John, our Jeevan Project Leader, interviewed interested people, and each one found 4 other individuals to form a group of 5. The group leader chose people whom they trust and who will encourage one another. These individuals then become accountable to each other.
First we gave loans to two group members. After 6 weeks of successful payback we gave loans to the next two members, and so on. In this way the group members encourage each other to pay back the loans on time. Also, if all the members repay their loans by the end of the year, they would all receive larger loans to expand their businesses further the next year.
