Press Release: WORLD VISION AND VISION FUND PLAN EL NINO RESPONSE IN KENYA

Wednesday, January 20, 2016

 

 VisionFund Contact:                                                        World Vision Kenya Contact

Amanda Kamin                                                                     May Ondeng

Director of Communications, VisionFund                           Communications Manager

+44 (0)78 8486 5556                                                            Tel number: +254 721655

Amanda_Kamin@wvi.org                                                    May_ondeng@wvi.org

 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

WORLD VISION AND VISIONFUND PLAN EL NINO RESPONSE FOR KENYA

 NAIROBI– 11 January 2016 - Families devastated by what is predicted to be particularly severe El Niño weather patterns in Kenya and five other African countries are to benefit from small loans to rebuild their livelihoods, following a £2million ‘returnable grant’ from the UK Government to aid agency World Vision UK and its microfinance partner, VisionFund International.  It is anticipated that VisionFund’s recovery loans will help restore the livelihoods of around 18,000 families impacting approximately 40,000 children. 

With anticipated drought in West and Southern Africa and potentially severe flooding in East Africa, VisionFund will use the funds to provide additional resources to its MFIs in Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Tanzania, Malawi and Mali in order for them to issue recovery loans to their clients. These loans will be targeted at suitable individuals affected by El Niño, and may be larger and over a longer period than typical microfinance lending. The loans are to help rebuild businesses destroyed by flooding and drought in order to restore economic independence to families, and provide economic stimulus to communities, as quickly as possible. 

Typically, after a disaster, there is a reduction in the supply of microcredit as local lenders suffer losses when loans cannot be repaid, yet this is a time when credit is most needed to rebuild communities. Lending after disasters enables people to rebuild their businesses more quickly and engage in income generating activities.

In appropriate contexts recovery lending can complement traditional humanitarian assistance as it focuses on specific economic groups within the community. World Vision and VisionFund will work closely together to ensure that VisionFund’s recovery lending approach is closely aligned and integrated with World Vision’s immediate humanitarian response. Once individuals are ready to rebuild their businesses or start entrepreneurial activities, they may apply to VisionFund’s MFIs for a recovery loan. It is another tool to help communities recover and VisionFund ensures that any financial risk has been properly assessed for those who receive a loan.

 VisionFund pioneered recovery lending on a smaller scale in the Philippines with great success.  In the aftermath of Typhoon Haiyan, VisionFund issued over 4,600 recovery loans and 96 percent of clients surveyed stated that the loans were helpful in restoring livelihoods with 49 percent saying they had fully recovered as a  esult of the loans.

 Philip Ochola,CEO, VisionFund Kenya, explains: “This ‘hand up’ rather than ‘hand out’ approach empowers individuals to recreate their livelihoods and restore independence.  From a financial perspective, it can attract commercial funding to allow greater scale in the recovery response.”

 Dickens Thunde, World Vision Kenya said: “Recovery lending enables families to get back on their feet. Integrating microfinance with our humanitarian response enables us to provide an even more robust response to disasters.”

 -ENDS-

 Notes to Editors 

About VisionFund

VisionFund, World Vision’s microfinance arm, has been improving the lives of children in the developing world for more than a decade.  By offering small loans and other financial services to families living in poverty, its clients develop successful businesses, enabling their children to grow up healthy and educated.

 Last year, VisionFund MFIs provided 1.3 million loans at a 98% repayment rate, with nearly three-quarters of these going to women, and over half to clients actively involved in farming.  In 2015, close to four million children were impacted through its lending network located across more than 30 countries in Africa, Latin America, Asia, the Middle East and Eastern Europe.

www.visionfund.org or follow us on twitter @visionfund

 About World Vision

World Vision is one of the world’s largest Christian relief, development and advocacy organizations dedicated to working with children, families and communities to overcome poverty and injustice. Spanning over sixty years, its 45,000 staff and volunteers in nearly 100 countries have been committed to improving the lives of children, while working with the world’s most vulnerable people, regardless of religion, race, ethnicity or gender.

www.wvi.org or follow us on twitter @worldvision

 About the Department for International Development

The Department for International Development (DFID) leads the UK’s work to end extreme poverty. DFID is ending the need for aid by creating jobs, unlocking the potential of girls and women and helping to save lives when humanitarian emergencies hit.

https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/department-for-international-development or follow us on twitter @DFID_UK