News and Commentary

Microfinance Projects to Support Wildlife Conservation

No one would do microfinance for microfinance’s sake, right? We at SeaMo think microfinance is really a means to a number of important ends. Poverty alleviation is principal among them, but not the only goal. Village Enterprise has just announced a project to achieve Wildlife Conservation–particularly great apes in East Africa–using microfinance as one of the channels for achieving the goal.

From a press release on November 17th:

Village Enterprise Fund (VEF), an experienced micro-enterprise organization, has received a two-year, $100,000 grant from the Arcus Foundation, a Kalamazoo, Michigan-based foundation that is the largest global funder of great apes conservation. The grant will be used to fund an innovative, integrated development/conservation program in the communities surrounding Uganda’s Budongo Forest, an important conservation area in East Africa. The Budongo Forest, part of the Albertine Rift, is home to a wealth of plant and animal life, including more than 600 chimpanzees.

Founded in 2000 by President Jon L. Stryker, the mission of the Arcus Foundation is to achieve social justice that is inclusive of sexual orientation, gender identity and race, and to ensure conservation and respect of the great apes. The Foundation works globally and has offices in New York City and Cambridge, UK, in addition to the Kalamazoo office. Through its Great Apes Program, Arcus focuses on the survival of great apes in their natural habitats through conservation compatible with economic development and effective partnerships between local organizations. It also promotes survival of the great apes in sanctuaries that offer high quality care, safety and freedom from invasive research and other forms of exploitation.

The Budongo Project uses an integrated approach to promote the conservation of critical chimpanzee habitat and alleviate the poverty in the local communities. The VEF development model of training, seed capital, and mentoring is particularly well suited to addressing these combined goals. Working with the Jane Goodall Institute and several other local partners, the Budongo Project empowers local communities to start sustainable, diversified small businesses in a way that supports long-term conservation goals.

In funding the Budongo Project, Arcus is approaching conservation from the micro-enterprise side—a first for the Foundation. “Most of the challenges to conservation are tied to the consumption of natural resources. Finding ways to integrate economic development goals with conservation goals is necessary to combat the drivers of habitat loss and the decline of ape populations,” states Annette Lanjouw, senior director, Great Apes Program, Arcus Foundation.

The two-year Arcus grant, combined with grants from the Irwin Andrew Porter Foundation and from Project Redwood, will support roughly 50 combined conservation/business training sessions, seed capital, and mentoring for more than 500 new, sustainable businesses in 25-30 communities surrounding Budongo Forest with a goal of improving livelihoods and reducing illegal activity.

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Village Enterprise Fund’s (VEF) mission is to break the cycle of poverty by providing business training, seed capital, and ongoing mentoring to rural entrepreneurs to start income-generating businesses. VEF’s 3-pronged economic development model plays a unique role in the microfinance industry, providing economic opportunities for start-up businesses in rural, agricultural areas that are difficult for other microfinance institutions and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to reach.  Since its inception in 1987, VEF has launched more than 18,000 businesses, each of which improved the lives of an average of 25 people (almost 450,000 people in total). Over half of the business leaders are women. Seventy-five percent of the businesses that VEF has funded are still operating after four years.  Fully one-third of the businesses launch a second or subsequent business.  Headquartered in San Carlos, CA, VEF has offices in Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda.

© 2009 SeaMo: Connecting the Microfinance Community.