First off, i am very excited to be part of the movement that is revisiting the development foundations of Mother Zambia, i view my self as an honorary development practitioner.Having had the opportunity to be part of the pioneering movement of micro finance in Zambia way back in 2000 when i worked for Cetzam as Loan Officer and then later went on to join FINCA as credit officer from 2005 to 2008.I feel that even though micro finance in Zambia has weaved its tapestry through unfavorable repayment conditions unharmed, we can learn from its  bruises.

The biggest challenge i saw through the time that i spent working as Loan Officer was basically the people, that is the  agency personnel and the intervention recipients known then as clients(not that  they were inherently bad but probably because of their lack of enlightenment as a result of new acquired learning) . Source of funding was not a problem, method of delivery was excellent but  the human mind side of things left much to be desired. I give thanks to the international donor community who relentlessly funded the entire initiative and helped alleviate poverty in most places.I must admit that clients who were serious about what they were doing with the loan have actually created a legacy for their families and surely poverty is history but to some, it marred their entire prospect of hope for their family.

But what do i mean when i talk about the people involved in the process of implementing the micro finance? As mentioned before, then,Micro finance was viewed as an opportunity for self enrichment especially by the practitioners.I say so because there was a huge amount of promise of Funding  from international donors since Micro Finance was believed to be a proven effective way of removing the scourge of poverty and so the funders were so much more fix headed on putting money in the poor's hands than considering the sustainability of the intervention. It did not really matter the cost effectiveness of the methodology as long the masses were reached.Money was spent on  infrastructure to enable the massive outreach campaign, staff was hired and a very comfortable remuneration package put in place for all the agency's staff especially the back office staff and huge amounts put in the pool for loan funds for the poor. I admire the passion and the urgency  that filled the air that time as a result of the need to address poverty in a new way. It is wonderful to know now  that lessons have been learnt and the craft of micro finance has been refined and perfected over the years  

I have to stop here but please join me in my next blog as i continue to talk about what went wrong and lesson learned in Micro Finance tailored to a Zambian context. Good Night.