Summary of project status and achievements:
The Project Manager held a meeting with agro-loan recipients on Friday 18 April. Repayment was discussed and the loanees agreed to repay 50 metas of maize per bag of fertilizer as had been discussed by the FORGE Microlending Project staff in March. Repayment must be made between June 15th and July 15th. The PM agreed to open stations where the maize can be brought in Zones D and F for four days, from July 1-4. FORGE Microlending Project employees will staff these locations and the PM will then retrieve the maize from those places in the vehicle. The agro-loan officer continued to visit all of the farmers to remind them of the agreement, bring them a reminder form written by Kaje and the PM, and make certain that they are aware of the repayment procedures. The PM remains cautiously optimistic that all 21 loanees will repay in full.
The PM and Loan Officers reorganized all of the cash ledgers and binders that contain loanee information. The PM also completed new documents that will assist in standardizing procedures and organizing information. The revised documentation and organization also helped with the fact that starting May 1st all Loan Officers are introducing and following the procedure whereby loanees are charged interest based on their remaining principle rather than the initial principle. The new documents also formalize the default procedure and allow Loan Officers to write defaulted loanees off of the books with a signature from the PM and Officer Manager.
The PM also continued the letter writing and home visit campaign for delinquent loanees. A May 15th deadline has been set for these individuals to make a payment at which point the police will be involved.