We make small interest free loans to people that no bank will touch. Our borrowers use the money to buy milk-giving cows, bees to sell honey, fish to sell in stalls, tools to fix motorcycles, among myriad other money making schemes. All of this energy creates microclimates of dignity throughout a community.
“We will trust you. We will extend our hand to you despite the risk of betrayal. Because it is possible—through risk—to bring out the best in you and perhaps in us.” — Andrew Sajja, DOP co-founder
Approach
We finance savings circles, not individuals.
Savings Circles are community-based credit and savings associations. They typically consist of 25 to 30 low-income women who are seeking to improve their lives through self-employment activities. Although DOP provides loan capital for the savings circle, the members themselves run the operation: they choose their members, elect their own officers, establish their own by-laws, distribute loans to individuals, collect payments and savings. By financing existing, self reliant structures, we support self empowerment in the community.
