(Community Matters) The last grant from the Entrepreneurs Foundation/Austin Ventures HelpHaiti fund was a $163k matching grant to Concern Worldwide/Fonkoze to restore livelihoods through income generation activities in the Tabarre camp – a defined community of 500 families. A study carried out by Concern Worldwide and Fonkoze in the Tabarre Issa Camp and in the surroundings in October 2010, revealed that 90% of residents were involved in petty trading before the earthquake and around 45% of them lost their entire equipment or inventories required to generate incomes. They have since depended on agency aid and support from relatives. Very few people had restarted income generation activities due to the lack of capital and being unable to undertake appropriate actions. Today we received a progress report which includes:
320 beneficiaries were initially selected by the team to participate in the entrepreneurship /microfinance program. The community reduced the list to 250 beneficiaries, rejecting 70 beneficiaries who did not meet the criteria as originally presented by the team. Continue reading
Community Matters 