Senegal Ecovillage Microfinance Fund
The Senegal Ecovillage Microfinance (SEM) Fund is an independent American nonprofit and a Senegalese non-governmental organization (NGO).
John Fay, a student in the 2004 sustainable development study abroad program and intern from the Center for Sustainable Global Enterprise at Cornell's Johnson School, started the Senegalese Ecovillage Microfinance Fund through a loan program in the rural eco-village of Louly Ngom. SEM became one of the first field partners of KIVA.org and now offers microfinance group loans in 38 eco-villages throughout Senegal.
In 2006, SEM registered as a US nonprofit organization and partnered with the EREV Institute and GENSEN to provide group loans throughout the eco-village network. SEM is dedicated to providing: access to reasonable interest rate finance, appropriate business training, and local market linkages.
GENSEN village representatives volunteer to form a microfinance committee to assist with village-level program management and to recommend loan requests from member villages. The committee is composed of one representative from each of GENSEN's seven principal regions (Dakar, Thiès, Saint-Louis, Diourbel, Fatick, Ziguinchor, and Tambacounda).
The EREV Institute reinforces the SEM mission in its eco-village training programs, facilitating dialogue with villagers and students on the benefits of environmentally sustainable income-generating activities. In addition, the program's study abroad program in January takes American and Senegalese students into eco-villages to engage villagers in discussion about the environmental merit of proposed projects, and helps project groups design loans requests. The loan committees reach group consensus on projects that have highest priority for funding, on the grounds that they will bring the most benefits to the village as a whole.
SEM has established a professional, transparent system to receive donations that are fully tax deductible and minimize transaction costs and bank transfer fees. If you are interested in supporting SEM operations or loans, please visit the SEM Donations page. If you want to know more about microfinance, click here.