MAINSTREAMING GENDER RELATIONSHIPS IN AGRICULTURAL VALUE CHAIN FUNCTIONS

ContentsGender assessment study 4

Mainstreaming women’s economic empowerment 6

Male dominance and stigmatization of entrepreneurial women 8

Prioritization of income spending 10

Gender ownership of crops depending on market value 11

Access and control of resources 12

Gender separation and power plays in crop investment, production and sales 14

Markets working for women 18

Women in leadership and decision making 18

Struggles for control of income from businesses 20

Access to business information and capital 21

A gender assessment report by the Agricultural Markets Development Trust (AMDT) conducted by Amin Masudi Bakari and Feliciana Katemana (2017) as part of efforts to inform the designing of gender inclusive interventions for developing market systems that work for poor women, men and youth.

Gender assessment studyThe Agriculture Markets Development Trust (AMDT) is a long term facility with a life span of at least 10 years aiming to increase incomes and employment opportunities for poor women, men, and young people in Tanzania. AMDT’s mission is to enable change in agricultural market systems so that productive poor women, men and youth can benefit from more inclusive, resilient and competitive market systems. AMDT believes that enabling large-scale systemic change in market systems critical for the productive poor, creates a much stronger chance of achieving sustained pro poor impact. AMDT generates evidence and pilots interventions, then it scales up those that work, and promotes knowledge sharing and strategic coordination.

Data for this study was collected using focus group discussions (FGD) in six geographical centers in Tanzania, featuring productive women and men farmers in the crop production (supply) segment within value chains and men and women small and medium entrepreneurs (SMEs) on crop aggregating and processing side, was designed to capture social and cultural diversity across the targeted value chains:

1. Mtwara center – Mtwara and Lindi regions

2. Mbeya center – Mbeya, Njombe and Iringa regions

3. Rukwa center – Rukwa, Katavi and Kigoma regions

4. Dodoma center – Dodoma, Morogoro and Singida regions

5. Mwanza center – Mwanza, Kagera, Geita, Simiyu and Shinyanga regions

6. Arusha center – Tanga, Arusha and Manyara regions

Geita

Simiyu

Katavi

Njombe

Common Beans

Green Grams

Sunflower

Pigeaon Peas

Maize

This study is part of AMDT’s gender mainstreaming process that involves identifying problems, making sectoral analysis and developing strategies. AMDT analyzes strategies that support both women and men and then designs interventions. AMDT wanted to be informed on power relations among men, women and youth and how they influence their participation and benefits received from market systems in which AMDT and partners have intervened. The focus is on AMDT’s three selected maize, pulses and sunflower value chains.

Mainstreaming women’s economic empowerment

It has been established that women’s economic empowerment (WEE) is a sound way forward in accomplishing holistic human development where such empowerment does not exist. But where such empowerment does not exist, there are traditions that have put men above women in leadership and decision making and accessing various income generating opportunities. These traditions may be so ingrained and unquestioned that men simply failed to understand the logic of targeting women over men.

This study captured a man from Sumbawanga who seemed unable to understand why women (Box 1) were being targeted while traditionally men are the heads of families. His body language showed he was really serious about the matter and hoped AMDT would change the approach. This question was immediately responded to by a woman participant from Nkasi District (Box 2) who appreciated AMDT approach and she explained her perceived benefits of the approach.

Box 1: Man’s questions

“Why does the AMDT program emphasis on benefiting women? Why does the program not focus on benefiting men who will ultimately lead women to adapt? Don’t you foresee that this approach will empower women to protest against men? Don’t you foresee that men will not support the program fearing that empowered women will protest and become disobedient to their husbands? Don’t you foresee that the program will create tensions in the communities and cause massive divorce in families?”

Man participant from Sumbawanga Rural

A Swiss Development Cooperation (SDC) paper (2015)1 recommended mainstreaming WEE in market systems development (MSD) to ensure that M4P opened up equal opportunities and benefits for both women and men. The general tendency described in the SDC paper is that women are unable to participate in the market systems if their husbands are afraid this will bring shame to the family and the husband’s role as a head of the household may begin to be questioned. The paper noted that domestic violence is triggered if women empowerment processes happen at the expense of the husbands’ perceived welfare.

While men are not the principle focus when mainstreaming gender, the impact on men’s felt welfare should not be ignored. It is therefore crucial that systemic change processes in the market systems should take men on board wherever this perception is possible as a large percentage of women empowerment processes will be influenced by the men counterparts.

A majority of productive women are married and therefore their performance and final benefits from market systems depends on how they can influence decisions in their families. In situations where men and women are not working together towards shared goals, planning and decision making the market systems will benefit men more than women. To mitigate this situation, it is recommended that household methodologies that encourage cooperation between men and women in planning and decision making on shared family spending and investment should be applied.

1 SDC (2015) Mainstreaming Women’s Economic Empowerment (WEE) in Market Systems Development, http://www.enterprise-development.org/wp-content/uploads/SDCWEEinMSD.pdf

Box 2: Woman’s response

“AMDT’s approach is appropriate. This is actually the problem that needs addressing through this program. Traditionally men are heads of families. Some men have misused this role to the extent of enslaving and dis-empowering women. Even if the program targets women and youth, benefits will be for entire families including men. Who doesn’t know that the incomes of most women are mostly spent for the welfare of the family while most men misuse incomes generated by the entire family?”

Woman participant from Nkasi

Male dominance and stigmatization of entrepreneurial women

Few women were found to be entrepreneurs in maize, sunflower and pulses value chains, especially if their involvement required extended travel. Women feared being stigmatized as easy going or promiscuous. Household responsibilities also held women back. Therefore, small and medium scale entrepreneurship in the three value chains was likely to continue to be dominated by men.

The male dominance attitude is so ingrained in society, such that participants in all focus group discussions reached a consensus that progressive women in the rural settings are stigmatized as uncultured, difficult, promiscuous and unsuitable characters for marriage. Both women and men participants affirmed that rural men are likely to refrain from marrying such progressive woman. It was affirmed that a significant proportion of women are afraid of being aggressive in business fearing divorce, and those not yet married, feared failing to get married.

Managing social dynamics in business was a challenge limiting women’s engagement in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Women feared that travelling and interacting with men got them labeled by the society as being of bad moral character. Entrepreneurial women engaged in businesses that required travelling and meeting with strangers become labeled as promiscuous or of difficult character (Box 3).

Box 3: Domestic violence due to stigmatization

I was married and life was difficult. I spoke to my father-in-law about the situation to and my intention to engage in income generating activities. He was understanding and gave me one chicken as capital. I sold the chicken and started frying and selling breakfast buns in the streets. I did the business for a while before my husband started to restrict me, alleging that I was misbehaving and concentrating more on business than caring about him. One day he poured kerosene over my buns. I went to the area chairman to complain. The Chairman summoned my husband, but to my surprise the rulings were in favor of my husband. I was judged to be “not behaving like a married woman.” I did not quit my business. Tensions with my husband mounted. I experienced violence including beatings. I decided to request a divorce. I went to stay with my uncle who assigned me to supervise his business. It was a food supply store. After two years my uncle gave me my own capital. I am now a maize and beans aggregator. I supply to food stores, including my uncle’s.”

Adella Magani, SME participant from Babati

Josephine Mlay was a participant in focus group discussions in Arusha. She is a young woman, a graduate and is in company with three young men (Box 4). They are engaged in aggregating food crop, bulk packaging, branding and selling. Josephine is not married. She understands and is not afraid of the perception most men have on her.

Box 4: Unmarried woman with a positive outlook

“I am aware how most men perceive me. It doesn’t matter. I know what I am doing. One day I will meet a man who understands me. I may get married. If not, I am the one who defines my life and my destiny.”

Josephine Mlay, Arusha

Prioritization of income spending

Another issue that was generally discussed in the focus group discussions particularly in Mbeya, Arusha and Mwanza was the gender contrast in prioritizing income spending. Most women prioritize spending for family welfare (better clothes, decorating the house, better meals, and the like), while men prioritize venturing into further business investment, buying livestock, cars and doing construction.

Generally, participants concluded that when couples don’t take time to discuss and reach a common understanding on spending priorities, the gender contrast in prioritization is usually a cause of mistrust and misunderstanding. Women are often vulnerable to the consequences. In general all focus groups agreed that women are submissive mainly because they want to maintain harmony in their families.

It was generally accepted women’s submissive attitude rather than being contributive, deprived them equal control and access to joint or family resources. Mention was made on the subtlety of power relationships, whereby a women submitting her own income to her husband for spending discretion, is different from a woman contributing such income for a specific expenditure on which they both agree on. The former deprives the woman of sovereignty over her own assets while the latter strengthens the woman’s authority over her assets.

The general consensus was that women who headed households were more independent in decision making. Women headed households are more focused on family welfare. However, women headed households are generally poor because they lack productive assets and capital. Landless women depend on doing small businesses, laboring for other farmers. Some who do subsistence farming may have to rent land from other farmers or depend on relatives for seasonally borrowed land.

Gender ownership of crops depending on market value

The general consensus in all focus group discussions was that distinction in gender ‘ownership’ of crops is based on who participates most in production, and the importance of the crop for food security and for market. However, if the crop is of market importance, it doesn’t really matter who participates most in production because men take control. A typical case was shared by participants from Karagwe and Kyerwa districts. Women in the districts do all the farming activities related to beans and maize. They make decisions on which variety to grow, where to grow and they do all the farming activities because men are busy with coffee and bananas.

Maize is mainly grown for food in Mtwara and Lindi and women felt they have some control over the crop for food security. However, when there is a surplus and maize can be sold, men take control and make the decisions.

Maize is a major value chain in Rukwa, Katavi, Iringa, Manyara, Songwe, Mbeya, Morogoro, Shinyanga, Njombe and Tanga regions. There was no apparent gender distinction on “ownership” of the crop. This was due to its balanced importance to food security and family income. A slight exception in the control of crops was noted in communities from Sumbawanga. Both women and men from Sumbawanga District confirmed that traditionally women control crops stored in the house, be it for food or for market.

In Mtwara and Lindi regions pigeon peas are generally considered a men’s crop and green gram a woman’s crop. Most decisions in the production of pigeon peas are made by men and incomes are under the control of men. Income from green grams is generally low and is dedicated for taking care of immediate family needs. Picking of green grams is typically a women’s task because it involves bending down which men are purportedly unable to endure.

Sunflower is relatively new as a crop in Mtwara and Lindi regions. It is currently grown mainly to obtain cooking oil for family consumption. That is why sunflower is somehow considered a women’s crop in some families.

Access and control of resources

The general opinion of women in all focus group discussions was that male dominance in the control of land is the root of men’s control of benefits accrued from the land they claim to own.

Acquisition or allocation of land for maize, sunflower and pulses was mentioned by participants from all regions to be a men’s role. A special case was observed in Mtwara and Lindi regions where matrilineal culture is still exercised in the societies. Traditionally, married couples in Mtwara and Lindi are allocated land for living by the family of the woman. Both men and women parents are proud to allocate land for daughters as one man participant in FGD boasted (Box 5). Due to this tradition most women in marriage and those women heads of households in Lindi and Mtwara most likely own and control parcels of land for production.

While men expressed pride over their daughters ‘owning’ their son-in-laws, they also expressed discontent at being dominated by women (Box 6). Usually the woman has power and control on crops and the incomes/assets generated from the land she owns. Men explained that many married men who initially stay on their wives’ land struggle to generate their own incomes to purchase land and construct new houses for their families. Once they do achieve this, men regain their masculine authority.

The cohesiveness of household units, cited in several 2010 reports concerning gender methodologies in agricultural programmes, assumed that households are cohesive units, with shared assets, needs and goals.2 This assumption does not always match reality. Doss, C. R. (1999)3 in her paper observed that in many parts of sub-Saharan Africa, women and men often led separate

2 Farnworth, C. R. and Munachonga, M. (2010). Gender Approaches in Agricultural Programmes – Zambia Country Report. A special study of the Agricultural Support Pro-gramme (ASP). UTV Working Paper 2010:8. Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida), Stockholm. http://www.sida.se/Global/Gender%20in%20Agriculture%20working%20paper%20 2010-8%20Zambia.pdf

3 Doss, C. R. (1999). Twenty-five Years of Research on Women Farmers in Africa: Lessons and Implications for Agricultural Research Institutions – With an Annotated Bibliography. Economics Program Paper No. 99-02. CIMMYT, Mexico City, Mexico. http://impact.cgiar.org/pdf/246.pdf.

Box 5: Parents allocating land to married daughters

‘’As a parent, it is my pride to allocate land for my daughter to live on with her husband, and that land is the property of my daughter.’’

Man participant in Mtwara

Box 6: Men have no power over earnings from women-owned land

“Men staying on land owned by their wives have no power over the crops produced and assets earned from the land. Even if men go and sell cashew nut or any other crop at the cooperative or market, they have to remit to their wives the full amount of money earned. If a wife is not satisfied with the amount of money remitted she can go to where the crop was sold and confirm. We have witnessed men being chased away by their wives after discovering that their husbands had cheated.”

Man participant in Mtwara FGDs

lives even within the same household, with access to different resources and different production, different roles and consumption activities. In the past, this indigenous approach to livelihoods appeared complementary and served families fairly. However recent assessments, as reported in the paper, say the assumption has been fatally undermined over many decades through colonial and post-colonial governments which embraced the patriarchal culture and treated households as nuclear units, headed by men, consequently, at the expense of disempowering women.

Gender separation and power plays in crop investment, production and sales

Land preparations and tillageGenerally land preparation and tillage is the responsibility of both men and women. However, when tillage is mechanized men are more responsible in field operations. Some women who head households and own oxen are able operate ox ploughs during ploughing. Both women and men appreciated that gender distribution of roles in mechanized field operations was fair, but that when field operations were not mechanized, women were overburdened because they worked in the field as long as men and then upon returning home they continued with household work while men relaxed.

Sowing and weedingBoth women and men participate in sowing and weeding maize and sunflower. When pulses are not for business most sowing and weeding operations are done manually by women. Even if both men and women participate in the operations women are over burdened by extra household tasks after farm work.

Women needed appropriate technologies for mechanizing tillage, sowing, weeding, harvesting and post-harvest operations. Not only would mechanization increase labor productivity and release women from workload. Those technologies could be business opportunities that up scaled the marginalized labor service into mechanized business services especially in weeding and harvesting operations.

Access to production servicesMost farmers have to travel distances of around 50 kilometers to access quality inputs. Few women have the time or opportunity to travel such distance. Some husbands don’t allow such travel or just want their womenfolk to remain indoors. Some women, even if not married, avoid travelling for business because they are busy with family care or don’t want to be seen by the society as irresponsible women.

Another factor is that some women feel they have inadequate knowledge to purchase genuine or quality inputs, thus leaving that responsibility to men who tend to have more information and knowledge about these things.

Access to extension and information services Appropriate approaches in extension services needed to recognize that family care was a priority role in women’s calendar. Therefore, women needed extension service approaches that took this into account and perhaps provided extension agents that could visit regularly at farm level, especially the female headed households.

The study found that some information, knowledge and skills on good agricultural practices (GAPs) were obtained from extension workers. However, women said they had limited access to extension services due to being too busy with production and reproductive activities. The number of extension workers is generally inadequate and men are more likely than women to access information mainly through community radios. Women preferred cellphones because they could receive messages for later accessing when it was convenient.

Demonstration plots were another method favored for delivering knowledge and lessons on good agricultural practices. Men had greater access to demo plots. Demo plots were accessed by more women if they were within two kilometers. Women recommended that demo plots be established along the way to the market place or water points or medical clinics to provide greater time saving access to a larger number of women.

Harvesting and marketing Tanzania’s national census (2012) shows that between 58% and 74% of the highly productive population, in age range of 25 – 44 years, is in marriage. Generally incomes from crop sales in the program’s value chain are controlled by the men in the family and that women opted to be submissive to their spouses over income control in order to avoid domestic conflict. The study concluded that under the circumstances, active participation of women in market systems was likely to be compromised.

Harvesting operations for sunflower, pulses and maize are done by both women and men. Harvesting of green grams in Mtwara and Lindi is mostly the role of women. Men are involved in threshing beans, sunflower and green grams while winnowing is a women’s task. Women participants from Kyerwa and Karagwe districts said that men participated in harvesting so as to monitor harvested volumes.

Box 7: Domestic violence upon selling of crops

“The one time when women suffer domestic violence and are denied control and ownership of income is during the selling of crops. Many couples are at harmony and call each other darling during production, but the story changes to evil during and after sales. It is only that most women are tolerant and able to endure and ignore. Otherwise many divorce would be happening. This is a major issue contributing to poverty in women.”

A woman participant, FGD Dodoma

Women unanimously said that men had assumed the role of selling crops. They noted that farming couples experienced increased conflicts and gender violence during the sale of crops and making decisions on the use of generated income. Most of the violence was man against woman (Box 7) but in Mtwara and Lindi wives have been known to chase away their husbands for cheating on sales.

Men hire trucks or use bicycles or motorcycles to transport crops to distant markets and sometimes are not transparent about the income received.

Capital for production Generally, men are expected to provide the capital for purchasing seeds and other inputs and paying laborers. This is because the capital comes from previous crop seasons which is mainly controlled by men. Women may contribute capital if they take out loans. Generally women are averse to taking out such loans for agriculture.

There is a general fear that women tend to use loans unsustainably for family consump-tion. But then again, if they used it for agri-culture they would lose it to the man during harvest and sales and still be burdened with repayment.

Markets working for women

The cooperative market system is not working in favor of many women because such cooperatives are usually tied to cooperative unions which operate under national crop boards. The crops having national boards are controlled by men.

Main markets for smallholder sunflower, maize and pulses farmers in the program were at the farm gate, the buyers being retail vendors. The study confirmed that women were more likely to accept low prices from vendors due to inadequate market information. Women who head households could be adversely affected by this situation because they didn’t have men to provide or look for markets for them while these women attended to the household workload.

Some AMCOS and SACCOS in Iringa and Mbeya region operate warehouse receipt systems (WHRS) for maize and paddy. Participation in the system requires capital for transporting crops from the farm to the warehouse, and the study has shown that women are disadvantaged in liquidity. Operations of WHRSs are male dominated, involving physical strength for stacking materials in the warehouse, which most women cannot sustain. Women have to depend on male support, leading to small profit margins for sunflower, maize and pulses, something that is not so attractive to many women farmers because of the outlay cost.

Women in leadership and decision making

The study confirmed that as much as women needed economic progress, peace and harmony in the family was a priority. To balance out the situation, women needed cohesion in shared family assets, needs and goals. They needed to participate in decision making on how family resources and assets such as land and incomes should be used. They needed the different roles and responsibilities of the family members to complement each other towards achieving shared goals and visions. In order to fulfill the desire to participate in family-level decision making, women needed to increase their confidence as equal partners with men and refrain from delegating to men the roles that deprived women the power to access and control.

With the exception of Mbeya region, women’s participation in community institutions like SACCOS tended to be less than men. Women participated in small village lending and saving groups at a rate of about 80% in AMDT project regions.

The number of women in leadership positions in AMCOS and SACCOS in Mbeya was higher than in other regions because women who were household heads demonstrated more confidence and self-independence. Men were of the opinion that women, even some who were leaders, were shy and lacking in confidence and did not dare to share opinions in SACCOS meetings. It is also possible that men were more comfortable and showed less resistance when their womenfolk were involved in village groups dominated by the women themselves.

The study identified the existence of model men (fathers, husbands, in-laws) who influenced unlocking cultural barriers to some successful women, underscoring the importance of men’s role in changing cultural practices that inhibit women’s participation in decision making and control of resources. The study confirmed that in order to gain equal access and control women needed to change from the attitude of “submitting” to that of “contributing.” (Box 8).

Women were also active in informal “kufa na kuzikana” peer help groups. Conditions governing these groups were said to promote mutual trust and freedom of expression and were characterized as being beneficial, transparent and democratic – where accountability and integrity were highly valued.

Box 8: Benefits of village community banking schemes (VICOBA)

“I started a business of vending vegetables in streets. My husband was not happy with my business. He restricted me to a tight schedule of when to return home. I saved some of my income in VICOBA. In 2011 drought caused food scarcity. I borrowed money from my VICOBA group that enabled me to begin food vending and aggregating and selling maize. I rescued the family from famine. After that my husband become cooperative. My business has grown. We bought a better house and we managed to support our children to attend university when he failed to secure student loans.”

Joyce Elias, Babati

Women were less active in savings and credit cooperative societies (SACCOS) which required higher membership subscriptions and collateral values – unaffordable to many women. In Karagwe, women participation in agricultural marketing cooperative societies (AMCOS – formally primary cooperative societies affiliated to cooperative unions) was less than 20% because membership favored coffee farmers, who were mainly men. The situation was similar for Mtwara region where membership in AMCOS was for cashew nuts, whose sales tended to be dominated by men.

Forming apex organizations by aggregating small groups such VICOBA and kufa na kuzikana to perform collective functions in the market systems can engage and benefit a large number of women. However, aggregation must be done carefully to conserve fundamental values of the aggregate units in order to maintain women’s trust, confidence and participation in the apex bodies. Business management skills and constitutional development of the formed apex organizations should ensure ownership, gender equity, accountability and democracy. The process should include women leadership skills development and decision making.

Struggles for control of income from businesses

Some wives go into conflict with husbands who want to take control of the incomes women earn from their business. Some of these conflicts lead to divorce. Such conflict is most likely to occur if women obtained significant amounts of capital from their husbands. One lady from Waning’ombe district, Iringa, said she supervises a sunflower and maize milling business. She has to report everything to her husband who has ultimate control. She attended the focus group discussion because the invitation specified that a woman should attend, otherwise the husband would have attended.

Women’s traditional dependence on men for startup capital is a major compromise to their power to make decisions on assets and income control. There was evidence that women were able to accumulate capital through VICOBA for investment without necessarily depending on men. Also, there was evidence that women who overcame attitudes of spending for consumption and contributed part of their incomes to family business ventures regained comparable decision making power and asset control alongside men. Communities in the study areas showed a

tendency of increasing respect for persistent and confident entrepreneurial women. There is a general appreciation in communities that families where men and women have balanced power in decision making and asset control, are more progressive.

Access to business information and capital

Men are more likely to access business information than women. Men can get business information from fellow men in informal gatherings such as pubs and recreational clubs where women do not go. Such places are considered inappropriate for respectable women. Women do not have time to access business information from media such as newspapers, radio and TVs because they are over burdened with family and household responsibilities and maybe too, because the channels they prefer do not provide such information.

Access to capital for initiating a business was another challenge for many women. Women cannot use family incomes to invest in a business because it is under the control of men. Taking a loan from financial institutions requires collateral which women do not have control over. Nevertheless, success stories of business women from Mbeya, Arusha, Singida and Dodoma indicated that successful women were keen and persistent in gradually accumulating capital from small incomes (Box 9).

Box 9: Capital from gradual accumulation

“My mother was a food vender at the main market in Mbeya. I grew up helping her in her business. I carried a dream of one day becoming a business woman myself. I was married at 17. I got one child. But soon my husband and I ran into marital difficulties and we divorced. He abandoned the child and me and I remained a single parent struggling with life. I fried and sold breakfast buns for a living. I desired to own a sunflower milling plant like my aunt. She offered me the position of paid supervisor at her plant. Slowly over a period of four years I gained experience and accumulated some money. Later I shared capital with a male cousin and bought one sunflower processing machine. After three years of operation we bought a second machine and then decided to each run our business separately. I now own a factory and the business is doing very well.”

32 year old woman from Mbeya

Focus group discussion participants believed that some women failed to utilize opportunities to access capital from VICOBAs though accumulation plans. Women tended to use VICOBA loans for consumption rather than investment. They had no idea on how to invest the money they accumulated in VICOBA. This explained why loan defaulting was so bad, with borrowers being unable to repay loans.

The AMDT program should leverage VICOBA initiatives to reach more women and to promote access to finance. The AMDT program should invest in developing

the capacity of women to participate in capital investments and grasp business opportunities. The program should support the aggregation VICOBA groups to create stronger capital portfolios that may attract larger financial service providers to work with them with increased financial capacity.

AMDT programs should also facilitate developing the capacity of financing groups like VICOBA to be able to gain for themselves, and later provide to their members, financial and business services like business skills, credit management and counselling, business investment and startup and confidence building for women to engage in value chain business.

Supporting value addition techniques and technologies for women will enable women to engage in micro-economic activities in the business nodes that have been identified to be attractive to women. AMDT program efforts should facilitate interaction between women economic groups and financial institutions that have financial products compatible to women. Community banks in AMDT program areas are appropriate financial institutions to link with farmers groups.

Village community banking (VICOBA) schemes have accumulation plans that enable members to acquire loans without the need for collateral. Such plans involve members being co-opted to join. They can then take out very low amounts of money in loans and are given a repayment peri-od within which the loan plus any interest must be repaid. If compliance is good, the member can then take progressively larger loans. Repayment abilities are assessed and if over time they are reliably within schedule, the member may reach the ability to take out a large loan in keeping with what they require.

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