Social Impact Assessment of Microfinance Programmes - weman

• Loans to Manufactures: Orangi Town is bubbling with entrepreneurial spirit with
family units and individuals involved in various small-scale manufacturing. For
supporting these businesses so that they can expand and be sustaining, loans to
manufacture products are given. Commonly, loans are given to Banarsi Cloth
weavers, garment factories and leather work producers, stitching centres,
automobile and auto spare parts workshops, furniture makers and many others.
Till August 2006, a total of Rs. 78,164,872 loans has been disbursed.
• Loan to Traders: Retailers and traders are also extensively supported by OCT.
Almost one-third of clients served constitute traders running general stores,
medical stores, electrical shops, confectioners, butchers, etc. The total amount
disbursed is Rs. 154,158,305.
• Loan to Service Providers: A total amount of Rs 49,935,027 is disbursed as
loans to service providers like beauticians, hoteliers, transporters, etc.
• Loan to upgrade Thallas: 93 percent of Orangi’s houses have been built with
financial and technical assistance from local building component manufacturing
yards operated by entrepreneurs. These yards exist in all the neighbourhoods and
are known as thallas, their owners take on house-building contracts or supply
masons as needed by other contractors. Although the emergence of thallawalas
has contributed to improving the construction and housing quality in Pakistan,
however, due to limited perspective, their technical designs and services were
considered to be generally very archaic or outdated. Therefore, OPP-RTI offered
carpentry and masonry skill training and technical advice. Loans were provided
for improving the technology used by thallawalas such as mechanizing the blockmaking
process, developing prefabricated roofs and floor slabs, etc. This technical
advice and credit has helped at least 60 thallawalas who now employ over 300
persons with the upgradation and expansion of their services. A total loan of Rs.
2,385,100 is provided to 135 thallawalas.
• Loans to Farmers and Fisher folk: This is another major product of OCT with
10,758 units served (roughly one-third of total) with loans of Rs. 121,381,603
across Sindh. These loans are given mainly through farmers’ collectives and
NGOs for the purchase of seeds, fertilizers, pesticides, tractor hiring, etc, thus
supporting them from crop sowing to cutting and selling. The size of loan is
determined by the type of crop and area of crop. Loans have also been given for
paving water channels, installing electrical pumps for water-logged farms and fish
farming.
• Loan to Clinics: OCT provides loans to upgrade physical spaces and technical
equipment of health facilities in and outside Orangi. Almost 198 clinics have been
supported through loans of Rs 3,928,400.
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