ABSTRACT
In 2008, Professor Nancy Glass, Johns Hopkins University School of Nursing, and Mitima Mpanano Remy, Director of Programme d’Appui aux initiatives Economiques, developed and launched a community-based microfinance program in rural villages in the South Kivu province of the Democratic Republic of the Condo. A mature female pig is delivered to the family’s home, and a variety of supporting services “come with it,” including assistance in building fencing, veterinary support, adult male pigs for breeding, and education about pig farming. The priority audience sought for the experiment were smokers who indicated, when approached on the street by program staff, that they were interested in quitting. An appealing feature of the offer was that every week a Green Bank field staff member would visit the client and collect the money that the smoker had saved, most often keeping it in a lock box in their home that was provided by the bank.
