Common Interest's work with micro-credit is gaining some attention in the local news. The Chiang Mai Mail newspaper recently published an article on our first women's village bank.
Micro-credit is not well known in Thailand and any kind of publicity helps us with our work.
To view the article click here.

As we reported in March, we started a new "Village Banking" system in our villages. We started with two villages - one in Phrao and the other in Mae Taeng. Since then, we have been receiving numerous phone calls from women's groups in those areas. With the high demand, it was impossible for us to schedule workshops in every village so we invited the leaders to a one-day workshop at the Amphur Office in Phrao. Quite a few villages sent representatives and we already have started an additional 6 village banks.

Lek and Ploy at Amphur Office with Village Representatives

Interest in our Village Banking program is continuing to increase into areas that we did not initially predict. Yesterday, some of our staff were invited to re invited to Baan Pa Daeng by a group of women involved in a weaving project run by a local nun. The group has received support from some generous local expats but are now in the process of trying to find a long-term solution for their work. Starting a village bank is one of the options that they are considering.

Another recent development is in the area of HIV/AIDS. Up to now, we have been focussing on starting a program for a village, rather than sub-groups or clubs. However; a group from an area North of Chiang Mai has called us and asked to join our program. They are a group of 30 people living with HIV. Most are women but the group also includes a few men. The group explained to us that many of them have lost their jobs once it was known that they carried the virus. This has forced most of them to become small business entrepreneurs regardless of their education or experience. Because of some major misconceptions about HIV in Thailand, the group wants to start their own village bank where members will understand and work together without fear or suspicion. The members started saving last week and plan to issue their own loans sometime in early June. By request, the group has asked us not to publish any photos of themselves at this time.