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   WMI UPDATE

   

    January/February 2012
 
    wmionline.org

   

In This Update:

 

  •  Annual Potuck scheduled for April 29, 2012
  •  WMI's 2011 Annual Report posted
  •  WMI members elected to public office in Uganda
  •  WMI loan program sited in Aid for Africa Blog
  •  WMI participates in Month of Microfinance
  •  Blog of 2012 field visit to Uganda and Kenya

 Annual Potluck Scheduled for Sunday, April 29, 2012

 

The annual potluck fundraiser is scheduled for Sunday, April 29, 2012, at the Carderock Springs Club House, 8200 Hamilton Springs Court, Bethesda, MD 20817.  This wonderful event features terrific food, great company and the latest updates on the WMI loan program.  New videos from WMI's recent field visit to Uganda and Kenya will be featured.

The Potluck dinner is WMI's main fundraising event of the year.  We hope you can join us on the evening of April 29th.  And...if you can't make the event, please consider supporting WMI's annual fundraiser with an online donation.  Your generous support is what makes WMI's outreach possible and it is greatly appreciated!  Donate

It's never too early to RSVP!  Please contact WMI's office manager, Kathy Staudaher, to let her know you will be attending.  [email protected]

WMI'S 2011 Annual Report Posted

 
WMI's 2011 Annual report is now complete and has been posted on the home page of the web site.  It was a year of many accomplishments.  Please take a few miutes to review the Report and see what we have managed to accomplish together. Annual Report 

On all fronts, 2011 was a marvelous year of loan program growth, internal development and increased financial support for WMI. 

WMI Members Elected to Public Office in Uganda
 

A special word of thanks and support to Robineh Wamanga and Beatrice Bukowa, who are members of the WMI loan groups in Buyobo and Bududa, Uganda respectively.  They have each been elected as the women's representative to the district government:  Robineh in Sironko and Beatrice in Bududa.  They asked their WMI colleagues to support them as "sisters of the soil."  Our hope is that their participation in local government will help raise awareness of the critical need for access to financial services for rural women and also highlight the achievements that rural women can attain when provided with the requisite resources.

WMI Loan Program Sited in Aid for Africa Blog
 

Aid for Africa is a unique partnership of some 80 select charities, all dedicated to providing resources that focus on supporting solutions to the complex, inter-related challenges facing development in Africa. Member organizationstouch almost every aspect of the African community, distributing books to school children, introducing medical strategies to combat the spread of HIV/AIDS, or identifying and supporting women's micro-enterprise projects.  Member organizations in the Aid for Africa partnership meet stringent tests of fiscal accountability, governance and programmatic impact.  WMI was pleased to join the organization in 2011.  In its recent blog post, the Aid for Africa staff discussed the benefits of WMI's unique microfinance loan program.  Aid for Africa Blog

WMI Participates in Month of Microfinance
 

During the Month of Microfinance, students at participating college, university, and high school campuses will host/participate in campus events that raise awareness and funds for their domestic and/or global microfinance institution of choice and provide educational opportunities for themselves and their communities.   It is a month of education, awareness and fundraising events for domestic and global microfinance, scheduled for  April 1 - April 30, 2012.  WMI is pleased to be a Partner in the Month of Microfinance and will be participating in workshops and speaking events in the Washington, DC area.  For more information log on to the web site: MofM

Blog of 2012 Field Visit to Uganda
 

WMI's President, Robyn Nietert, spent a month in the field working with WMI's staff at the loan hubs in Uganda and Kenya.  She posted regular blogs and pictures capturing the WMI borrowers as they celebrated their successes, showed off their businesses, traveled to far flung villages, trained new members, and deliberated about how to expand the loan program they call their own.

 

If you have not yet had a chance to check out the blog, please take a few minutes to share in the lives of the women and families that you have supported through your generosity. WMI Blog.

Thank you!
 

 

Gratefully,

The WMI Board of Directors

  

 

Robyn Nietert        [email protected]  

Betsy Gordon         [email protected]
Deborah Smith       [email protected]
June Kyakobye       [email protected]

Trix Vandervossen  [email protected]
Jane Erickson         [email protected]
Terry Ciccotelli        [email protected]