Here is a paper I wrote to highlight a Salvation Army project. The project I picked is called The Mustard Seed Project and is placed within the African and Indian countries. Hope you enjoy! The Mustard Seed Project The Mustard Seed Project is a program that has changed many lives through a micro credit loan system. Their program scripture verse is Matthew 17:20b “I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘move from here to there’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.” (NIV) The women entering the program develop a faith in not only God, but in themselves that anything is possible, even getting out of the deep poverty that they are in. All of the information is either from the website http://www.salvationarmy.ie or through an interview with Major Capsey at International Headquarters in London England. The Mustard Seed’s mission is “…to enable the poorest people to help themselves out of the poverty trap by the means of a carefully designed system of loans in order to encourage income generation.”[i] The initial loans are 50-100 pounds with a repayment schedule designed by their group. With this money they are able to grow out of the poverty they are in. The project’s headline mottos include “to change the face of poverty from the bottom up” and to give hard love by giving dignity and respect to the people by not handing out freebies, but letting them earn it.[ii] This is the only way that the women in the program would learn how to handle money, handle the responsibility of a business or to be given any chance of not going back where they began, not being able to take care of themselves. The method of doing this is by the bubble up method; to not give money from the top to trickle down, but from the bottom to go up. That way the women receive all of the money and responsibility, which can only grow their families, communities, and some day perhaps their country. In this way it grows from the bottom up. [iii] The program works in a very systematic way that helps regenerate itself for future loans. First, the original funds are given by the support of Salvationists donating monetary gifts toward the program. “Initially the concept was launched and people agreed to donate regularly in this way.”[iv] Those same Salvationists are still being debited each month in order to keep this program alive and healthy. By monthly donations they are able to help women in the poorest environments group together to climb out of the poverty stricken life they are in. The program is based mostly for women, due to their role in the culture of being the caretaker for the family. Once a woman is accepted into the program they go through different types of training. Within this training they pick out their own leaders within the community and then develop rules and limitations on to how they want the program to work specifically for that community. This includes picking out their interest rates on the loans and the length of periods of the repayment plan and the initial grace period.[v] This community is therefore designed by the members of the community in order to not be ‘controlled’ by anyone but themselves. This teaches the women responsibility and management on a personal level as well. The women then break off into groups to help keep each other accountable and to act as collateral in case one woman cannot make a payment. Everyone within the groups agrees to support each other as much as possible, even if that is by being collateral to one another’s loan. When repayment becomes too difficult this is where the interest comes in. The interest on the loan provides a cushion for the group and for the Army. Once a woman finishes paying off a loan she has the choice of getting another one. There are up to five cycles that the loan process can go through, usually with the amount increasing each time. These loans go towards to helping the women either start or develop existing businesses within their community. The money often involves trading: buying good in large amounts to sell in small, or to buy when goods are in season and sell later on when they are hard to find.[vi] By doing this they are able to not only payback their loans but also start saving money to live on. As of right now the Mustard Seed program can be found mostly within the country of Zambia, with some communities also in Tanzania. An offshoot of the program, same basis but different methods have started in Kenya and India and are doing well to build up those communities. The program tries to go to the poorest communities in the poorest countries in order to help build up the people and their country one loan at a time.[vii] As with every program there are some challenges that might occur. One would be the fluctuating repayment rates specific to each group in every community. Sometimes the repayment rates go as low as 70%, which then becomes a hardship for the women and the coordinators. The repayment rate needs to be steady in order to fully help women in need and for the program itself to function. When the officers in charge believe things are going well, the repayment rate is 95% to 100%, which means that practically every payment was on time and for the right amount. Another challenge within the program is dishonesty with the money. Due to the type of people they are helping, some believe that the only way to survive is to take what you can and run. In many cases in their community this is truth, so another challenge is to teach these women that getting out of poverty can be accomplished without stealing. Fortunately, this occurrence of dishonesty does not happen very often, but in rare cases it does. Because of this, they have put in higher accountability tactics “at all levels from community to THQ” to insure that it does not happen often, if never again. The last challenge that Major Capsey wrote was the bad reporting that can occur. This leads to delays and incidents that can then affect the program and take away from more people who need it. If the person in charge does not receive the information needed to report back to IHQ, then money can be left out and people would either not be receiving a loan, or would not be held accountable for repayment of their loan. This in both cases has negative effects on the program and the people. The budget for this program is prepared alongside the countries concerned as they prepare the project proposal. The budget also has the information on the repayment schedule, which usually last from two to three years, having a payment once every three months or once a year. It all depends on what the women’s group in the beginning decided on during their training. IHQ usually ends up spending between 100,000 to 150,000 pounds per year (approximately 200,000 to 300,000 US dollars), per project on the loans for that community, staffing, and any extra support needed in order to see the women succeed.[viii] Mustard Seeds does not have a lot of staffing either on site within the communities or at IHQ. There are no officers in charge, and yet some Corps Officers or Divisional Women’s Director takes on some of the responsibilities of the program within the communities in their jurisdiction. There is estimated to be about ten to fifteen officers in total that are involved in the program worldwide. Along with the officer there are about three to eight employees that work within this program at each site to instill the participants and help them succeed.[ix] The success rate among the women in the program is on average very high. When asked how many women have been able to complete the program, Major Capsey answered “hundreds and hundreds!”[x] It all depends on the community regarding the success rate, but it can be as high as 98% in some areas. This program is known to be better than most banking systems only due to the high repayment schedule and the fact that the program is able to stay intact and the original money can then be redistributed again. The interest made off of the original loan that had been fully repaid can also be used to start on new loans for more women in need. The way we can help this program is by donating money into it. The only need is people and money, and we are not necessarily able to pack up and move to help these women on the other side of the world, therefore we can give our monetary support. All monetary donations would go to the International Development office at IHQ. This program reminds me of the well-known saying “Give a man a fish, and he’ll eat for a day. Teach a man how to fish, and he’ll eat for the rest of his life.” In this way the Mustard Seed program teaches woman how to handle a business, money, and responsibility in order to be able to not only rise above the poverty line they were in, but also to stay there.
[iv] Interview with Major Capsey via email on 9 October 2008. [vii] The Salvation Army website [viii] Interview with Major Capsey via email on 9 October 2008. [x] See above Work Cited Capsey, Mary. Interview via email on 9 October 2008. Elvin, Mary. Micro-Credit: Changing the Face of Poverty: A paper for The Salvation Army's International Summit on Poverty. The Salvation Army, 24 Jan 2002. The Salvation Army. http://www.salvationarmy.ie/uki/www_uki.nsf/vw-dynamic The Salvation Army United Kingdom with the Republic of Ireland. 2008. 8 Oct 2008. | 
