Indonesia

Indonesia, an archipelago consisting of over 17,000 islands, shows a diversity of landscapes, ethnic groups, cultures and traditions.

The land is very rich in natural resources such as crude oil, natural gas, tin, copper and gold. The main sectors are service, industry and agriculture. Although the latter may seem small, almost 40% of the population earns their living in agriculture. In the ‘80s and ‘90s, due to the rapid economic growth the country underwent at the time, the West assigned Indonesia the nickname ‘Asian Tiger’. This came to an end in 1997, at which time a serious financial crisis hit the country. Indonesia is currently the largest economy in Southeast Asia and shows an economic growth of 5% per year.

Unfortunately, this economic progress does not affect the whole population. Due to issues such as corruption and natural disasters, economic stability remains hard to achieve. There is still a large difference between the rich and the poor. According to the United Nations, around 16% of the population live below the poverty line.

Koperasi Mitra Duafa (Komida) started her microcredit projects in Aceh in 2004, after the tsunami caused many casualties and serious damage to the country. Komida has since grown and currently has 58 offices in Indonesia. Her mission is to improve the ultra poorest financial situation in an honest, transparent and sustainable way through microcredit projects.

Koperasi Amanah is founded in 2009 and has two offices, in Zuid-Tangerang and Bogor. The mission of Koperasi Amanah is to improve family welfare by offering financial services to poor women to become entrepreneur. They train women not only in business but also on social subjects. Everything is done according to islamic principles and the Grameen Bank-system. This connects very well with the objectives of Microcredit for Mothers.

The co-operation with Kopdit Anna in the city of Yogyakarta in Central Java, Indonesia, is one of Microcredit for Mothers’s first microcredit projects. Kopdit Anna has over 25 years of experience in providing microcredits. As a savings and credit co-operation, it loans the savings of one half of its members to the other half. Its mission is to support the poorest people in the area by providing financial services. At the same time we visited Kopdit Anna in Summer 2015, they trained other authorities in Yogyakarta. It is good to see Kopdit Anna's many years of experience is spread this way.

Since 2018 Koperasi Tunas Wanita Abadi is our partner in Jakarta Barat (West-Jakarta). The point of view of this co-operation is to enlarge the female strength and to improve the financial position of their members. The government has chosen them as the only microcredit organization in the Cengkareng region.