Focus Group Discussion ECCF Organizers

5/26/2016
1. What is the Early Childhood Community Fund ( ECCF) and what is your
specific role(s) in relation to it?
In addition to the general discussion, please ensure that comment is
made on the following points:
The number of persons responsible for the ECCF in each village;
How these people were chosen;
The checks, balances and administrative procedures in place to
prevent the misuse of ECCF funds by ECCF organisers;
What, in their view, is the purpose of the ECCF?
How is the money stored and where?
2. Before/during your taking charge of the ECCF, what training did you
receive? Please describe with as much precision as possible the key
information that you leant thanks to this training.
In addition to the general discussion, please ensure that comment is
made on the following points:
The number of trainings undertaken, the date these trainings
were undertaken and the duration (i.e. how many hours of
training in total);
Which parts of the trainings they found the most useful (if any);
Which parts of the trainings they found the least useful (if any);
3. To date, what has the ECCF been used for in you village?
In addition to the general discussion, please ensure that comment is
made on the following points:
How many loans have been taken out (NB: Do not mention the
word loan itself; if after discussing the uses of the ECCF the
group does not mention loans, only then may you prompt them);
How many loans are made each year, what is their general size
(MMK) and what have they been used for most frequently;
4. Please describe step-by-step the procedure you have
does exist) for applying for an ECCF loan.

in place (if one

In addition to the general discussion, please ensure that comment is

made on the following points:
Who should a person approach and when (must application be
made at a public meeting, for example)

 How do you ensure that the borrower will be able to repay the
loan? Do you require any collateral?
How long does it take for a loan to be approved?
5. Has the start-up money you received (600,000 MMK) been enough to
satisfy the demand of people in your communities. Please explain your
answer by giving specific examples.
In addition to the general discussion, please ensure that comment is
made on the following points:
What is the typical amount of credit desired by people in the
community;
Whether or not people have been told to wait to receive a loan
due to limited funds, and if so, how it is decided who receives
the loan first (e.g. first come first serve or some assessment of
need)?
6. Does your ECCF have any reserve requirements? That is, an amount of
money (MMK) which at a minimum must be kept in reserve by the
ECCF (e.g. the ECCF cannot make any fresh loans once its hard cash drops
to a certain level).
In addition to the general discussion, please ensure that comment is
made on the following points:
If Yes, what is the amount, how was this decided upon, and has
it ever been reached?
If No, why not?
7. What procedures do you have in place for the non-repayment of loans, if
any?
In addition to the general discussion, please ensure that comment is
made on the following points:

Who decided the procedures?

How prevalent has non-repayment been?
Has any money been lost so far?
What enforcement mechanisms may the community use?

8. What are the usual terms and conditions for loans granted via the ECCF?
In addition to the general discussion, please ensure that comment is
made on the following points:
The interest rate and whether or not this rate varies at all. If the
rate does vary, please explain how the interest rates vary;
How was the interest rate decided upon?

 Whether or not ECCF members think the interest rate should be

raised to generate more money for the fund;
What is the typical repayment period;
Is there a grace period (that is, after how long do repayments on
the loan start)?
Are loan terms and conditions standard or sometimes
negotiated on an individual basis?
Who has the final decision on loan terms and conditions?

9. Is there any support you feel that you were missing in organising the
EFFC? What could CARE have done to help make the ECCF work better?
10.What are the most important sources of borrowing money within your
communities? For example, when people in the village wish to pay for a
wedding, funeral, health care, large household items or farm investment,
where do they typically get the money from?
In addition to the general discussion, please ensure that comment is
made on the following points:
Comment should be made with respect to before and after the
creation of the ECCF;
All major sources of loans should be listed, along with some
indicator about which of these is the most important.
11.What knowledge do people in the relevant communities have about the
fund?
In addition to the general discussion, please ensure that comment is
made on the following points:
How many households in the community would they guess know
about ECCF?
How, when and where did the ECCF organisers promote the fund
to people in the village?
Why do they think some people do not know about the CCF (if
relevant)

12.We have read that the ECCF is often used to help pay for teachers
salaries and the maintanence of the ECCD building. To what extent is this
true in your communities?
In addition to the general discussion, please ensure that comment is
made on the following points:

 Even if parents contribute to the teachers salaries, how much is

paid for using ECCF monies?
If something breaks in the ECCD (e.g. the roof) or the ECCD runs
out of learning materials such as pens, paper or books, can
teachers withdraw money from the ECCD? How normal is this
practice in your community> What steps must the teacher take
to access these funds?
13.What is your opinion of the sustainability of the ECCDs in your village and
of the ECCF?
In addition to the general discussion, please ensure that comment is
made on the following points:
Do they think the ECCF could ever generate enough returns on
interest to fund the teachers salaries?
How much (MMK) return from interests paid on loans have they
made from the start of the ECCF to present?

14.Please fill in the table below with respect to each individual ECCF present.
The information should record the name of the village, the date (MM/YYYY)
the ECCF was granted, the total amount of physical cash (MMK) held in
the reserve, the usual interest rate per month or per year (specify) and
the total amount of loans outstanding (MMK):
Village

Date of ECCF creation

(MM/YYYY)

Cash held by
ECCF (MMK)

Rate of interest
(monthly or
yearly)

Total loans
outstanding
(MMK)