We have been very busy since we last contacted you. Perhaps the most important news is our decision to change the organization's name to Women for Women, in response to our decision to expand our work to Rwanda. As the projects in Bosnia continue to grow and expand, Brarbara Eberhart, the new project director for Rwanda, is laying the ground work and raising funds for the project.
In Bosnia, our microcredit-lending program has been highly successful. One hundred and five women are already involved, and WWB hopes to have fifty more borrowers by December. The repayment rate has been 100%.
Also, Women for Women was chosen to be featured in a documentary film (sponsored by Lifetime TV and will be shown in January, 1998) about women's human rights. Women for Women was chosen for its successful grass roots work in rural areas and for its attempt to help women rebuild their lives, financially, politically, and socially. It is my hope that the documentary will provide publicity for WWB and create new interest in the organization.
Women for Women is modifying its sponsorship program to provide technical training and guidance from professional staff members to sponsored women, in order to help them learn new skills to find or create employment and become self-sufficient. We are changing focus of the sponsorship program to provide the women further self-determination by giving access to six months of skill training and women's rights education, while they continue to receive direct donations from sponsors.