More on the problem

I've been chatting with Phuong, one of the administrators here. He tells me that the cleaners here probably earn about USD1 per day.

They might own a bicycle, and probably share a room and a bed with two or three other people.

They work in shifts, they sleep in shifts.

Therefore, if you have a 'good job' which pays around USD4-5 per day, there exists a lot of social pressure that you help your family out financially. This doesn't leave a lot of excess capacity to repay loans.

The problem

OK here's the deal. The University would like a student loans scheme set up, for students enrolled in the Masters in Development Economics. They have to find USD 4200 over three years.

The local bank doesn't want to deal with the smelly students, can you believe it!

Most of the students have low incomes, no realisable assets and no credit history.

A good income here is about USD120 per month. The fees are USD1800 per year, give or take. Do the sums on that one and you'll soon see the problem.

As I've said to my good friend here, there will be a solution, we just have to find it.

If there are any PLAN brokers out there, now is the time to make yourselves known.