Ubutyebi Trust

The Ubutyuebi Trust was founded jointly by Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality (NMBM) and Sida, with the principal objective of facilitating sustainable access to housing microfinance for the low-income households in the municipality, through a strengthening of the housing finance institutions. The project involved some internal capacity development for the trustee members with the purpose of broadening their knowledge in microfinance for low-income housing as well as on the major challenges associated with the provision of housing for low-income households. Participants were further impressed by the low-income community in their successes in building their own houses through borrowing from Housing Micro-finance Institutions. During the past year the NMBM attracted two micro-financiers to the Port Elizabeth Metro. These two micro-financiers also received training on best practices, and training material was developed to educate low-income households about micro-financing and responsible borrowing.