It was set up by Rose Acock and Richard Anderson who wanted to work in development at village level and opened an office in Hanyuan county in January 1997, from where small scale projects are run in the villages of Hanyuan. DORS has received funding from the British Chamber of Commerce in China, the Methodist Relief and Development Fund, Misereor and other national and international donors. Introduction DORS first rural credit scheme was started in July 1997 in an Yi minority village of Hanyuan County. The scheme was designed by DORS with input from the loanees, using participatory methodology. Currently 59 women in Sugu Village have DORS loans.
All loans are repayable within one year.
So far all repayments have been made in full. The following is a description of our experiences, as a small non-governmental organisation, implementing a micro credit scheme in rural China. Many of the poorer villages in the south of the County are populated by Yi minority people. These villages are perched on steep mountain slopes and are not always accessible by road. The scheme was designed partly by DORS, and partly by the women involved.