REACHING THE HARD TO REACH: - CASE STUDY - Village Savings and Loans Associations in Niger:

Though implementation of the strategy has been slow, progress in 2006 includes the establishment of a pilot committee to develop the legal and institutional framework for a Microfinance Supervisory Agency, and the commissioning of a comprehensive survey of MFIs. [...] This lack of spread affects the association’s viability as does the fact that the networks lend directly to VSLA individual members through the association and not to the association as a whole. [...] The management of the funds for the cereal bank and the network savings and loan initiatives are supposed to be separate. [...] Though the members have not shared out the profits from the Village Savings and Loans Associations in Niger: Mata Masu Dubara Model of Remote Outreach 12 cereal banks there is appreciation of the potential gains from the ownership and operation of the activities. [...] Though the membership fees differ, the criteria used to determine the figure is the same and equivalent to the founding groups’ contributions towards the network registration fees, buying record books and the cash box, and costs related to setting up the cereal bank.