COMMUNITY-MANAGED MICROFINANACE

 A CMMFI is self-managed and independent  A CMMFI is a small-scale community- based institution that mobilises and manages its own savings, providing interest-bearing loans to members and offering a limited form of financial insurance

Financial Product offer:  Savings  Insurance  Credit

Models:  Self-help Groups (SHGs)  Rotating Savings and Credit Association (ROSCA)  Accumulating Savings and Credit Association (ASCA)  Savings and Credit Cooperatives or Unions  Village Savings and Loan

Group norms  Group size range: 7-25  Membership criteria: self-selected, usually open to men and women. Groups may be mixed.  Meeting frequency: chosen by group-weekly, fortnightly, monthly  Attendance: obligatory, but flexible  Leadership structure: democratically elected committee (4- 5 members) elected annually  Record-keeping: varies  Time to self-management/independence: 1-2

Formation, Training and Graduation  Preliminary meetings;-orientation of local leaders and government officials;  Public meetings-to generate interest  Group formation  Training

Strength:  Safe  Flexible  Simple and transparent  Accessible  Frequent opportunities to save  Save in variable amounts  Regular opportunities to borrow  Repay in variable amounts  Incremental debt, proportionate to capacity  Savings (asset) based, not credit (debt)

Weakness:  Limited pool of capital  Limited range of savings, insurance and lending products  Requires annual distribution to maintain transparency and safety (causes disruptions in loan access and size)

Qualities of a good facilitator:  Patient and tolerant  Need to have facilitation skills  Needs to be presentable  Time conscious  Should be social  Should be reliable (Quality)  Should have numerical skills  Self motivated  Needs to be flexible  Confidentiality  Trainable  Able to resolve conflicts.