Country
Cameroon

Local Project Partners
La Régionale d'Epargne et Credit

German Project Partner
n.n.

Donors
German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ)

Duration
01.01.2014 - 30.06.2022

The political situation in Cameroon has increasingly deteriorated over the last few years. Tensions in Anglophone areas have escalated into local civil war. Human rights violations in the affected regions have been reported.

The economic situation has also deteriorated as a result of the drop in prices for agricultural produce, which has had a corresponding impact on the microfinance sector. Irrespective of this, the microfinance sector is characterized by insufficient capitalization and a lack of professionalism, which is due to the limited range of training and long-term education opportunities.

Access to financial services, especially in rural areas, is provided by the network of around 200 village savings banks (Caisses Villageoise d'Epargne et de Crédit Autogérée, CVECA). The village savings banks are organized in five regional associations with standard-setting and controlling functions. Together with the national service provider "Microfinance et Développement" (MIFED), which has the government mandate to establish village savings banks and monitor their operations, six regional savings banks were established as CVECAs. They have their own legal personality through the establishment of an umbrella association U3C and a grouping of the viable savings banks, to which the previous CVECAs were assigned as legally dependent paying agents.

The project is part of Cameroon's national strategy for financial inclusion and aims to improve financial services for the rural population by strengthening village savings banks (CVECAs). It aims to make village savings banks' financial services more accessible, affordable, and of higher quality. The institutional development of village savings banks is to be strengthened through MIFED and the new umbrella organization U3C. The aim here is to create a sustainable livelihood for the entire sector of CVECAs by meeting the new regulatory requirements.

Project Tasks

• Support of the association U3C in the development of standards and procedures, as well as in the further development of the reporting system, and the development of a training concept.
• Support of educational measures aimed at the clientele of the village savings banks.
• Accompanying CVECAs in bringing to life the formally fulfilled requirements of the new microfinance regulation.