CCFiN and the Canadian Co-operative Association
The Canadian
Co-Operative Association (CCA) partnered with CCFiN in 2007 in order to expand
the co-operative network and build capacity of community financial institutions
(CFIs) to mobilize and manage community resources through local credit
unions.
CCA started working in Cambodia in 2003-04 and it found an emerging microfinance sector and lots of CFIs scattered throughout the country. There weren’t many options for linking groups to financial institutions. CCA started out fostering the emergence of a learning network of community finance promoter organizations in order to build a common understanding around good practice. Through action research projects CCA worked with NGOs and local community leaders to network CFIs together.NGOs were phasing out of communities as project funding wound down. The CFIs they had helped to create had no way of connecting to one another and limited opportunity to link to the formal system.Where NGOs had already phased out CCA found that many CFIs continued but that they tended to remain quite closed and the capital base had leveled off.
CCFiN and CCA worked have worked together to expand to inject life into community finance, attract new members and promote a savings-first approach as a pathway out of poverty. CCFiN provides the services necessary for CFIs to network together to establish legitimate, registered financial co-operatives.
CCFiN’s current project with CCA will look to build financial management capacity of 2000 rural community finance institutions (approx. 150 directly and 1850 through network level initiatives), strengthen 5 existing credit unions and establish 10 new credit unions. It will also result in the creation of a central credit union organization, Credit Union Foundation of Cambodia (CUFC), as a pilot project to facilitate resource mobilization and liquidity exchange, and provide an incentive for credit unions to meet operational and financial targets. The goal of the project to reduce household vulnerability in rural Cambodia by creating access to credit unions, community finance institutions and second tier organizations that promote asset pooling and community investment.
For more information visit on CCA, visit their website.
CCA started working in Cambodia in 2003-04 and it found an emerging microfinance sector and lots of CFIs scattered throughout the country. There weren’t many options for linking groups to financial institutions. CCA started out fostering the emergence of a learning network of community finance promoter organizations in order to build a common understanding around good practice. Through action research projects CCA worked with NGOs and local community leaders to network CFIs together.NGOs were phasing out of communities as project funding wound down. The CFIs they had helped to create had no way of connecting to one another and limited opportunity to link to the formal system.Where NGOs had already phased out CCA found that many CFIs continued but that they tended to remain quite closed and the capital base had leveled off.
CCFiN and CCA worked have worked together to expand to inject life into community finance, attract new members and promote a savings-first approach as a pathway out of poverty. CCFiN provides the services necessary for CFIs to network together to establish legitimate, registered financial co-operatives.
CCFiN’s current project with CCA will look to build financial management capacity of 2000 rural community finance institutions (approx. 150 directly and 1850 through network level initiatives), strengthen 5 existing credit unions and establish 10 new credit unions. It will also result in the creation of a central credit union organization, Credit Union Foundation of Cambodia (CUFC), as a pilot project to facilitate resource mobilization and liquidity exchange, and provide an incentive for credit unions to meet operational and financial targets. The goal of the project to reduce household vulnerability in rural Cambodia by creating access to credit unions, community finance institutions and second tier organizations that promote asset pooling and community investment.
For more information visit on CCA, visit their website.
