Essentially, these institutions are bankers and lenders, who provide financial services such as deposits, loans, payment services, money transfers, and insurance.
Owing to their role in society, they help many women in accessing soft loans to start useful projects.
This in turn helps women gain financial independence to make good decisions.
We all know that women are often the most severely affected when communities are disrupted by constant regional economic disparities. So this makes the work of mirco-finance institutions important.
It is in the news that Resilience of Organizations for Transformative Smallholder Agriculture Programme also known as the Roots recently convened a day-long consultative discussion with microfinance institutions.
The six-year project seeks to improve savings and services of financial institutions especially at the rural level. It is also designed to increase agricultural productivity, thereby facilitating easy access to markets for enhanced food security, nutrition, and resilience for family farms and farmer organisations.
The US$80 million project, according to officials, is the biggest ever-agricultural intervention in the country and would be implemented for a period of six years in all the administrative regions of the country.
What is even more remarkable about this agric project is that it seeks to improve savings and services of financial institutions especially at the rural level.
It is a fact that many aspiring and even established businessmen would most often reach out to micro-finance institutions in times of need or if they are about to initiate businesses. We’ve seen how some businessmen who benefited from this project changed their communities and those around them.
It is a fact that many rural communities are highly underserved. Traditionally, formal financial institutions avoid or fail to offer sustainable services in these areas, according to experts.
This in turn causes hardships to local dwellers, who want to apply for soft loans to start businesses. This spurs the need to increase financial institutions’ presence in these communities to enhance the livelihood of the people.
Therefore, let’s support the ROOTS project and ensure it registers remarkable success in the coming years.
With the support of partners and the populace, many are optimistic that the project, when completed, would significantly help change the lives of many rural dwellers.
“ Knowledge is power.
Information is liberating.
Education is the premise of progress, in every society, in every family.”
Kofi Annan