A total of N271,578,000 has been disbursed as loans to different women groups in the country through Village Savings and Loan Associations (VSLAs) by an NGO, Women for Women International while a total of N290,615,750 was redistributed back to the members of the groups.
The disclosure was made by the Economic Empowerment Manager of Women to Women International, Victor
Nsunwara at a meeting of the VSLAs in Bauchi on Monday held at Chartwell Hotel.
According to him “as of Dec 2021, there were over 400 VSLA groups comprising over 9000 members with over N145M in share purchases redistributed back to members since 2015.”
He added that there are over 200 community-based groups VSLA groups set up through the effort of women trained by WfWI-N in their communities adding that these over 200 groups comprise of 5000 members with a total fund pool of over N84m.
He further disclosed that there are presently 182 VSLA groups in federations across Bauchi and Jos with over 4000 members and with a share value of over N40m.
Victor Nsunwara explained that Women for Women International in her effort to promote access to credit for micro-entrepreneurs in rural communities it is working, invested in the VSLA pilot in 2015 which was conducted with 10 groups, 4 in Enugu and 6 in Plateau.
He added that after the pilot, which was successful, Women for Women International-Nigeria scaled up investment in VSLA in the communities it is working in, from 2016 to date with over 400 VSLA groups currently operating in the three states of Plateau, Bauchi and Kaduna while the Head Office was moved from Enugu to Jos-Plateau State in 2022.
The EE Manager stressed that with the increase in the number of groups, and expansion of the program to Bauchi and Kaduna States, with positive results, and other inevitable challenges such as fund shortages for access to business credit among others, another savings platform called VSLA federation was introduced.
The Federation represents cooperation among VSLA groups and comprises VSLAs as members.
“In the light of the success recorded with VSLAs, WfWI-N is currently piloting digitization of the VSLAs (use of technology/mobile app to replace manual recording of groups’ data with benefit of time savings in the manual recording of shares and processes, accurate and safe record among others”, he also said.
Speaking further, he said that, “On behalf of the management and staff of Women for Women International, we welcome you to this event termed Congress of VSLAs. VSLA means Village Savings and Loan Associations.”
He explained that “It is an association of close-knit groups of 15-30 members who agree to come together voluntarily to save through share purchases, access credit for business purposes and connect to networks for support. It is an informal financial inclusion platform that serves as mini banks for rural unbanked communities and is based on standard principles and practice”.
According to him, “This event is organized to create opportunities for VSLA groups from different communities in the Women for Women International program to interact and share experiences, discuss challenges and network for business purposes while also, creating a platform for the ministries and agencies of government and the formal financial service providers (banks) to learn about the Women’s VSLAs operations, the opportunities it presents with a view to stimulating interest on possible areas of mutual cooperation and support to increase opportunities for the women and boost the economy of the communities.”
Victor Nsunwara said “We hope that you find the event useful to consider possible areas of cooperation to increase opportunities for women collective groups as we continue to promote progress toward the National Financial inclusion policy of the CBN. To this end, we are available for future discussion/engagement.”
Most of the women who spoke during the meeting gave a good and positive account of the programme which they said has changed their living status making them self employed and self-reliant as well as breadwinners of their respective families.
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