Development and International Relations
9th semester internship project
Supervisor
Li Xing
TABLE OF CONTENTS
CHAPTER ONE
Introduction
1.1 Presentation of Rural Investment Credit (RIC)
1.2 Introduction to RIC Bamenda
1.3 Involvement as an Intern in RIC Bamenda
Office Task
Organization of Weekly Meetings
Field Activities
Report Writing
Property Assessement and Survey
CHAPTER TWO
BACKGROUND TO MICRO FINANCE IN CAMEROON
2.1 Evolution of Micro Finance in Cameroon
2.2 Structure of Micro Finance in Cameroon
CHAPTER THREE
THEME OF INTERNSHIP RESEARCH: RIC AND THE ALLOCATION OF MICRO
CREDIT TO WOMEN
Introduction
Methodology
Theoretical Framework
Conclusion.
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Penjinah Luke Nchichupa
15/01/2011
Development and International Relations
9th semester internship project
Supervisor
Li Xing
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION TO MY INTERNSHIP:RURAL INVESTMENT CREDIT
Introduction
This internship project was divided into three chapters wherby the first two chapters gave a
presentation of the place of internship and background information about the activities they operate,
while the third chapter treated the internship research question.
1.1 Presentation of Rural Investment Credit (RIC)
RIC Cameroon SA is a category two microfinance institution created in 1998 in Bafoussam and
headed by Director, a prominent lawyer called Abiyah Angabo Moise. It mission was to
“...provide
the population with cheap credits
that will assist them become financially
viable...thereby preventing the future problems of over dependence on state funds for small and
medium size businesses, through collective action by providing services to the needy population in
the form of financial capital, agricultural inputs, and knowledge ... for the economic improvement of
all especially the women 1.
To realise this it aimed at giving out credits in the form of loans with relatively low interest to
individuals and groups most especially the women to set up small businesses and projects, with the
ultimate goal of alleviating poverty and improving household income and consumption 2. Since its
creation, RIC has above fifteen branches around the country, with the national head office in
Bafoussam. It has total capital of three billion CFA Francs, and work in close collaboration with
three financial institutions; the National Financial Credit Bank Cameroon, the Union Bank of
Cameroon and Afriland First Bank Cameroon3.
RIC is headed by a Director at the head office in the Western region of Cameroon, and the fifteen
other branches are headed by managers.RIC has full time employed personnel of over 136, and of
1
RIC working document 101, 1998, p.12
Ibid
3
Ibid.p.20
2
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Penjinah Luke Nchichupa
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Development and International Relations
9th semester internship project
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these, women make up 60 percent of the employees. There are also occasional experts that RIC
brings into different offices to boost up the knowledge of its employees, or to provide specialised
knowledge in areas where they are not competent. An example include the specialised field staff
from the Agricultural Research Institute (IRAD) Bambili who support the Consultancy Department
of RIC. RIC is an ever expanding MFI and in the next two years, management is projecting an
increase of twelve more branches in four of Cameroon’s ten regions. In addition to that, RIC also
envisages to carry out some structural changes in a few years to come that will enable them to
perform the services of a full flesh bank, while maintaining their services of micro financing.
1.2 Introduction to RIC Bamenda
I did my Internship in Rural Investment Credit (RIC) Bamenda in the North West Region of
Cameroon.This is the head office for the North West Region and the office is located at the Food
Market Bamenda. Membership of RIC is opened to the general public, and you could become a
member as an individual, or as a member within a group, or as an organization. The office in
Bamenda went operational in 1999; one year after RIC was created. The Bamenda office has the
same motives like those set out by the head office in Baffoussam, but their functions varies.RIC
Bamenda has a total membership of 11504. Of this number, more than halve are women. Besides
these registered number, RIC has a customer service population of over 2000 on an average
monthly.
RIC Bamenda has its own individual working plan, vision, and approach towards
satisfying the needs of the public. It is the responsibility of the branch manager to come up with it,
with approval from the board of directors. This is so because the different regions of the country
have different opportunities and so too does the needs of the customers and members varies.In all,
each branch must ensure that, it maximizes profit, increase the number of customers and members,
and deliver the goods to the public.
4
RIC’s data entry 31 december 2010
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Development and International Relations
9th semester internship project
RIC
Bamenda operates in
Supervisor
Li Xing
five main domains. Firstly the office runs a loan
department that offers credit in the form of capital to different category of business people from
small road side traders, through “Beyam Sellams”5 to big business men and women who deal in
import and export services. The objective here is to help members of the public to come out of
poverty and improve on their living conditions, as it is in the case of the small traders, and in the
case of big business dealers to help them expand their business so that their benefit and profits
could trickle down the lane of the poorest of the society, especially those in rural areas.The loan
department gives out credit in areas of commerce (general merchandise of all sorts), education
(school fees loans), collective loans (loans that cover small and large jointly own projects by CIGs)
, and farm input credit. In the case of farm inputs credit, the department of loan has a specialized
team that acquires farm inputs like urea (20 10 10), water cans, water pumps for irrigation,
insecticides and pests control chemicals, seedlings and an agricultural consultant.
There is also the Savings Unit. Here RIC Bamenda offers the general public with the
possibilities to run their own accounts from RIC’s office and from their own business sites. The
public can decide to open different types of accounts where they will be able to manage their own
finances . An interesting saving method implored by RIC Bamenda was the daily collection service,
which has mission statement “bringing RIC saving services at your door steps”.6 Details about how
this service functions will be discussed in the later part of this work under the section where I
discussed about my activities at RIC Bamenda.
In addition to the above, RIC Bamenda also operates a department in charge of
community empowerment (Rural Development). It is one of the most important department at RIC
bamenda, and their specific is to identify, design carry out projects that can benefit the rural
population while at the same time ensuring that the long term goal of projects can yield dividends
for RIC in the future. They target members of the community who have good ideas on how to
improve their lives but lack the means to channel their ideas through. It is an important unit as it
works hand in glove with the loan department as a backup mechanism to ensure greater outputs.
5
RIC untitled documents.p 2.beyam sellams are women who do retail of basic food items in the market. They buy and
resell.
6
Ibid.
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Development and International Relations
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Their facilities are geared at improving social welfare of the poor, and their presence cuts across
areas like small farm schemes, market gardening, health care, education and commerce. This unit
under RIC has the vision and end goal of alleviating poverty, and making members of the
community to be self reliant, through sustainable projects.In the second part of this work, we shall
examine a few cases as examples of projects that have been successfully carried to the end.
There is equally a consultancy department who are charged with providing members
of the public who are engaged in agriculture with specific knowledge about crops, farm inputs and
farming methods, and market trends. I found this unit very useful for farmers who were involved in
small and large scale farming. This is so because about sixty percent of the population of the North
West Region are involved in some form of agriculture7.The unit does not only end at providing
useful information at the level of the office, but they go on the field to illustrate and to train farmers
on how to run their farms.
Finally there is the recovery department , in charge of all forms of financial recovery
of funds that belongs to RIC Bamenda that have been given out as loans to individuals or groups.
They deal with delinquent creditors, and act as legal machinery for RIC. This Unit offers creditors
the possibilities of repaying their loans in the most flexible and amicable manner when there is
much accumulation of loans, or much interest.
From the above presentation of RIC Bamenda, one can say that its organizational
structure gives the public with different opportunities to acquire credit and invest in different
domain which could go a long way to alleviate poverty and bring about rural development. But it
will be important to get to the second part of this work to analyze the research question in order to
make a balance sheet between RIC’s activities toward the public and the public appraisal about their
services, and of course my own appraisal as an intern.
1.3 Involvement as an Intern in RIC Bamenda
7
RIC’s Report Annual for 2000., p. 5
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Penjinah Luke Nchichupa
15/01/2011
Development and International Relations
9th semester internship project
Supervisor
Li Xing
My traineeship at RIC started on the 4th of October 2010 and ended on 5th January 2011.During the
three months period, I worked in the main office in Bamenda and also went out to the field to
accomplish a number duties that will be discussed later.When I arrived the office on the first day, I
was received by the Public Relation Officer in the name of Irene Ejeri, who then took me to the
branch manager in the person of Saber Emelienne Leinyuy.She welcomed me and during the first
hour, there was a meeting of all staff chaired by the manager and I was presented to them.I was then
showed to my office which I had to share one employee Ango Richard. The office had all the
necessary office equipments that would enable me work in a conducive atmosphere. After I
familiarized myself with the office, I took look at the weekly plan of work, and immediately took
upon my first tasks
My duties as an intern at RIC Bamenda were divided between clerical duties ,
customer’s service, report writing and field trips. I was expected to carry out office administrative
duties, examination and writing of reports, maintenance and update of customer’s data base, cross
checking of loan application forms, organization and planning of weekly meeting, and customer’s
service.My task at RIC was divided into two parts, and so I would like to make a detailed
presentation of what I did during my stay in Bamenda.
Office Task
In the first three weeks as an intern at RIC Bamenda, I was trained on how to use the computer to
manage the daily office duties . These included mainly networking between the central computer
system to that of branches network. I was trained on information sharing, registration of data from
customers, and troubleshooting solutions. I was equally trained on using some equipments like the
Fax and modem system, telephone services, which is highly used by different RIC branches for
financial transaction to ease communication of
client’s information. To me this was a very
important exercised because it exposed me to how small companies network with bigger ones
without necessarily moving personnel around. Beside this, I was also trained on how to register
incoming mails and outgoings ones in the system. By the end of the third week, I was already able
to move from one office to the other while sitting under my computer. At each stage, I was
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Development and International Relations
9th semester internship project
Supervisor
Li Xing
evaluated by the manager who will assign me with some specific tasks without the aid of my coworkers. To complete my three weeks training, I left the office where have been doing mainly
clerical duties to the counter, to enable me meet the customers, since RIC deals directly with
people on daily bases.At the counter, I had to be train on public relation with the customers, and I
exposed to learn how to speak to customers, listen to their requests, and how to address their
needs.It was also a way for me to learn to deal with people of different behaviors. At the end of my
stay at the counters, I was introduced into the different accounts which customers can operate at
RIC, and told different rules binding them. By this means, I gathered a lot of knowledge on
customer’s behavior, and how to convince the public about the services offered by RIC
Organization of Weekly Meetings
Every Monday of the week, it was a routine that the management of RIC meets to plan for the
activities of that week and review the week past. During the last week of October 2010, I was
assigned with the responsibility of planning and chairing the next weekly meeting. The purpose for
choosing me according to the manager was to enable me know about administrative planning of
meetings which is part of what organizations do, and which most young employees in the job
market have no idea about. I was able to implore some of the ideas which I have seen from the
previous meeting during my turn, and I came up with an agenda for the meeting. I was so
impressed about this approach which gave me an insight into the importance of timing during
meetings, and most importantly how to draw up an agenda for a staff meeting.
Field Activities
After I had acquainted myself with the office duties during I was gained practical knowledge about
RIC’s functioning, the month of November 2010 was shared between field work of existing
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Development and International Relations
9th semester internship project
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projects funded by RIC, and in realizing a program designed by RIC known as outreach customer’s
service.The outreach customer’s service was a kind of daily saving account whereby RIC staff went
went to meet the clients at their jobsites. RIC daily saving account was designed for everyone
regardless of the amount of money you earn. To become a member of the daily saving accounts,
you were expected to open an account with a minimum deposit of 1000francs CFA, and your daily
saving ranged from 500 francs to any amount. During my internship, i was sent out with two other
seasoned staff of RIC as promoter agents of RIC, we had as target to move around with brochures
and flyers about RIC Bamenda and convince the population to get an account with RIC, then our
main target was the women in the Food market who have fixed stores with items for sale. When we
got there, we had the following objectives, firstly to talk to the people about the function of the
daily account, and its advantages, collect the daily deposit for those who were already members,
and register new members. So in as a team of three, each person was assigned with a specific task.
The reason behind this daily account was to make it possible so that time was maximized between
a registered clients of RIC and his business. So RIC’s vision of taking the service to the people was
to make it easier for clients to remain at their business sites.Also clients could also withdraw their
money from their market places with ease.It was quite a task, but at the end of the promotion, we
had over 67 clients who got registered.
Report Writing
One of the task which I was assigned with at RIC was to produce reports from our field work, this
included the trips that we made to RIC’s funded project, such as the Nkwen women Vegetable
Association, Ntagsen Common Initiative bee farming project, the Akum
Union of tomatoes
farmers, and Association of “Beyam Sellams”.In the next chapter, we shall look at some of the data
that was collected from these projects.
Property Assessement and Survey
Another important tasks which I did during my stay at RIC was to go out to survey and evaluate
properties that were presented to the bank as collateral securities by clients who wanted
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Development and International Relations
9th semester internship project
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loans.During these trips to assess the property, I was trained on important information to note when
you are sent out for such duties. I had the opportunity to be sent out five times before my internship
ended.Some of the property evaluated were land, and others were housesThese are the two
securities which RIC accepts as collateral. In assessing them we were made to note that the location,
size and its documentations determined how much the bank will value it.This was a good
experience for me. During one of the five occasions while out on assessment, we found out that a
client had fraudulently presented some landed property in his name whereas, it was not his. This is
one of the problems that RIC like other MFI’s in Cameroon faces, since there is no harmonise
registration of property. Therefore in situations where the bank has no idea to verify ownership of a
property and accords a loan, it might end up as bad debt.
At the end of the day, RIC offered me many avenues to exploit my stay with them
fully. I benefitted a lot of knowledge which enables me to have first hand information when
handling administrative procedures.
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Penjinah Luke Nchichupa
15/01/2011
Development and International Relations
9th semester internship project
Supervisor
Li Xing
CHAPTER TWO
BACKGROUND TO MICRO FINANCE IN CAMEROON
2.1 Evolution of MFI in Cameroon
Since 1990, Micro-Finance Institutions have gained a considerable ground in the economic
development of Cameroon through the private sector. Its contribution in bringing about change in the
lives of individuals, small communities, or the country as a whole can be seen from the multiplication
of such institutions in the recent years. Thus, when I started applying for internships abroad, one of
my wishes was to get an offer to work with any MFI to enable me understand the reason behind their
proliferation in Cameroon, and to get to know what the people thought about them. The informal
business sector in Cameroon has over 500 registered Microfinance institutions of which is RURAL
INVESTMENT CREDIT (RIC) is one of them.8
The gradual development and increase of MFI’s in Cameroon had many reasons behind it.
Looking at the economic situation in Cameroon in relation to the living conditions of the population,
by 1996 just over fifty percent of the population were living below the poverty line of less than one
dollar a day9. But today just approximately forty percent live below the poverty line, which is an
improved condition10. A number of reasons have accounted for this amongst which is the role of the
informal sector which MFI are a major actor. The poverty gap between urban and rural settings
varied greatly with only approximately 22.1 percent of urban dwellers living in poverty as compared
to 49.1 in the rural areas. All this have been attributed to a number of factors, amongst which, is the
heavy dependence of the population on the public sector,
dependence on foreign aid which
8
Ngu, J, M, The Informal sector in Cameroon. Yaoundé, Unique Printers, 2008, p 15
Ibid. p9
10
Ibid. P9-10
9
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constitutes about forty percent of the country’s yearly annual budget, and high level corruption in the
administration.
The National population of Cameroon as of 2010 was estimated at approximately over 19
million. Of this population, women constitute about 52 percent.11 As a result, they play a very vital
role in the development of the country. Though with the numerical advantage over their male
counterparts, they however function from a subordinate position which is typical of the country and
this male dominance is found both within the traditional and state institutions. Women constitute
two-third of the work force, but they only receive one-tenth of total income and in terms of national
property, they own just about one-hundredth12.
In the rural areas, women play a very important role in terms of economic activities. They
represent 56.6 percent of the rural production force, and their economic output is over 70.5 percent
as compared to the urban women who only perform 57.7 percent in this light. 13 Rural women are
therefore found in almost all areas of the informal sector, operating in different types of economic
activities as small entrepreneurs. However they cannot over extend their businesses because of the
number of factors amongst which are the absence and access to credit 14.This has limited women’s
ability to change the economic trend of the country and house whole consumption as a whole.
However, due to the limitations in access to the banking sector in the country, micro-finance
institutions came up as a relief to most people and in recent years have contributed much in
alleviating poverty and empowering the rural women in particular and women as a whole. Since
1990, there have been over five hundred and forty officially registered MFIs in Cameroon. Rural
Investment Credit (RIC) is amongst the number and is highly considered as influential in changing
the lives of the poor especially women and fostering rural development in the areas where it operates
offices and branch
Microfinance institutions have witnessed a sharp increase during the last decade in Cameroon,
but its existence can be dated as far back as fifty years ago. 15MFI became quite visible in the
economic life of Cameroon as from the 1990s.But the origin of MFIs started in 1963 in the North
11
Interview with Johnson Mue, statistician, Bucrep, Yaounde.
Ibid.
13
Interveiw with Muluh Fred,
14
Interveiw with Kume Immaculate, business woman, Bamenda
15
Interveiw with Kwa Manson, manager of CAMCCUL bamenda.
12
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Penjinah Luke Nchichupa
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West Province of Cameroon, when a Dutch missionary Priest by name Anthony Jasen created the
first savings and credit cooperatives in Bamenda.His efforts to improve on the livelihoods of the
population yielded great success, thus leading to the creation of the Cameroon Cooperatives Credit
Union League known by the acronym (CAMCCUL) in 196816.
In the late 1960s, the falling prices of oil and raw materials in the world market,
started having a negative effect on Cameroon’s economic performance and this was immediately felt
by the banks. They became increasing unable to ensure continuous flow of liquidity in the banking
system. In the first half of 1980, Cameroon was facing a major difficulty in securing international
credit, and maintaining the financial stability of the country.17 The situation worsened and Cameroon
like many other African countries was oblige to go for restructuring. Government action in this light
led to the restructuring of all financial institutions. Many banks were closed, while others were put
under administration, leaving millions of Cameroonians stranded18.
In the midst of these financial crises, microfinance institutions were born and the population readily
embraced them since they provided similar services like the defunct banks. In order to ensure better
regulation in the creation of these MFIs and to provide a legal framework from which they could
operate, the government promulgated a series of laws referred to as liberty laws in 199019.Law
number 90/053 of 19 December 1990 were passed granting freedom of association20. In 1992 and
1993 respectively, the government came up with two laws, one
that outlined some specific
responsibilities for Common Initiative Groups (CIG) and the other for Economic Initiative Groups
(GIE) known in French as (Groupes d’Initiatives Economiques) in an effort to harness the creation,
organisation and functioning of the financial sector.
21
In 1998, microfinance institutions were
recognised as unique entities in the financial sector22.They were placed under the direct authority of
the Ministry of Finance. In order to ensure that their activities did not pose a problem to the economic
stability of the Central African Monetary Union (BEAC), a commission was created known as La
16
Ibid.
Interveiw with Zang Akon, Secretary of state for Finance, yaounde
18
Ibid,
19
Ibid.
20
ibid
21
ibid
22
ibid
17
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Commission Bancaire de l’Afrique Centrale23.They were charged with the responsibility to oversee
that microfinance institutions respected the regulations governing their existence, and they had the
powers to dissolve any MFI that did not adhere to these regulations. In 2002, regulation
01/02/CEMAC/UMAC/COBAC, came into effect defining the activities of all microfinance
institution in the Central African Sub-Region24.
2.2 Structure of Micro Finance in Cameroon
Microfinance are placed within three categories. Category one are specifically Cooperatives
Institutions. They function as a saving bank for registered members only. They use their savings to
grant micro credit to members for the common interest of the members. The projects for which credit
are granted is geared towards the total benefit of members only. Under existing regulations, they
cannot seek profit and their existence is for the members only. Microfinance institutions that are
classified as category two are those who have the rights to seek profit, and to provide the public with
saving and credit services. They set the interest on the credits, and the interest margins between
different MFIs varies. Category three MFIs are those who have the right to seek profit by providing
the public with credit services, but they are restricted from running savings services. In my case
study, Rural Investment Credit Bamenda falls under the Category two MFI.
23
24
This sis the bank that controls the finance of Central African states
Interveiw with Fokam Isaac
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Penjinah Luke Nchichupa
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Li Xing
CHAPTER THREE
THEME OF INTERNSHIP RESEARCH: RIC AND THE ALLOCATION OF MICRO
CREDIT TO WOMEN
Introduction
Micro credit has become an important source of finance to millions of people around the world .It has
lifted many from poverty, and today many more institutions are taking up the baton to open many of
such institutions around the world.But for us to understand how this has become an important source
for development, it will be good to get to know the context under which micro credit began.The idea
of microcredit
developed from the experience of Bangladesh(Grameen Bank) an initiative of
Professor Muhammad Yunus who had the vision to extend banking services to poor men and women
of Bangladesh. This idea later became an important tool for empowerment and poverty alleviation
and soon became worldwide acceptable means to empower the poor of the society. Poverty which
affects many around the world especially in Africa can be eradicated by one single idea according to
him.25Muhammed Yunus held that poverty makes the poor to
“… appear stupid and without initiative. Yet, if you give them credit, they will slowly come back to
life, even those who seemingly have no conceptual thought, no ability to think…about yesterday or
tomorrow are in fact quite intelligent and expert in the art of survival. Credit is the key that unlocks
their humanity”26
Basing on the above statement it was but clear that the importance of credit cuts across all
societies, thus it became important for me to carry out a research as to how RIC credit allocation
could impact the lives of the women in Bamenda.In RIC’s objectives, they stated poverty
25
http://www.grameen-info.org/profile.php3?profile (accessed december 2010)
http://www.grameen-info.org ( June 2010)
Professor Muhammad Yunus, 1996.
26
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alleviation for the women as a priority and to realise this, most of the women would need credit to
come out of poverty. This led to my research question which is as follows:
Why is RIC’s micro credit considered as important in alleviating poverty amongst women in
Bamenda ?
When I got to meet the Manager of RIC Bamenda , I asked her why she thought credit was
necessary for the women in bamenda to help them come out of poverty, she stated that most women
in Bamenda are farmers and small traders, and it was very difficult for them to improve on their
crop yields or their businesses without farm inputs like fertilizers, good seedlings, and or to
increase and expand their small businesses without the assistance from an MFI giving the economic
situation of the country. This led me identify that the economic back bone of Bamenda, rested in the
hands of the women, and they were limited by lack of finance because of Cameroon’s poor
economic situation and also I identified that a problem existed, that of access of to credit allocation
giving the share number of women in need of credit. Thus to better understand this research, I came
up with a problem formulation thus:
Can RIC allocation of credit to women lead to empowerment and poverty alleviation?
For us to answer this question, we shall have to answer other questions that able to through more
light on the subject such as :what are the requirements for credit allocation to women, what criteria
does RIC uses to distribute its credit to women, to what extent does these credits serve the purpose
for which they are allocated, and what does the women think about RIC loan policies.To answer
these questions, I needed to implore some methods that will facilitate the collection of data for
analyses.
3.1 Methodology
In carrying out this research, I made use of some research method techniques. One of the most
important was participant observation. This was important because the services of RIC deals
directly with the clients, and in most cases I had to serve clients at the counter, or during the field
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Development and International Relations
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trips where we went for Customer’s outreach service, property inspection for collateral. Equally my
office duties was an added experience . I equally used qualitative research method. In this case I
conducted interviews. Those interviewed were MFI staff, clients, economists, government officials,
bankers, employees of Organizations and aspiring clients.
To carry out the interviews I used a tape recorder, but in some instances I took down
notes because some areas were too noisy like when we got to the market for the outreach customer
service.As is always the case with interviews, some people felt uncomfortable to speak with a tapoe
recorder because of the on-going operation sparrow hawk against corruption.My interviews were
done in English, French, pidgin English which is a lingua franca
and sometimes in local
vernaculars that I could understand.But in all, my interviews were mostly in Pidgin English.I did
not get my information without difficulties, at times, there were contradictory information from one
MFI to the other, at other times, RIC staff could not release some information to me which they
thought could be controversial to the public.In a summary, my research plan was respected and I
achieved and acquired the data which I am now using for writing.To add up to this, I used som
empirical data from RIC offices, especially about the state of MFI in Cameroon, RIC’s formation
and cases of delinquency of clients.I am thankful, to RIC for the were of great assistance to me.
Theoretical Framework
Within the spectrum of theories that have been studied in the past two semesters, I settled on using
empowerment theory to apply in the case of credit allocation to women in Bamenda by RIC the
choose of this theory could not have been deem otherwise considering that, this theory addresses
some contemporary issues which affect women nowadays such as power, control, awareness,
community empowerments, household consumption, poverty alleviation, self reliance and
sustainability.So I will use this theory to explain how credit is allocated to women by RIC, and will
use it to explain how the credit acquired helps to empower them.
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Empowerment Theory
In 1971 during the Stockholm Conference on Human Environment, the issue of empowerment came
up strongly among the conference participants as how to address the issue development. Seminars
were held by organizations such as the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) and the
Cocoyoc Seminar on patterns of resource use, environment and development strategies. During the
Cocoyoc Seminar, participants were keen to note that get an alternative form of development,
“…attention should be given to satisfying the “basic needs” of people for food, water and shelter
rather than to simple growth maximization and those who were concerned with the “outer limits” of
the planet’s resources.”27(Friedman, 1992).Friedman had his own idea about empowerment
especially with women.To him, it was all about power relation, and women needed to be placed in
a context where they can developed themselves independent of the men, and for them to do this,
they needed state support to realize it.Thus to him empowerment is a form of alternative
development
Narayan, D. (Ed) (2002) in “Empowerment and Poverty Reduction”, defines empowerment as “the
expansion of assets and the capacities of poor people to participate in, negotiate with, influence,
control and hold accountable institutions that affect their lives” . This could be understood to mean
that, disfavored groups such as women needed some form of an enabling factor to help them take
control of their lives. And for them to do this, they needed to be empowered.They need to be able to
raise their resources, and make use of it. Sen (1997) on the other hand considers empowerment as
a means of gaining and changing power relations between those once favored and those taking up
the baton of control who were previously unfavored.
Zimmerman (1995) simple agrees that for people to avoid the dependency syndrome28 and shape
their lives, they need to implore the use of their knowledge, available resources to realize self
27
Ibid.: 3
http://www.scn.org/cmp/indexe.htm (december 2010)
The Dependency Syndrome, also found in Fagha’s Internship report:Micro finance, empowering the community,p.15
March 2010.
28
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Penjinah Luke Nchichupa
15/01/2011
Development and International Relations
9th semester internship project
Supervisor
Li Xing
reliance projects. In this way empowerment would have been designed and used to make poor
people and communities to fully develop themselves.
Theory Application in the Case
Women in Bamenda have been subjected to different forms of hardship, because of lack of credit to
better their lives, but with the presence of credit from RIC some women have taken up the challenge
to acquire loans for businesses such as trading, farming, and some have actually recorded great
successes and have been able to run businesses for many years, using their ides, in what Narayan
(2002 ) described as being able to expand their assets. This indicate that poverty which is usually
felt more by the women in most societies can actually be slowed down if credit can be allocated to
the members of the community that play an active role.RIC for over the years have been giving out
small loans ranging from 50.000frs to 500.000 frs to some women and these women have actually
stoped being sole dependent on their men for survival.Women have been able come up with ideas
that aims to involve other women folks in areas of bamenda like Nkwen, Banja, Ntarikon, as
groups, with the idea of forming collective projects which can improves on their lives.
Since its creation, RIC has sponsored projects like the Nkwen Women vegetable
association.This is a group of women who cultivate vegetable which is a delicacy in the region
especially during the dry season for local consumption for six of Cameroon’s ten regions. Their
ideas have been to raise their resources and invest to make profit. To realise a project like the
vegetable cultivation, women needed firstly loans to acquire seeds, fertilizers, and a means of
irrigation of water to their dry farms.RIC stood out as the provider of these facilities even though a
financial institution. As was explained in the introductory chapter, RIC runs a consultation
department which offers technical knowledge to farmers, and provide suppliers of the material
needed.This strategy by RIC is empowerment of the women through material loans.Besides these
project, The Ntagsen bee farming initiative which is controlled and managed by women is also one
area of RIC, which is out empower the women. In this situation we realise that loans were provided
by RIC to these group of women to acquire bee hives and technical knowledge supplied to set up
the bee hives.here we realise that Zimmermann’s idea of mobilizing available resources is put to
use . The Ntagsen women simple identify trees that bear flowers, which is a local resource to enable
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Penjinah Luke Nchichupa
15/01/2011
Development and International Relations
9th semester internship project
Supervisor
Li Xing
them get income, and the honey produced from this project is then marketed and the profit is
shared.This we see that women are actually put into use, and facilitated with credit to improve their
lives.
However, in this study, using the two cases of women groups, the theory limits us to
some extent. Firstly, because RIC is an MFI with profit–seeking agenda, and cannot empower
women and at thesame time seek interest from the loans it provides to them. This was one major
problem i got from women about RIC.I was made to understand that loans either in material or cash
forms were placed on an interest of 25% and at times, it was difficult to realise cost, make profit
and repay loans. So as a result most loans were never paid in time and interest kept on
accumulating.
Analyses
After i had carried out interviews and through observations while working as an intern
with RIC Bamenda, i realised that Micro Credit actually was not a cheap source of finance for poor
people who are incapable of making their own lives.For example RIC gave out loans to small
business women of various amounts. But these loans sometimes were used for other purposes.For
example, i met one woman who had contracted a loan from RIC to run groundnut business, but she
lost her husband just when she acquired this loan, and the money was rather used for burial,
rendering her indebted and incapable to lift her out of her current situation.
Besides this, RIC as a financial institution does not have any fix interest rate set by the
government to limit its ability to make profit, interest rates were sometimes as high as 30% on some
loans, and this could actually limit the borrower’s ability to repay. Thus much is paid in interest if
the business does not yield sufficient profit, and obliges the lender to remain in such a business.
Looking at allocation of Credit to women, we will realise that the amounts of money
needed sometimes to bring about change in the lives of women needs to be a reasonable sum, and
for these poor women to have such loans allocated to them, they need some form of collateral, such
as a house or land, which most women do not own, thus bias sets in when allocating credits.
Women with securities will have large credits while the poorest will not be able.Thus RIC, policy
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Penjinah Luke Nchichupa
15/01/2011
Development and International Relations
9th semester internship project
Supervisor
Li Xing
of granting loans still has a lot to do if its credit can actually help transform the lifes of the women
as empowerment theory envisages.In a nutshell, it was noticed in the course of my research that
credit allocation in RIC was tied down by strict bureaucratic practices that could actually makes its
ability to help the women doubtful.
Conclusion
In the above presentation we tried to explain how women in Bamenda in Cameroon
through two projects in which they acquired micro credit from RIC carried out their projects, and
the limitations which credits have upon them. We outlined that Micro Credit could actually be a
good means of lifting poor women out of poverty , but they are restricted by the conditions of loans.
Though this is a limitation, it is not to say that credit acquired from RIC cannot produce better
success stories.RIC has been limited also by the behaviour of clients to repay, either because their
projects were not well thought of, or because of unforeseen situations.
My recommendations will be that, if micro-credit have to help empower the women,
then both the financial institution such as RIC and the women seeking credit must come out with
joint ideas that can be sustainable and profitable to bring about change.Also, RIc could use the
services of development expert together with financial experts to identify which project will be
good for which category of women and at what time. In all, working with RIC bamenda was
exciting experience, and i learned a lot from them.
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Penjinah Luke Nchichupa
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