Case Study
Financial Relationships Between Community Based Organisations and the Formal Banking Sector - YCO's Perspective
How have youth charitable organization helped poor women access financial services?
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15 pages
This paper focuses on the work of a local NGO, Youth Charitable Organisation (YCO), in Andhra Pradesh (AP), India. The NGO's focus is on developing self-sufficiency and autonomy among the rural poor, particularly women, using a participatory approach.
The author traces YCO's evolution, starting from a rural development NGO in 1983, to the present when it has promoted a Mutually Aided Cooperative Society (MACS) as a community based financial institution. The paper presents the institutional characteristics of the YCO promoted MACS:
- Is registered under the APMACS Act, 1995;
- Has a for-profit status;
- Offers thrift, credit and other intermediation services;
- Restricts membership to women;
- Retails bulk loan provided by YCO.
Finally, the paper presents the important successes of YCO's intervention:
- Organizing women into self help groups;
- Establishing a good microfinance program that goes beyond financial services;
- Establishing women's cooperative, an organization working for the benefit of the community.
