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- IRC
- Skype
- Mailing lists (see Existing Mailing Lists and indication of topics for given list Mailing List Topics)
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MFI/NGO (Organisation)
MFIs/NGOs exist to provide financial services for clients
*client may want to use these services due to:
- they are very poor and have no collateral and can't getting banking services from other sources
- the MFI/NGO provide better deal than local loan sharks/banks
- the MFI/NGO may also provide training/education/advice as part of package.
- some MFIs/NGOs are poverty-focused and interested in improving the lives of their clients
- some MFIs are profit-driven and interested in making a profit from provision of their services
MFI/NGOs range is size. They are classified as tiers e.g. tier-1, tier-2, tier-3, tier-4, tier-5 etc
An MFI/NGO can have one or more offices from which financial services are administrated and run. Whilst smaller MFIs can be more focused on a specific region/area, larger MFIs may have branches spanning both urban and rurual locations.
Office (Office Heirarchy)
Client
- clients typically are very poor and have no or little collateral
- some clients will have collateral (savings, other) and just require access to funding
- for those with no collateral, credit or loans are typically provided using the concept of 'joint liability', several clients will form a group and accept 'joint liability' of the loan. The internal peer pressure ensures that clients meet their repayments
- the provision of loans for clients/groups can be linked to collateral, e.g. if 'joint liability' loan no or little collateral may be required, if individual loan, a higher loan-to-collateral ratio maybe required
- for clients/groups that exist in rurual locations, its typical for 'field officers' to travel to a 'center' (which is typically some building in village convenient for the members of center/group) where repayments/deposits and new groups/clients are handled
- for clients/groups in urban locations, its typcial for them to walk into branch and carry out transactions
Center
Q1: What is a center?
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