Mutuelle d'Epargne et de Crédit de l'Association Femmes Entreprises Rurales du Nord

Mission:

Lutter contre la pauvreté en facilitant l'accès au crédit aux populations les plus défavorisées en particulier les femmes rurales, urbaines et les jeunes en fournissant des services d'épargne et de crédit, de formation et d'éducation basés sur les principes de solidarité, de transparence ... Read more

Background and Main Challenges:

La MEC/AFER est une des plus grandes œuvres promues par l’Association des Femmes EntreprisesRurales du Nord (AFER/NORD), qui est une association à but non lucratif née de la volonté des femmes évoluant dans des secteurs d’activités diverses de la région de Saint-Louis du Sénégal. A travers cette ... Read more

Address:

Rue de France angle Henry-Louis Guillabert

Saint-Louis

BP 698

Senegal

Phone:

+221 961 28 42

Email:

afer [at] orange [dot] sn

Main Funding Sources:

Grants

Savings

Shareholder Capital

Products and Services:

Loans

Voluntary Savings

Insurance

Training and Consulting

Looking for (Investment Types):

Loans in Local Currency

Capacity-Building Grants

Donations

Guarantees

% Operations Comprised by MF:

91 - 100

Date established:

Jan 10 1990

FYE:

31-Dec

Current Legal Status:

Credit Union / Cooperative

Regulated:

yes

Social Performance Profile


+ Mission specifics
+ Target markets (ranked by importance)
+ Development goals (ranked by importance)
+ Poverty targets
+ Governance
Has trained members of its board on social performance management
+ Range of products and services
+ Financial products and services offered
+ Credit products offered
Microcredit loans for microenterprises
Microcredit for household needs/consumption
Loans for agriculture
+ Savings products offered
Fixed term deposits
+ Compulsory insurance products required
+ Voluntary insurance products offered
+ Other financial products and services offered
+ Non-financial services offered
+ Enterprise services offered
Enterprise skills development
+ Education services offered
+ Health services offered
+ Women's empowerment services offered
Leadership training for women
+ Products and services targeting the poor
Products and services specifically designed to target the poor:
+ Social responsibility to clients
+ Client protection principles in use
The loan approval process requires evaluation of borrower repayment capacity and loan affordability. Loan approval does not rely solely on guarantees (whether peer guarantees, co-signers or collateral) as a substitute for good capacity analysis.
Internal audits check household debt exposure, lending practices that violate procedures including unauthorized re-financing, multiple borrowers or co-signers per household, and other practices that could increase indebtedness.
Productivity targets and incentive systems value portfolio quality at least as highly as other factors, such as disbursement or customer growth. Growth is rewarded only if portfolio quality is high.
Prices, terms and conditions of all financial products are fully disclosed to the customer prior to sale, including interest charges, insurance premiums, minimum balances, all fees, penalties, linked products, third party fees, and whether these can change over time.
Staff is trained to communicate effectively with all customers, ensuring that they understand the product, the terms of the contract, their rights and obligations. Communications techniques address literacy limitations (e.g. reading contracts out loud, materials in local languages).
Acceptable and unacceptable debt collection practices are clearly spelled out in a code of ethics, book of staff rules or debt collection manual.
The organization's corporate culture values and rewards high standards of ethical behavior and customer service.
A mechanism to handle customer complaints is in place, has dedicated staff resources, and is actively used. (Suggestion boxes alone are generally not considered adequate.)
Customers know how their information will be used. Staff explains how data will be used and seeks permission for use.
+ Cost of services to clients
Flat interest method
+ Social responsibility to staff
+ Human resources
Protection at work (safety, anti-harassment)
Equality (anti-discrimination, equal pay for men and women with equivalent skill levels)
+ Basis of staff incentives related to social performance
Ability to attract new clients from target market
Quality of interaction with clients based on client feedback mechanisms
Quality of social data collected
Client retention/drop-out rate
Portfolio quality
+ Social responsibility to the environment
+ Poverty measurement tools in use
USAID Poverty Assessment Tool (PAT)
Per capita household expenditure
Per capita household income
Participatory wealth ranking (PWR)
Means test

Partnerships

Current
Name	Relationship
AMT	Network Affiliation
Aquadev	Vendor
DRS-SFD	Regulation

MFI Report