Assessing the viability of a rural microfinance network: the case of FONGS Finrural

CHAPTER SIX: CONCLUSION

There is a widespread evidence that MFIs should become operationally self sufficient, rather sustainable (Hermes, Lensink & Meesters, 2011), as subsidies and development agencies aid are becoming scarce in environment marked by a global financial crisis where number of previous donors countries should themselves face new challenges for emerging. Besides, MFIs need to be sustainable in order to expand their activity and thus continuing providing practical solution for poor and unbanked people in other to contributing to the poverty alleviation process.

In rural areas particularly, considerable improvement are needed as the sustainable of MFIs involving in untapped rural and remote areas are matter of concern.

The analysis carried out on the viability of the FONGS FINRURAL Network underpins the weakness of the isolated and single rural microfinance, especially the community based or community managed MFIs, which daily face uncertainties and threats: survive or disappear. It also reveals that in the same time, a number escape threats and reach sustainability bringing out that rural MFIs, particularly rural cooperatives can be managed in a sustainable manner. Thus networking of both nonperforming and performing MFIs belonging to the same group (for example their legal status and their operating areas) seems more likely to be sustainable. The financial results showed by FONGS FINRURAL reasserts that evidence except in 2011 when two of the affiliated MFIs recorded high operating expenses due to training and accounting expertise hiring. Therefore it can be concluded that involving in MFIs networking process, especially for rural microfinance institutions, supposes that all the MFIs are well informed about the financial situation of each other as well as their financial implications.

Moreover, the findings of this research draw out that the main challenges for rural microfinance social performance remain, in addition to being informed about the recent trends in the field, the availability of adequate information with required indicators to track the effective application of their social mission. If outreach and services quality appears as the main dimensions well performed by MFIs, they should not occult other dimensions such as social responsibility toward clients, staff and environment.

Nevertheless, financial and social performances cannot be achieved without any good governance inside the MFIs: good financial governance and good institutional governance. All these combined with more discipline and more commitment of staff, members and all stakeholders intervening in the financial services delivery process of MFIs.

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