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Rural Finance Sector Programme Designed to be implemented at the national level, the programme will initially affect a selected geographical area where poor people eke out a living through dryland farming and by migrating to other areas to work as seasonal or short-term labourers. The programme’s objective is to enable rural poor people to improve their livelihoods by increasing their access to financial services. To help achieve this objective, IFAD will support the rural finance sector and the current government policy to reform rural credit cooperatives (RCCs). The aim is to turn the credit cooperatives into sustainable microfinance institutions, for the benefit of rural poor people, and women in particular. IFAD has been sponsoring rural development projects in China, which have demonstrated that RCCs are able to assist poor people, if measures are properly designed and embedded in government policies. Once a proper policy environment is in place, the RCCs can play an important role in poverty-stricken areas of China. The programme provides funds to pilot new policies, particularly in microfinance. The programme underlines the importance of lending policies to provide better access to RCC loans, and of institutional and operational policies that increase the efficiency of the institutions and contribute to financial sustainability.
Source: IFAD |
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