Activation Policies for the Poor in OIC Member States
60
Government sponsored projects can address the issue of micro finance by funding the provision of
loans. The Ministry of Economy, Planning and Regional Development, for example, is currently
delivering a project called Sub-Programme for Poverty Reduction at the Grassroots (SPRPB).
The programme seeks to strengthen the capacity of its beneficiaries by developing and growing
value-added aspects of rural production. The programme promotes decentralization and supports
the emergence of ‘economic clusters’. SPRPB provides training to beneficiaries on how to manage
agricultural production as a business. Many areas (geographical and sectoral) are seasonal and the
project seeks to emphasise the ‘value chain’, ensuring that where possible, the primary product is
changed into something else so that seasonal work is minimised. For example, storage houses have
been built so that the life of maize and rice can be extended with machinery provided by SPRPB to
prepare the products for various markets. Projects are overseen at the level by the local council. The
local mayor is provided with a bicycle in order to get to producers, analyse any problems and
propose solutions. The programme is funded by the Cameroonian government and the UN
Development Programme.
The project acknowledges the importance of cash flow and ensuring that micro finance is available
on a revolving basis is a priority. The objective is that all businesses flourish and create employment.
Creation of employment in turn makes the producer more eligible for credit, through Le Credit-Bail.
Two micro finance organisations have been selected to provide funding.
The programme is now in its second phase and lessons have been learnt from the first phase. The
first phase was grant-funded and there was little monitoring or evaluation of success and failure
factors. In this regard, in the second phase the lessons learnt are as follows:
 There should be a focus on the capacity building of beneficiaries around management skills,
education, savings and credit
 Access to funding should be facilitated by reducing the conditions for it
 The regional and local authorities should be educated on the activities of the programme
including eligibility criteria
 The links with existing programmes should be strengthened
 Subsidising is not the best way to fund beneficiaries. People have to know that in business they
must repay loans
Despite the government provision of funding for loans attempting to address the difficulties
individuals have to access funding, a lack of capacity within micro finance institutions can still pose a
challenge. For example, a project delivered by the Ministry of Youth Affairs had made funding
available for young people with a business plan to start their own enterprise. Many individuals who
had met the eligibility criteria for a loan had not received the funding from the micro finance
institution. An inquiry is now taking place to determine what has happened to the funds provided by
the government to the micro finance institutions.
Young people in Cameroon face difficulties accessing credit because they usually cannot meet the
conditions required for loans, such as guarantees. Young people also have difficulties being taken
seriously by potential investors due to their age. With regards to the difficulties faced by agricultural
workers in accessing credit, another challenge cited was that many micro finance organisations do
not offer products suitable to the needs of agricultural workers. This may be due to a lack of
understanding over the seasonality of farming or because credit organisations are not willing to
make longer term investments, which by its nature, are the type of loans agricultural workers
require. An Agriculture Bank was recently set up by the Cameroonian government to provide access
to credit to agricultural workers. A Small and Medium Sized Bank has also been created to provide
loans suitable for new small and medium sized enterprises. The banks are not yet operational and so
it cannot yet be determined whether they will support workers’ access to micro finance. However,
they do indicate a step in the right direction and show that the government has recognised the
difficulties faced by workers requiring micro finance.