Rabat, 29 August 2016 (ECA): Rural women’s access to finance in Mauritania is an area where detailed, updated and reliable statistics are still lacking, a situation which does not facilitate the formulation and implementation of the much needed recovery strategies to address the issue. Various structural and institutional obstacles do hamper women's access to funding, despite ongoing efforts for the implementation of the National Microfinance Strategy (2012-2016).
This is one of the major findings of a case study just published by ECA/ Sub Regional Office for North Africa, entitled "Improving access to funding for rural women’s empowerment in Mauritania: Reflections on microfinance, good practices and lessons learned".
This work complements a regional study covering Algeria, Egypt, Morocco and Tunisia already undertaken by ECA in 2013 and published in 2014, and offers also a reflection on the reality and challenges of microfinance in the fight against poverty.
In Mauritania, the root causes of female poverty are primarily poor access of women to both productive resources (only 18.7% of women hold land in their names) and financial resources (the banking rate of women in general hardly exceeds 21%), illiteracy (82.4% of women farm managers in rain fed area are uneducated), divorces with no meaningful protection of the economic rights of the women concerned, lack of basic social services, etc.
Mauritania's financial sector is one of the sectors called upon by the country’s public authorities in their efforts to address the situation, but it remains far more modest than that of other countries already examined. The study indicates that "the number of microfinance clients in Mauritania is estimated at 364,304, of which 162,665 live in rural areas. Female clients’ percentage is over 70% of the total, nearly 114,000 rural women. "
Given the very low involvement of the banking system in financing agriculture (loans to the rural sector represent only 1% of distributed loans), the study indicates that microfinance institutions remain the only actors able to alleviate the financial exclusion of people living in rural areas in general, and rural women in particular. The network of Oasis Investment and Mutual Credit (MICO) is the major actor in financing income-generating activities for the rural population. It counts currently 62 funds, of which only 12 are actually performing.
The study also underlines that, thanks to its involvement in projects such as Beit El Mal, the Nissa Banks (banks targeting women) and MICO, the state is actually promoting the sector, but its action remains uncoordinated. This does not facilitate the creation of an enabling economic, legal and regulatory environment that can promote microfinance institutions and boost the efficiency of financial markets.
In order to improve rural women’s access to funding, the study suggests a series of measures and recommendations based on a comparative analysis of some good practices that proved to bear fruit in neighbouring countries. It recommends notably to:
- Strengthen the gender approach so as to ensure that universal service (women and men) required for economies of scale is undertaken according to specific objectives and indicators that ensure progress towards effective gender parity;
- Accelerate the financial inclusion strategy for women by encouraging microfinance institutions (MFIs) and private initiatives (cooperatives, non-profit associations and corporations, etc.);
- Build the institutional, operational and financial capacities of the MFIs, and further support small and micro enterprises, especially in rural areas;
- Improve the geographical distribution and coverage of the MFIs as local operators, and develop synergies with banks to fund economic activities;
- Ensure accessibility to quality agricultural and entrepreneurial counselling in order to better equip female customers, especially in rural areas;
- Harness adequate technological tools and train women in rural areas to use them optimally, so as to boost their productive activities.
For more information on the publication, please contact:
Houda Mejri, Gender Officer & Focal Point/ Participatory Governance and Citizen’s Engagement
Email: hmejri@uneca.org