MADISON, Wis.–The World Council of Credit Unions said it has been in “constant contact” with its direct member organization in Afghanistan over the past several weeks as conditions have worsened as the United States withdraws its troops and the Taliban takes over much of the country.
WOCCU worked on several finance and cooperative development programs from 2004-12 with local communities in the country as it sought to establish a national system of credit unions, known as Islamic Investment and Finance Cooperatives (IIFCs).
According to the World Council, there are 27 IIFCs in the country providing essential financial services to over 116,000 members throughout the country. Those credit unions are part of the Islamic Investment & Finance Cooperatives Group, which is a WOCCU direct member.
“Because IIFCs were specifically built to foster financial inclusion based on Islamic financial principles, we hope they will continue to be allowed to provide the same dependable financial services to their local communities for the foreseeable future,” WOCCU said in a statement to CUToday.info.
WOCCU added it will continue to monitor events and maintain a direct line of communication with the organization, and will further “continue to support a peaceful and inclusive role of credit unions for the Afghani people.”
One Person’s Story
In 2018, CUToday.info shared the story of Lois Kitsch, formerly of the National Credit Union Foundation, who spent time in Afghanistan working on credit union-related development. That story can be found here.