FOYA, Liberia – After several years working to bring Liberian credit unions up to international standards, the World Council of Credit Union’s MicroLead initiative is coming to an end.
Patrick Muriuki, WOCCU Liberia’s Chief of Party, announced that the four-year project, which started in June 2012, would wrap up in June of this year. He said during the remaining months, WOCCU would finalize efforts to link regional credit unions to both local and international partners, Bushchicken.com reported.
Muriuki made the announcement at the second Annual General Meeting of Trust Savings Credit Union in Foya, Lofa.
“The MicroLead program has come to an end,” Bushchicken.com quoted Muriuki as saying. “We are expecting the next couple of months to leave the regional credit unions and their members to other development partners in the country that have long-term projects.”
According to Bushchicken.com, the project worked to establish four regional credit unions in Liberia, whose headquarters are located in Bomi (Tumanburg), Nimba (Ganta), Grand Bassa (Compound Three), and Grand Gedeh (Zwedru). To date, Muriuki said the credit unions are fully functional and actively serving their members.
Bushchicken.com said the most popular service offered at the financial institutions is the Mobile Money service provided by Lonestar Cell MTN. Since the service was offered to members (in addition to microloans, savings accounts, and other services), Muriuki said at least 250,000 people have used it.
WOCCU collaborated with the Central Bank of Liberia, the Liberia Credit Union National Association, and the Cooperative Development Agency to implement the project. The United Nations Capital Development Fund, along with MasterCard Foundation, provided funding for the project, Bushchicken.com reported.