The Efficiency of Multi-Tier Savings and Credit Cooperatives in Developing Countries: A Study Based on Empirical Research in West Africa

As a means of fighting poverty, the support of microfinance institutions has gained major significance in development aid. However, the widespread expectation that these institutions would quickly become self-sustaining has so far only rarely been fulfilled. This applies in particular to multi-tier savings and credit cooperatives, whose way of functioning is examined in the present study using innovative organisation- and cost-analysis instruments. The analysis reveals the dominance of the upper institutional levels, which attempt to position themselves as intermediaries for public development aid and as a result generate extremely inefficient operations, instead of providing efficient support services for the lower level institutions. To enable multi-tier savings and credit cooperatives to develop their full potential, radical reforms and a change of attitude on the part of the cooperative managers and international donors are needed.