The Technical Assistance Agency (TAA) based in Kenema, is the support structure on which the CBS and FSAs depend. With a staff of 30, the TAA provides training, guidance, monitoring and supervision to the rural banking network and its staff. It also extends training to clients to ensure that the loans they receive are wisely invested. The TAA is continuously active in conducting market research and refining existing products or brainstorming the development of new ones tailored to the needs of the beneficiaries.

The TAA is currently in the process of becoming an apex bank. As such it will continue to supervise, monitor, audit and train, providing the support these structures need to become stand-alone entities. It will also, crucially, connect the banking network to the central banks. Read more >>>

The community banks (CBs) operate in a similar way to commercial banks and are located in larger rural centres. They offer a greater range of products, including salary loans, mobile money or money transfers to mobile phones, and local money transfer, and are particularly focused on agricultural loans and support to farmers. Cheques issued by community banks are now recognised by commercial banks – so that the community banks are fully absorbed into the wider network of banking.

A few of these banks had already been established by the Bank of Sierra Leone as part of a pilot scheme, but were failing and in need of restructuring. Staff lacked proper training, and defaulting on loans was widespread. The community bank in Segbwema is an example of a moribund bank that has been revived and is now flourishing thanks to the project. In just a year the bank’s risk factor has been reduced from a massive 98 per cent, to 12 per cent. New staff have been hired, bad practices have been eliminated, and new regulations inculcated. Read more >>>

An FSA is an approach to support the rural poor population in ac-cessing a wide range of financial services and better manage their own resources efficiently. It combines the principles of an invest-ment company that focuses on risk capital, financial returns, and shareholder value and that of community finance that focuses on proximity, social capital, user ownership, and outreach to the poorer segments of the community. The FSA combines the advantages of user ownership together with modern governance, management and contract enforcement techniques to create an effective financial in-stitution.