Micro finance for rural poor women and micro insurance: Up-scaling services and enhancing growth in Saving and Credit Cooperatives (year 2) Objectives of this project: 
1.To reach out to 65.000 poor individuals members and provide them ACCES to affordable micro finance in order to be able to improve their wealth.
2. To expand the mutal aid services (micro insurance) to 150 SACCOS (reaching 5.800 individual memebrs) and achive operation break even of this service
3. Interlending fund increased for provision of loans
4. Membership growth of 250 additional SACCOS (from 650 to 900 SACCOS)

Proposed Activities: 
Micro finance:
In the period from 2010-2012, NEFSCUN wants to expand it services to 100,000 low income people (of which 80% women). NEFSCUN member SACCOS will provide them with microfinance services and contribute to building their wealth. Microfinance services will be provided by applying the Credit Union Microfinance Innovations (CUMI) methodology, which includes a ful fledged orientation and training programme especially designed for poor segments of the society. After the orientation and training period and 6 months saving, the new members are entitled to take their first loan.  In 2010 we plan to provide CUMI based microfinance services to 30,000 and in 2011 to 35,000 new members reaching 65,000 in 2 years. This programme will be supported by Business Development Services, supporting entrepreneurial poor women in accessing the market. 

Mutual Aid services:
NEFSCUN provides funds, builds capacities, provides financial risk protection with its Mutual Aid services (micro-insurance) and provides all kinds of materials and administrative tools to professionalize the services of the SACCOS.

Nepal Federation of Savings and Credit Cooperative Unions Limited (NEFSCUN) is the national apex body for Savings and Credit Cooperatives (SACCOS) and their District Unions in Nepal. This member based organization provides financial and non-financial services to its members, guided by International Credit Union Principles and Values. NESFCUN promotes, strengthens and provides a forum for SACCOS to become viable community based financial institutions by providing value-added services such as education, training and financial services. NEFSCUN’s core services support SACCOS in providing financial solutions to their individual members.

NEFSCUN has 842 SACCOS as member including 31 District Unions representing over 500,000 individual members at the end of 2010: 45% female and 55% male. Over 70% of SACCOS members are living in rural areas, depending for their income on the agricultural sector. In the urban areas SACCOS provide their services mainly to members active in small business and cottage industries but also agricultural related jobs such horticulture. 

NESFCUNs core services are: 
1. Central Finance Facility Inter-lending (CFFI), 
2. Microfinance services
3. NEFSCUN Mutual Aid (‘micro-insurance’), 
4. Stationery services.
5. Cooperative Banking Software Solutions
6. Training and Education


CFFI was initiated in 1996 and its objective is to provide share, savings and loan facilities to member SACCOS. Through training and education services NEFSCUN aims to strengthen the capacity of SACCOS staff and leaders which must lead to improvement of performance of the SACCOS operations. Since most of the individual members are low-income people there is a big demand for microfinance services. NESFCUN promotes and capacitates the SACCOS to provide these services to existing and new members on the basis of the CUMI methodology (developed by ACCU).  NEFSCUN Mutual Aid is a co-operative based financial security system. It is aimed at pooling resources among low-income members, who are excluded from formal social protection mechanism, under co-operative principles & values. Through stationary services we provide all required materials for registration of SACCOS data as well as educational publications and posters, by ordering stationary centralize we can provide materials at reduced rate to our members. Cooperative Banking Software Solutions aims to assist SACCOS in digitalizing their operations and increasing efficiency in serving their members with up-to date account data, software also serves to provide fast and up-to date statements and management reports. 

Objectives of this project (2010-2011) 
1.To reach out to 65.000 poor individuals members and provide themn ACCES to affordable micro finance in order to be able to improve their wealth.
2. To expand the mutal aid services (micro insurance) to 150 SACCOS (reaching 5.800 individual memebrs) and achive operation break even of this service
3. Interlending fund increased for provision of loans
4. Membership growth of 250 additional SACCOS (from 650 to 900 SACCOS)

Proposed Activities: 
Micro finance:
In the period from 2010-2012, NEFSCUN wants to expand it services to 100,000 low income people (of which 80% women). NEFSCUN member SACCOS will provide them with microfinance services and contribute to building their wealth. Microfinance services will be provided by applying the Credit Union Microfinance Innovations (CUMI) methodology, which includes a ful fledged orientation and training programme especially designed for poor segments of the society. After the orientation and training period and 6 ,month saving, the new members are entitled to take their first loan.  In 2010 we plan to provide CUMI based microfinance services to 30,000 and in 2011 to 35,000 new members reaching 65,000 in 2 years. This programme will be supported by Business Development Services, supporting entrepreneurial poor women in accessing the market. 

Mutual Aid services:
NEFSCUN provides funds, builds capacities, provides financial risk protection with its Mutual Aid services (micro-insurance) and provides all kinds of materials and administrative tools to professionalize the services of the SACCOS. 

Apart from our core business NEFSCUN is working in the following fields: advocacy & networking, policy support, Microfinance and business development services, financial intermediation, alternative energy promotion and organizing its resources to become a recognized information center for savings and Credit Cooperatives in Nepal. NEFSCUN runs a few pilot services; recently introduced ACCESS branding as a pilot service; this branding system helps SACCOS to identify the strength and weaknesses improve performance on basis of benchmarking and effective monitor an identify member needs. Another pilot service is the youth and women inclusion program which aims to attract youth and women in SACCOS by promoting their inclusion and developing new attractive products for them.

Expected results/outcomes:
- Represent and provide services to 900 SACCOS and their members by the end of 2011   
- Increased Interlending fund for provision of loans to SACCOS, reaching Rs. 100,000,000 CFFI fund assets. 
- Training and education service will be provided on demand (e.g. Credit Union Directors Competence Course) and PEARLS, Policy, Plan training (PPP) and implementation will be a must for all members.
- Mutual Aid Services, the Cooperative security Policy will be provided to over 5,800 members in 150 SACCOS by the end of 2011, with this operational break even will be reached.
- Stationary services will increase in volume as the amount of member SACCOS is increasing, for the Nepali fiscal year 2066/2067 we plan a revenue of Rs. 400,000 and 2011 Rs. 500,000. 
- By the end of 2011 more than 150 SACCOS apply NEFSCUN Cooperative Banking Software
- With microfinance CUMI provision the wealth situation of 65,000 individual members, mostly women, will improve, for that purpose 300 SACCOS staff and leaders will be trained to reach out and provide services to the poor.
- 100 SACCOS without women and youth specific policies implement the sample policy on women and youth integration and service provision. 

Budget request 2010

Total budget: € 213.889
NEFSCUN: € 111.111
Agriterra: € 55.556 (26%)
CCA:€ 29.630
ACCU€ 4.630
others € 12.963

Budget request 2011

Total budget: € 246.296
NEFSCUN: € 138.889
Agriterra: € 50.926 (21%)
CCA:€ 27.778
ACCU € 4.630
others € 14.815

Outreach: 
1. Outreach will be 65.000 poor individual SACCOS members, of which 52.000 women under CUMI
2. 5.800 persons have micro insurance
3. 300 SACCOS staff trained and build capacity to implement CUMI programme

M&E: NESFCUN needs to further improve and refine its monitoring system at the field level, especially impact monitoring needs to be improved.

Améliorer la productivité et la compétitivité des produits  soja et  maïs bruts/transformés des producteurs, des entreprises ou unités agricoles  à travers l’amélioration de leur organisation, de la technique de production, de transformation et de commercialisation.