Yunus are accrued indeed around 30 million users worldwide

Professional Microcredit undoubtedly has the wind in its sails. Almost twenty years after the creation of the famous Grameen Bank in Bangladesh by Professor Dr. Yunus, are accrued indeed around 30 million users worldwide. Should be welcome, because the recognition of the entrepreneurial qualities of a large number of poor people, associated with the opening of their access to credit, brings a healthy hope that reorients relevant way the actions of the international donors on the basis of a seductive credo: "Help the poor to produce their own wealth rather than help them consume."

But the reality is always also pink Many authors emphasize the potential excesses of the defaulting borrower group social pressure, pressure can go up to a quasi-exclusion, with often catastrophic consequences. There is indeed a certain tension, or even contradiction, between the two jurisdictions of microcredit: collective solidarity and individual initiative. The contractor is splintered between, on the one hand, the necessary docility that determines its integration in the Group and, on the other hand, her own need for initiative. In a group non-structured, this tension peaked easily and penalizes the realization of the economic and social of microcredit objectives. This is to avoid these pitfalls that microcredit organizations looking to develop other modes of organization.

In Burkina Faso takes place three years an experimental program supported by the French Development Agency. In this framework, the network of the Caisses Populaires du Burkina has attracted, with the support of the relevant professional association, the creation of a society of mutual guarantee of welders (SCM). What is the principle A craftsman welder most often in the informal sector which wants to borrow should obtain the surety of the SCM, composed of volunteer craftsmen. This warranty is moral, technical and financial, and covers 50 of the risk of the Caisse Populaire. In return, the borrower agrees 5 per cent of its loan to the Fund of the mutual guarantee of SCM, this amount being refundable overall risk that it will be seen in fine. In this framework structured and controlled, the craftsman is both creditworthy borrower and joint and several guarantee of colleagues borrowers. The system, ensuring a good balance between the interests of the parties, to prevent Agency (adverse selection and moral hazard) problems identified generally in this type of relationship and helps alleviate the atmosphere of dependence. Moreover, it is with the Caisse Populaire that the borrower will discuss his credit in a classical client-bank relationship.

The distinction between a structured SCM and a financial institution thus clarifies the two dimensions of microcredit and articulates them: "collective solidarity" and "entrepreneurial solidarity" have no reasons to oppose or to neutralize. From the outset, the intentions of the actors in the experiment were to stimulate the fight against poverty in a sustainable framework, promoting endogenous and sustainable development with the opening of the access to credit for artisans. On this last point, it appears from official source that 80 of the beneficiaries of loans could get credit without the device. In addition, the SCM has demonstrated to date its ability to fulfil its commitments to the Caisses Populaires while maintaining a healthy financial structure. Equilibrium of Caisses operating conditions are subject to a thorough, but does appear to be not out of reach. Any extrapolation for the final results of this experiment will of course require further monitoring and research work, but today welcome this concrete attempt to reconcile the economic and humanitarian by the spirit of enterprise and solidarity practice relevant Assembly.