30-04-2024 | di COOPI

Reviving Hope in Nigeria: Garba's business takes off with Community-Based Village Savings and Loan Association

Garba Audu Kukuri is a resident of Kukuri village in the local government area of Nangere, Nigeria. Due to insufficient savings and unaffordable loan options, his business was in danger of collapse at the end of 2023. Then he met COOPI - Cooperazione Internazionale, which, as part of the United Nations Development Program (UNDP)-funded project “A fast track to early and sustainable recovery for conflict-affected communities in north-east Nigeria,” was campaigning for the approach used by Village Savings and Loan Associations (VSLAs). Since then, the course of his life has changed.

During the months from November 2023 to March 2024, the project, aimed at improving community economic opportunities and promoting social cohesion and security, built and strengthened the resilience of 325 beneficiaries, the majority of them being women, from old and new savings and credit groups in Potiskum (Tandari community) and Nangere (Kukuri community), Yobe State.

Members received training on the methodology and approach of Village Savings and Loan Associations (VSLAs), including topics such as business skills, financial literacy, and linking VSLA groups with financial institutions in the two local government areas. The results, after the training, were encouraging: most of the members of the VSLA groups, 204 in total (154 women and 50 men), received and repaid their loans, boosting their businesses, and 13 managed to raise a total of 843,340 Nigerian Nairas, income which, as these associations envision, is then used to finance loans for members of their groups. 

Garba is precisely among the beneficiaries for whom the project was a real breakthrough:

Life had become an uphill battle, and providing for my family was a daily challenge. Then, a beacon of hope emerged in our community: an awareness campaign by COOPI - Cooperazione Internazionale about the Village Savings and Loans Association (VSLA)”

Intrigued, Garba engaged with one COOPI operator and decided to join a VSLA group.

Little did I know that this decision would alter the course of my life. Our eyes were opened to the significance of having a financial safety net and the ease of accessing loans promptly. The VSLA project has been a true lifesaver”

After diligently saving for four months, Garba mustered the courage to apply for a lifeline loan for his struggling business. Today, his business has not only revived but thrived. Garba is deeply thankful to COOPI and UNDP for the opportunity they granted to him to regain his footing and uplift his family. When asked to express a wish, he affirmed:

I am committed to sustaining this positive momentum, and to continue supporting myself and my family well into the future. However, my wish is that COOPI would establish more VSLA groups, complete with startup grants. Such initiatives would deepen our understanding of the importance of savings and reshape our spending habits”

The areas of livelihood recovery, cash transfers, conflict mitigation, social cohesion, collective protection and youth empowerment are the main focus of COOPI’s intervention in Yobe State. COOPI has been present in Nigeria since 2014, where it works with numerous projects in the areas of food security and livelihoods, nutrition, emergency shelter and protection, water and sanitation (WASH) and education in emergencies (EiE), providing assistance to vulnerable populations while strengthening their resilience to conflict and climate shocks.