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Following the pilot sustainable
microfinance institute in Xingren County, Ziyun Rural Development
Association (ZYRDA)is becoming another pioneer of microfinance in
Guizhou Province. This has been consolidated by the adjustment of
the board of the directors of the Association.
Ziyun Miao and
Buyi Ethnic Autonomous County is one of the poorest place in Guizhou
province. ZYRDA was established in 1998 under the support of UNDP's
project. Microfinance is the main activities of the association.
UNDP putted in CNY1.4 million as the seed fund. In 2001, by coordination
of CICETE, CIDA provided CNY260,000 to the Association. Till the
end of June 2004, the association has 1900 registered members, among
them, 57% are poor women and 53% are ethic minorities. The association
had delivered CNY5.69 million to the poor households in the past
6 years. At the beginning, due to the management problems, the repayment
of the loan is less than 95%. In 2001, with the help of CICETE,
ZYRDA adjusted the management structure and internal control system.
Since then, the performance has been improved and the repayment
rate has been keeping 100% for the new loan portfolio. But one risk
was still influence the sustainability of the association, which
is from the governance structure. The board of directors was mainly
involving the officials of the county poverty alleviation department
and the poverty alleviation department assigned the managers.
On 18th September
of 2004, the second Assembly meeting was hold in Ziyun County. The
board of directors was adjusted on the meeting. Instead of the officials
from the poverty alleviation department, the representatives of
CICETE/DOFCOM (on behalf of UNDP's project), department of agriculture
(on behalf of CIDA's project) and poor farmers also joined the board.
The managers was assigned by the board on the first meeting of the
board of directors. Mr. Bai Chengyu, director of SCO under the CICETE,
was elected as the deputy director general of the association.
CICETE will
continue to provide technical support to and monitor the performance
of the association in the future and hope to develop it into a sustainable
microfinance institute.
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