TITLE:
Outreach & Sustainability of Microfinance Institutes (MFIs) in the Midst of the Anglophone Crisis in Cameroon: A Comparative Analysis of MFIs Affiliated to CamCCUL Using DEA and Tobit Censored Model for the Period of 2017 and 2020
AUTHORS:
Parveen Ngum Neba
KEYWORDS:
Microfinance, Outreach, Sustainability, Social Performance, Financial Performance, Anglophone Crisis, DEA, Tobit Censored
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Business and Management,
Vol.10 No.4,
July
28,
2022
ABSTRACT: Microfinance and its origin are associated with poverty reduction.
Despite increased regulation on Microfinance Institutions, challenges in terms
of financial sustainability and social
responsibility (Outreach) still persist. The main goal of this paper is
to assess the effect of Anglophone crisis on the Outreach and Sustainability of
Microfinance Institutes in Cameroon. The Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA)
method and the Tobit Censored model were used on data of 40 MFIs affiliated to
CamCCUL selected from the Northwest and Southwest Regions of Cameroon given
that these are the two regions that have been highly affected by the Anglophone
crisis for the period of 2017 and 2020. Findings reveal that there is trade-off
between Outreach and Sustainability of MFIs. The Anglophone crisis has greatly
affected the efficiency of MFIs located in the Northwest and Southwest regions
of Cameroon. However, analysis showed that there was a slight improvement in
outreach and financial performance of MFIs in 2020 as compared to the year 2017
when the crisis was at its peak. It was also realised that the size of MFI, its
location, subsidies and other related factors have a great influence on their
efficiency. The paper, therefore, recommends that the Government should highly
subsidise MFIs in the Northwest and Southwest Regions to enable them to survive
in the midst of the Anglophone Crisis and MFIs should adopt good governance
practices in order to be efficient both in terms of Social Performance (Outreach)
and Financial Performance (Sustainability) in this midst of this crisis.