Understanding Rural Needs

Rural households have quite complicated decisions to make in terms of which enterprises to pursue, whether to produce for the market, which technologies to adopt, where to sell produce, how to react to problems, how to manage multiple demands on limited cash resources and how to build up assets for security or larger investments. In terms of managing money, it is essential to calculate carefully, especially if some borrowing is contemplated, and the poorer people are, the more important this is. We need to help people improve these skills to reduce their vulnerability and, at the same time, create more effective and reliable clients for rural financial institutions.

To help rural householders to improve their financial planning skills, it may be necessary to start with

• Enterprise development: how to give advice on market research, business planning and finance
• Farming: how to provide guidance on marketing and financial decision-making in agriculture
• Group activities: working together to solve problems; joint enterprise initiatives
• Health: how non-health experts can communicate essential health messages to their clients
• Literacy: how to help clients develop the skills needed for effective business management
• Marketing: moving products profitably from point of production to point of consumption
• Money management: how to help people understand budgeting, keep accounts and take informed borrowing decisions
• Savings groups: how to set up and run savings groups or village banks