The tier 1 strategy largely focuses on building strong institutions on the ground which not just helps in accomplishing greater outreach, but also in creating and organizing the demand.
While the MFI channel has a greater potential to achieve scale, both in terms of the number of clients reached and the quantum of loans at a faster pace, there is a need and significance in promoting and supporting the slower but potentially steady community based channels as well.
Community models include SHG bank linkage and community based MFOs with are either SHG based federations or member based cooperatives. To support these diverse institutional models, ASSIST sets up Resource centres to hand hold and engage in institutional strengthening of emerging NGO-MFIs, SHPIs, SHG Federations and Community Based cooperatives. A Resource Centre typically has three or four technical professionals who support more than ten institutions in a particular region, equipped with standard toolkits and training modules which are customized to the specific requirements of the partners.
Initiatives:
• Two such resource centres are operational in Bhubaneswar, Orrissa (supporting 13 CBMFOs) and in Patna, Bihar(supporting 5 SHPIs).