By Dennis Peprah
Jema (Bono East), July 21, GNA – The MIHOSO International Foundation, a non-governmental organisation (NGO), is transforming the socio-economic livelihoods of hundreds of rural women in the Bono East Region through financial empowerment initiatives.
MIHOSO is a human rights and social development organisation committed to improving the lives of women, youth, and children through public health education. It also promotes sanitation and hygiene, livelihood empowerment, organisational development, evidence-based advocacy, and capacity strengthening.
Through its Village Savings and Loan Associations (VSLAs) initiative, the organisation has supported more than 300 rural women across farming communities in the Kintampo South District and beyond.
The initiative has enabled thousands of women and vulnerable households to access small loans, addressing long-standing barriers to formal financial services in many rural communities where banking facilities are unavailable.
Speaking in an interview with the Ghana News Agency (GNA) at Jema, the district capital, Mr Thomas Benarkuu, Chief Executive Officer of MIHOSO, said the VSLAs had become an important pathway to economic empowerment and community resilience.
He said the COVID-19 pandemic, however, exposed significant weaknesses within the VSLA networks, with many groups struggling with weak leadership, poor financial record-keeping, loan defaults, theft, inadequate supervision, and exploitation by external financial institutions.
As those challenges intensified, nearly 200 savings groups collapsed, threatening years of community investment and leaving many women without reliable financial support.
“Rather than allowing these gains to disappear, MIHOSO saw an opportunity to reimagine community finance,” Mr Benarkuu stated.
He explained that under its “Shift the Power Project”, supported by the STAR-Ghana Foundation and the West Africa Civil Society Institute (WACSI), MIHOSO redesigned its approach and developed a long-term, locally owned financial sustainability model.
Instead of relying solely on donor funding, the organisation worked with community members to consolidate the savings groups and establish the MIHOSO Cooperative Credit Union at Jema.
Mr Benarkuu said the Credit Union now operated as a registered non-bank financial institution under Ghana’s Department of Cooperatives.
He said the institution provided members with a secure, transparent, and professionally managed platform to save, borrow, invest, and build financial resilience, adding that ownership rested with the communities themselves.
Since its launch in July 2025, the MIHOSO Cooperative Credit Union has revived 81 previously collapsed VSLAs, strengthened 71 existing savings groups, and facilitated the formation of 13 new groups, restoring confidence in community-based financial systems.
Mr Benarkuu said the “Shift the Power Project” had directly benefited 3,825 people, comprising 2,868 women (75 per cent) and 957 men, including 2,486 youth, 1,339 adults, and 35 persons with disabilities aged between 18 and 75 years.
He said access to finance had improved significantly, noting that within the first year the Credit Union disbursed approximately GH¢450,000 in loans to members, while affiliated savings groups collectively provided more than GH¢2 million in internal loans.
Membership, he said, had increased from 800 to 1,942 active customers, while shareholder membership rose from 72 to 139, reflecting growing trust and confidence in the Credit Union.
“In fact, the MIHOSO Cooperative Credit Union stands as lasting evidence that community investment can outlive donor funding, ensuring that the benefits of today’s interventions continue to create opportunities for generations to come,” Mr Benarkuu added
GNA
Edited by Audrey Dekalu
Reporter: Dennis Peprah
Email: [email protected]