Strengthening the Role of Inter-Organizational Relationships (IORs) to Improve Rural Women’s Access on Microcredit: The Case Study of Nepal Women Community Service Center in Dang, Nepal

Abstract

This case study observed the Inter-Organisational Relationships (IORs) of Nepal Women Community Service Centre (NWCSC), a financial NGO in Western Nepal, in order to assess the strength and weaknesses of the IORs of the NWCSC on the basis of the three ‘C’ framework – namely competition, co-operation, and co-ordination. The study found that there is a lack of proper communication and co-ordination between the government agencies and NGOs, even within the government agencies themselves. This highlighted the fact that poor women in the rural areas are deprived of any meaningful support they would otherwise have access to. Institutional constraints facing such NGOs include lack of trained manpower, limited access to information technology, comparatively low salary and benefits, and extended working hours for the staff. The prescribed best practices for financial NGOs included investing in training and developing strategies to reach out to the marginalized poor whereas the government, particularly the central bank, can enforce strict measures to discourage unhealthy competition among the microfinance institutions (MFIs) and encourage them to reduce their high interest rates to the borrowers.