Women's Thrift Cooperatives

Women's thrift cooperatives (WTCs) are self-managing and self-financing microfinance institutions (MFIs) whose membership consists entirely of women. An outgrowth of the Hyderbad-based, nongovernmental organization (NGO) Cooperative Development Foundation (CDF) in India, WTCs were formed after the CDF attempted to promote the involvement of women in existing cooperatives but encountered resistance from men in those organizations. After a number of attempts to work through another organization in the late 1980s to establish thrift cooperatives for women, the CDF embarked upon its own efforts to promote the formation of WTCs. With a focused attention on the districts of Karimnagar and Warangal in the state of Andhra Pradesh (located on the southeastern coast of India), the CDF helped to establish the first women's thrift cooperative in 1990.

Although they represent a type of MFI, WTCs are different from the most well-known MFIs, such as Grameen Bank and Acción International in that they are savings-led institutions. Thus, in WTCs, in contrast to other MFIs, all money lent out to borrowers originates solely from member savings. Another key characteristic that differentiates WTCs from the more well-known institutions is their focus on the building of cooperatives through interactions between the technical assistance provider (CDF) and the women who form and run them, as opposed to MFIs, which are normally constructed top down by professionals who work for NGOs, in order to offer credit to a market of borrowers.