AFRICANUS Vol 30 No 2 ISSN 0304-615X - University of South Africa

Indicators for indigenous financial
efforts: theory, evidence and
prospects 1
N J Vermaak
ABSTRACT
This paper evaluates indigenous financial efforts (IFEs) in rural areas in
terms of their contribution to rural community development. It will be argued
that IFEs are often associated and evaluated with quantitative criteria in spite
of the profound non-economic benefits such schemes have for community
development. Evidence from success stories in the developing world and
fieldwork done in South Africa reveal that successful IFEs are often determined
by indicators of a qualitative nature and that the non-economic
attributes of IFEs support and facilitate local development.
1 INTRODUCTION
Since agriculture is an important economic activity in the developing world
(Todaro 1997: 295) and, in South Africa's case, will be so for at least another
two or three decades (Van Aardt 1997: 263), financial initiatives are much
needed to accommodate the rural poor ± something which is often considered
irreconcilable with the objectives of NGOs, such as realising profits in order to
be successful (Schoombee 1998: 390).
During the 1970s, when economic development was recognised to be the
dominant paradigm, scant attention was often paid to non-economic benefits of
financial incentives in rural areas. In this report it will be argued that indigenous
rural financial efforts (IFEs) are in many instances mainly evaluated with
quantitative criteria, in spite of the existence of non-economic benefits that are
Africanus 30(2)2000 38