CEMAC panel interview series: Sorel MOUAFO and Justin Jules KOUTETE
Welcome to our interview series featuring the CEMAC advisory panel. Each week, we’ll share insights from panelists on women's financial inclusion and consumer protection — and the role of public policy in creating better conditions within their regions.
This week, we’ll hear from Sorel MOUAFO from Cameroun and Justin Jules KOUTETE from Chad.
Sorel MOUAFO works to organize trainings for rural women to undertake agro-food processing. She collaborates in advocacy actions aimed at the public authorities to put in place financing mechanisms for young women.
Justin Jules KOUTETE works for the financial empowerment of women in Chad through a program to set up Multifunctional Centers for Inclusive Financial Services.
Question 1: What do you think are the most important barriers to financial inclusion for women in your region?
Sorel MOUAFO (SM): The conditions for opening accounts which require a National Identity Card (NIC) and sometimes the authorization of the spouse, yet in Cameroon we have a large part of women who do not have a NIC and whose spouses oppose their empowerment by the creation of income-generating activities. The guarantees required for access to credit deemed discriminatory because the most required guarantee is the land title, unfortunately in Cameroon women do not have access to land on the same basis as men. Legal and institutional frameworks no longer responding to current financial transactions, particularly in terms of consumer protection of digital financial services or digitization.
Justin Jules KOUTETE (JJK): The barriers to the financial inclusion of women in Chad relate to the identification or obtaining of an identity document, the low rate of possession of mobile phones among women, digital technology among women, account opening requirements penalizing women, and legal barriers to owning and inheriting property and other collateral.
Question 2: Why is consumer protection important, especially for women?
SM: Consumer protection is an exceptional and effective tool for building confidence in a market that aims to be unique, thus guaranteeing safe and quality products. Women are one of the most vulnerable links in the population because they are marginalized, so consumer protection helps protect them and enforce their rights on the same basis as men. The conditions of the contractual relationship between a financial institution and its client may be such that the latter does not have all the information necessary to make its decision, so it must be protected. Faced with a powerful interlocutor, the woman or her small business may be led to contract under conditions involving a certain constraint, for example sexual harassment or the refusal to negotiate with a woman even if she is the manager of the company.
JJK: The protection of female consumers is important because there is a problem of transparency and display of lending rates and often, they are illiterate.
Question 3. How can you effectively advocate for public policies and regulations that consider the needs of women?
JJK: Advocacy must go in the direction of facilitating the opening of accounts for women in MFIs, easing the conditions for obtaining an official identity document by women and reducing legal barriers to ownership and inheritance of property and other guarantees.
SM: Advocacy should be addressed to parliamentarians and discussed during parliamentary sessions. Involve members of civil society, local women's rights organizations and international organizations in advocacy that will be addressed to policymakers. Follow up on the validation and effective application of the various pleas. Promote the various pleas through traditional media (written press, radio, television) to make them known to decision-makers. Strengthen or accentuate lobbying with public authorities or decision-makers.
The next few months
As the Panel continues its work over the next few months, we hope to support the participants in translating their insights and experiences into work that can be taken up by public sector decision-makers.
If you have ideas from how to improve women’s financial inclusion in the CEMAC region, please don’t hesitate to contact us.
Authors
Alexis Ditkowsky