The Case for African Feminist Economics in Global Development

Résumé : 
African feminist co-operators engage in solidarity economies through a specific form of mutual aid – formally referred to as Rotating Savings and Credit Associations (ROSCAs)–to meet their livelihood needs. These women call themselves the Banker Ladies, and the ROSCAs they run are rooted in equity, mutual aid and self-help. Members decide on the rules and processes of how to make regular contributions to a fund that is given in whole or in part to each member in turn. Canada has a rich history of co-operativism, yet, ROSCAs are ignored, stigmatized and ROSCAs are not valued as they are in the Caribbean. This lecture draws on empirical work that involves interviews with hundreds of Black women in five Caribbean countries, in Canada’s big cities of Toronto and Montreal, as well as in Ghana and Ethiopia of her recently published book, The Banker Ladies. This research is calling on policy-makers to fund a ROSCA federation and for all co-operators to correct the citational blindness of Black women co-operators. By valuing informal institutions, as well as acknowledging and remunerating the work of the Banker Ladies is a move towards inclusive financial systems, and by extension it can revolutionize the field of international development.