Approach #1

Support the international development aid organisations you already support, but focus particularly on the work they are doing in your List A partner area

On the evidence so far, applying this approach with respect to microfinance in WWC Area #1412, has proved difficult: no-one has posted here to say that they are active supporters of any non-profit or NGO known to be engaged in any microfinance operation in Niamey.

Looking the country-by-country section of the nonprofitslist, none of the non-profits listed seem to be both engaged in microfinance projects and operating in Niamey. Moreover, even if we had found evidence that work of this kind was going on, we would also need to be sure that it was happening in Communes 1 or 2. For example, it was a while before I discovered that the University in Niamey is located in Commune 3 (i.e. SW of the River Niger)

It is too early to say that there are no microfinance schemes to support in Communes 1 & 2, just that we haven't found them yet. The list of non-profits currently in the country-by-country section is limited in that it:

• so far covers non-profits only from A to S
• consists primarily of UK based non-profits registered with CAF (the Charities Aid Foundation) and therefore only a small percentage of the world's non-profits so far feature in the WWC listings.

However, it seems significant that, as Mark reported earlier, KIVA, one of the best providers of microfinance, does not have any partners in Niger at the present time.

Perhaps one role an individual could play within the WCP might be to help find KIVA partners in Niamey, although this would come under a different heading: more like a Type 5 than a Type 1 Approach.