Concern and the Irish League of Credit Unions Foundation held a seminar yesterday to highlight the impact the credit union movement has had in tackling poverty in Ireland and in developing countries such as Uganda and Albania.
The seminar, in Dublin, was part of a number of events held to mark the United Nations Year of Microcredit.
Loans from credit unions have opened doors to the poor, who often have been denied financial services from banks, the seminar heard.
In Albania, which was wrested from 50 years of communist power in 1991, small loans from credit unions have created jobs and led to a reduction in emigration of Albanians to western Europe, according to Elvana Sharkaj, the executive director of Jehona, the apex body of the credit union movement in Albania.
The southeast European country did not have any credit unions before the Irish League of Credit Unions Foundation started a pilot project there in 1996. There are now more than 7,000 credit union members in Albania, with savings and loans worth €1 million.
In Ireland, St Columba's credit union in Galway recently won the Social and Community Development award for financing the development of a village and enterprise centre in what was previously a dilapidated area, according to manager Pat Hehir.
