Prácticas financieras de las cajas de ahorro y crédito del cantón Espíndola provincia de Loja y su incidencia local

Abstract

The purpose of this research is to analyze how financial practices develop of local financial structures from Espindola canton, in the Province of Loja, and how they affect transformation of their localities. Through participatory research designed under the Social Analysis Systems approach, we studied two cases: the "Francisca Chigua" Communal Bank, an EFL created in 2002 by a group of peasant agroecological promoters from various localities in the canton, and “Tundurama” Savings and Credit Banks, the most recently created EFL (in 2018) by inhabitants of the homonymous community. As for financial practices, it is found that their governability rests on three factors: 1) the importance of credit for small peasant farms in conditions of remoteness and financial exclusion, 2) the pre-existence of close social and cultural relations between partners, 3) the individual interest in safeguarding their contributions and access to the credit service. On the older hand, the participation of the partners is functional or motivated by incentives, this is due to the fact that they have sufficient spaces for horizontality and training, and the technical support processes are limited to formal and technical aspects that don´t consider their cultural capital. This limits the practice of redistributing surpluses and the commitment to building a common heritage. Finally, it is concluded that, although the EFLs studied formally don’t affect the transformation of their localities, they have a very strong incidence potential, based on the pre-existing close links and their ability to finance and capitalize peasant agroecosystems, compatible with extended reproduction of the life