DAR ES SALAAM, Aug. 11 -- FOR nearly three decades, Savings and Credit Cooperative Societies (SACCOS) were presented to Tanzanians as the peoples bank, a grassroots alternative to commercial lenders built on trust, small savings and mutual guarantees.

Villages, ministries, parastatals and market associations formed thousands of them. Yet today, a sobering pattern has emerged.

A handful of large, well-run SACCOS, mostly civil-service and institutionbased schemes with tens of thousands of members, dominate the sector, while many smaller, community-based SACCOS have collapsed, become dormant or entered liquidation.

Why did so many fail while a few grew into giants? Interviews with practitioners, TCDC guidance documents and academic resear...