Yagana exists because a group of rural women agriculturalists came together in 2014 to create their own bank. Dependent upon itinerant microlenders charging high interest rates to fund their projects, the women found it very difficult to get ahead. They knew they could do better.

Today, Yagana Microcredit is a thriving, locally based, women-run microcredit bank serving the Commune of Wadouba in central Mali. But Yagana is more than just a community bank, it is a network of women committed to improving the lives of their families and of the community at large.

Since 2014, Yagana has expanded its original goal of creating economic security to include peace building in a conflict zone, land management in the sahel and the validation and preservation of traditional wisdom and art.