VILLAGE SAVINGS AND LENDING ASSOCIATION AS A COMMUNITIES OF PRACTICE

Abstract

Learning is an ongoing social process that develops through interaction, participation, and engagement in practice. Drawing on Communities of Practice (CoP) theory, this study examines how an NGO in Batticaloa Eastern Province Sri Lanka uses shared staff learning and organisationally sponsored Village Savings and Lending Associations (VSLAs) to support microfinance management. An interpretivist qualitative case-study design was adopted in Batticaloa District. The present organisational analysis draws on seven semi-structured interviews with NGO personnel involved in VSLA facilitation and microfinance operations, supported by relevant organisational documents and field observations. The findings indicate two connected but analytically distinct forms of practice: informal staff learning around field problems and the purposeful facilitation of sponsored VSLAbased CoPs. Staff described localised lending routines, facilitative support, record-keeping tools, decentralised monitoring, and digital communication as practices they perceived as supporting loan administration, recovery, and programme continuity. The study extends CoP scholarship into NGO-led microfinance while showing the importance of distinguishing internally emergent staff learning from organisationally sponsored community structures.