72

Some stakeholders are recognized by law or formal contracts, for instance, the owners of the organization, its customers, and its employees. We use twenty-four interviews with directors or officers of microfinance organizations in the Dakar region in Senegal to document the institutional dimension of the definition of stakeholders. The interviews’ analysis underlines the importance of tradition that takes root in local communities. Integrating traditional and local institutions can help to rethink the aim of microfinance organizations and the nature of their control mechanisms.