This article discusses governance within village savings and loans associations (VSLAs), based on an examination of one such structure in northern Benin. The author is particularly interested in existing oversight mechanisms and how they interact. To guide her analysis, she relies on Charreaux’s (1997) interpretive framework for associations, with a stakeholder-centered approach that borrows from psychological and social contract theory to establish the values and principles of cooperatives. The analysis shows that specific and spontaneous mechanisms (trust, peer pressure, etc.) are most effective. These associations are not only viable alternatives, but they can also act as catalysts for strengthening social capital, leadership roles for women, and the economic and social development of communities.