The Foundation is strengthening its links with its institutional partners through a new agreement signed in March 2017 between the Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation and the French Development Agency (AFD) for a period of 3 years.
A programme to strengthen microfinance institutions
The “Take-off Facility for agricultural and rural microfinance in Africa” set up in partnership with the Agence Française de Développement (AFD) [French Development Agency] was renewed in March 2017 for a period of 3 years. The first phase of the programme, carried out between 2013 and 2016, made it possible to strengthen Micro-finance Institutions (MFIs) in Africa and to assist them in becoming operationally self-sufficient and financially viable.
At the end of December 2017, the programme had 18 partners, including 15 in 6 priority countries for the AFD[1]. In 2017, seven new partners joined the programme, three of which in two new countries of intervention for the Facility : the DRC and Rwanda. Contracts for loans amounting to €6,033,000 were approved and €3,707,363 have been disbursed.
A second phase to multiply the impact of the project
The second phase of the programme will be carried out between 2017 and 2020 to provide funds and technical assistance to more than twenty MFIs. The new AFD funding is three-pronged: a €6 million loan to develop the Facility’s credit activity; a €2.2 million subsidy to contribute to the lines of technical assistance; and an ARIZ portfolio guarantee to cover 50% of the production of loans granted to MFIs in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Since the agreement for the second phase was signed in March 2017, 5 technical assistance protocols have already been signed and 28 technical assistance missions have been carried out or are in progress. The missions are aimed to consolidate the risk profile of the partner institutions through different themes such as the development of a business plan, risk management and the improvement of the information system. The missions pertain also to the measurement and management of the social performance, agricultural funding and green microfinance.