News

Phare Ponleu Selpak: Cambodia’s Circus Show Breaks Guinness World Record

In the context of the Covid crisis, the circus, in search of funding, came up with something really creative to attract attention: to organise a show likely to break the Guinness World Record.

Phare Ponleu Selpak, a non-profit Cambodian art school, set a Guinness World Record by organising a circus performance that lasted 24 hours, 10 minutes and 30 seconds in Battambang. The show took place between March 7 and 8, 2021, but the record was confirmed by Guinness World Records (GWR) in November.

Phare Ponleu Selpak (PPSA) is an organisation founded by Cambodian refugees to help children through the trauma of war and to restore the country’s culture and education after the Khmer Rouge genocide. The association now contributes to the education of 800 underprivileged children and trains hundreds of others in the visual, musical and performing arts to help lift hundreds of families out of poverty and keep Cambodian culture alive.

Over the past decade, PPSA has taken innovative steps to avoid dependency on aid by establishing a popular animal-free circus and tourist attraction that has funded their rescue programmes. In particular, it created Phare Performing Social Enterprise (PPSE), in which the Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation is a shareholder, and which is the company responsible for producing and distributing circus shows while employing young artists from disadvantaged backgrounds, trained by the NGO.

Faced with the Covid-related restrictions that put an end to the shows, and therefore the source of income for artists, PPSA looked for alternative sources of income and thus came up with something really creative to attract attention. An idea that was based on the same creativity and resilience with which the organisation was born and which allowed it to break a world record and thus enter the Guinness.

For more information about the Phare circus, click here.

In Moldova, the Foundation strengthens its support to Smart Credit

In September, the Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation granted new financing in Eastern Euro18pe and in particular in Moldova, where it is strengthening its support to the microfinance institution Smart Credit.

Indeed, the institution was granted a new loan for an amount, in local currency, equivalent to €500,000. Smart Credit is a microfinance institution whose objective is to help clients improve their living conditions, especially socially disadvantaged small entrepreneurs. The institution currently has over 3,000 active borrowers, 54% of whom are women and 71% of whom live in rural areas, and manages a portfolio of around €4 million.

For further information on our partners, please click here.

Finance at the service of inclusion: focus on impact investing on the occasion of the release of the film “Same Same but different”

On the occasion of the release of the film “Same Same but different”, directed by Tommy Pascal and shot in Cambodia with Phare Performing Social Enterprise (PPSE), a social enterprise supported by the Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation and that employs young artists from underprivileged backgrounds, Crédit Agricole SA and the Foundation organised a round table at the Grand Rex on “Finance at the service of inclusion: challenges and opportunities”.

Moderated by Vincent Brousseau, Director of impact financing at the Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation, the round table composed of Cyrille Langendorff (Phitrust), Florian Peudevin (Amundi) and Mathieu Cornieti (Impact Partners) generated a very interesting and informative discussion. The speakers thus presented the impact investing sector in France, explained what patient investments are, the risks and challenges of the sector. Punctuated with concrete examples of their activity, the debates highlighted the importance of finance in achieving fairer and more equitable inclusion of vulnerable populations, both in France and abroad, but also the importance of time in projects that can only be considered on the long term.

“Take the time to support social innovations.” – Florian Peudevin

Time is a key concept in finance. Because it is linked to profitability, performance, and the clarity of their effects. Would going fast be a guarantee of success? No when it comes to impact investing. “To provide answers to the major challenges, we must innovate and take the time needed to support these innovations“, explains Florian Peudevin. Investing in a project with a social impact means accepting that it experiences hazards and difficulties. “We are on the long term. We adjust the level of risk on which we want to position ourselves”, agrees Mathieu Cornieti. “We do not run away in the event of a glitch”, concludes Cyrille Langendorff.

Presented by Régis Wargnier, French director, President of PPS France, in the presence of Véronique Faujour, Managing Director of the Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation, the experience of PPSE is a concrete example of what impact investing can represent for the inclusion of vulnerable populations, in particular young people. This support is all the more necessary in times of crisis such as the one experienced during the Covid pandemic which has undermined the financial situation of the company and, consequently, that of the artists and their families. The support of the Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation and Crédit Agricole S.A. was crucial in enabling the company to take this step and continue to offer unique shows such as the one from which an extract was screened as an introduction to the round table.

Find the extract from the film “Same Same but different” here.

The entire film is available on the Qwest TV platform (subscription required).

Symbiotics publishes its Impact Report 2021

Financial services have an essential role to play in emerging economies and are a key contributor to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). However, one in three adults in developing countries remain unbanked, lacking access to basic financial services to help them manage their household finances.

Expanding access to finance among these underserved populations allows them to improve their financial resilience, capture business opportunities that would otherwise remain out of reach, and create new jobs, thereby contributing to several SDGs. For example, financial services such as loans, savings accounts and insurance products3131 contribute to poverty alleviation (SDG 1: No Poverty) by providing low-income households with mechanisms to better manage their finances. In addition, targeting financial inclusion for women contributes to gender equality (SDG 5: Gender Equality), since low-income women account for the largest share of unbanked adults and often lack the resources to control their finances. Other tailored financial services targeting farmers may also contribute to food security (such as SDG 2: Zero Hunger) by increasing agricultural productivity and supporting smallholder farmers.

Through these channels, the Symbiotics portfolio aims to contribute to sustainable development and economic growth by expanding access to finance among low- and middle-income households in emerging and frontier markets.

The Symbiotics Impact Report 2021 analyses and presents the social and environmental impact of Symbiotics investments as of December 2021.

Download the Report here. 

CAURIE in Senegal implements YAPU software

YAPU is a compâny founded to support financial institutions enabling more clients to pursue economic empowerment and social development while seeing and decreasing negative impact on the environment.

The platform enables financial institutions to seamlessly digitize their processes, enhance risk management and improve terms and conditions of value offerings to their customers. Financial institutions can expand and deepen their market outreach and become ready for additional investment based on their documented impact.

Recently, the YAPU team, led by Delphin Ngamije conducted an intensive, practice-focused training in the context of the implementation of the YAPU software during a visit to CAURIE Microfinance, a long-standing partner of YAPU and a partner of the Grameen Credit Agricole Foundation in Senegal.

The training focused primarly on the theoretical part of how to use the software as well as interpret the integrated climate indicators and was followed by a two-day training in the field. CAURIE’s staff tested the digital applications for individual loans, but also for group loans, for agriculture and business with real clients.

The implementation of this software will facilitate the work of loan officers, and consequently, the processes of CAURIE and its interaction with clients.

For further information about CAURIE, click here. 

______________________________________________

Source: YAPU website

The Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation member of the 4 per 1000 initiative

The 4 per 1000 initiative, launched by France at COP21 in 2015, brings together voluntary public and private actors to launch concrete actions “to improve soil health. It carries the vision of healthy, carbon-rich soils globally to fight climate change and end world hunger.” The ambition of 4 per 1000 is to engage the planet’s farmers towards regenerative, resilient and biodiversity-friendly agriculture.

The ambition of the International “4 per 1000” Initiative is to encourage land users to move towards diversified, productive, resource-efficient and highly resilient agriculture and forestry, based on appropriate management of natural resources, in particular land, soils and water, strengthening agricultural activities and the global economy and thereby ensuring sustainable development.

This Initiative invites all stakeholders (producers, scientific community, private sector, NGOs, regional and local authorities, countries, international organizations, development banks, foundations, etc.) to promote and implement practical science-based actions , based on successful experiences.

The Initiative wants to involve stakeholders to develop a global monitoring ground in order to better assess soil carbon stocks and establish appropriate public policies.

For Vincent Brousseau, Head of Impact Financing Solutions at the Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation, “the Foundation’s choice to become a member of the international initiative 4 per 1000 in September 2022 responds to our wish to work in close collaboration with partners that are committed to promoting the experiences of agricultural communities to strengthen the resilience of their territories. We fully subscribe to the holistic approach of 4 per 1000 to regenerative agriculture as a means to adapt to and deal with climate change, but also as a powerful lever for improving food security and the economic prosperity of farmers.”

For more information on the “4 per 1000” International Initiative, please click here.

Foundation Friends Club: feedback on the meeting with the CEOs of the OXUS group subsidiaries

OXUS is a social and responsible company created by ACTED in 2005, to manage and develop microcredit activities, as a logical continuation of ACTED’s development programmes. OXUS Network seeks to provide its clients in developing countries with adapted and competitive financial services while offering its investors attractive financial returns.

From its outset, OXUS has been a corner stone of ACTED’s development strategy, by providing beneficiaries access to credit and opportunities to reach economic and social independence. As such, the OXUS Group’s activities are part of a broader human development, economic performance and social development framework.

OXUS is now active in Central Asia and more specifically in Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and Afghanistan. Partner of the Foundation since 2013, OXUS presented its activity within the framework of a Foundation Friends Club meeting held on October 11th. The CEOs of the three subsidiaries thus presented their institution, their activity and the context of their action to the participants, with the particularly striking testimony of Salim Khan, Director of OXUS Afghanistan, who testified to the return of the Taliban to Kabul on August 15, 2021. HE also explained how the institution resisted in order to allow female employees and customers to live as normal a life as possible, given the context. OXUS Afghanistan is the only subsidiary of OXUS that is not currently supported by the Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation.

This meeting was also an opportunity to discover the cross-testimony of Andréas Brunner, Solidarity Banker who went on a mission on behalf of the Foundation to Kyrgyzstan in October 2021, and Denis Khomyakov, CEO of OXUS Kyrgyzstan, and the positive impact of this technical assistance mission on the internal organisation of the institution.

You can now access the recording of this meeting, which was held in English, as well as the presentation of OXUS.

To find out more about the Solidarity Bankers programme, click here.

More information on the Foundation partners here.

Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation and Crédit Agricole CIB arrange and finance sustainability-linked loan to leading Indian MFI Annapurna Finance

Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation and Crédit Agricole CIB announce that they have arranged a 350 million INR (EUR 4.5 million) sustainability-linked term loan to Annapurna Finance, a leading Indian non-banking finance institution dedicated to the provision of microfinance loans to enhance financial inclusion of low income households. Annapurna Finance is the first microfinance institution in India to sign a Sustainability-Linked Loan.

Through this facility, Annapurna Finance will enhance its environmental and societal contribution beyond the social impact of microfinance, tackling major ESG issues and providing clients with bespoke eco-products to finance climate change mitigation as well as climate adaptation solutions and skill-based trainings to empower women.

Aligned with the Sustainability Linked Loan Principles, the transaction’s terms include a sustainability margin adjustment mechanism dependent on whether annual targets are met for the following KPIs: the solar energy capacity installed by Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprise customers; the construction and upgrade of resilient housing in cyclone-prone areas; and the enrollment of women clients in entrepreneurship skill building programme.

Grameen Credit Agricole Foundation and Crédit Agricole CIB have been working since 2019 to promote financial inclusion through financing non-banking institutions in India. In this transaction, Grameen Credit Agricole Foundation acted as arranger and guarantee provider to Crédit Agricole CIB in India, which in turn provided financing to Annapurna Finance. In addition, the Crédit Agricole CIB Sustainable Banking team advised Annapurna Finance as Sustainability Coordinator, through the “Solidarity Bankers”, a skills volunteering program launched by Grameen Credit Agricole Foundation and Crédit Agricole S.A. in favour of microfinance institutions and social impact enterprises supported by the Foundation.

Eric Campos, Grameen Credit Agricole Foundation Managing director, said: “We are happy to channel bank financing to the microfinance sector, while fostering innovation, encouraging our partner Annapurna in its effort to combine financial inclusion and enhanced social and environmental impact.”

Nathalie Sarel, Head of Sustainable Banking for SMEs at Crédit Agricole CIB added: “This first-of-its-kind sustainability-linked loan for a microfinance institution is a strong message that we can support and incentivise the efforts of institutions of this type in tackling climate change, as well as addressing social challenges. We are very proud to have accompanied Annapurna, alongside with Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation in such a landmark and impactful transaction.”

Mr. Gobinda Chandra Pattanaik, MD and CEO of Annapurna Finance expressed: “The future of responsible lending is leveraging the sustainability practices, that call for more environmentally and socially relevant product and strategy decisions. Hopefully, this collaboration venture of Credit Agricole and Annapurna will help both the organizations to bring in positive outcomes in the direction of sustainability.”

Mr. Dibyajyoti Pattanaik, Director of Annapurna Finance said: “We are happy that Credit Agricole is supporting our journey towards incorporating better environmental and social management system. Annapurna for last two decades has kept the sustainable development agenda as its core strategy, as our vision of creating a self -sustainable and economically empowered rural, tribal & sub-urban society was designed on the same theme. Our We-LEAD programme to develop women from rural pockets into entrepreneurs itself drives with the same ambition of holistic development of the society. Securing such a unique partnership with Credit Agricole in the journey will help us achieve the most in future.”

Download the Press Release.

For further information about our partners, click here.

Paidek beneficiary of a technical assistance mission within the framework of the SSNUP programme

PAIDEK, partner of the Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation since 2014, is a microfinance institution (MFI) created in 1993 by SOS Faim and whose mission is to contribute to the strengthening of the economic fabric and the revitalisation of the popular economy in the Democratic Republic of Congo, and in particular in the Kivu region (North Kivu, South Kivu and Maniema). To do so, the institution, which had nearly 21,000 active borrowers at the end of June 2022, 51% of whom were women, facilitates the access of disadvantaged populations excluded from the traditional banking system to financial and non-financial services by setting up a professional and sustainable financial instrument throiugh individual and group lending schemes.

As of today, PAIDEK operates mainly in urban areas (2/3 of its customers). Despite its desire to target more small agricultural producers in rural areas, and despite the decline in the number of active borrowers in urban areas for several years now, the MFI is encountering difficulties in achieving this strategic objective due to the distance between the targeted areas and its agencies, making it difficult to reach its target and creating security issues related to the transfer of cash. To do this, the institution wishes to adapt its service offer, in particular to offer remote access to its rural clientele, made up mainly of women, young people and small producers.

In order to achieve its objectives, PAIDEK will benefit from the SSNUP (Smallholder Safety Net Upscaling) programme coordinated by ADA and for which the Foundation has been selected as one of the impact investors in charge of its implementation. This programme aims at increasing the productivity and resilience of smallholder farmers, particularly in Asia and Africa, through better risk management and the promotion of sustainable and climate-smart agricultural practices.

This project focuses on the development of digital distribution channels for financial products, adapted to the needs and constraints of small producers in rural areas. The technical assistance provided under the programme will thus enable PAIDEK to define the digital solutions to be implemented in order to improve the distribution of financial products and strengthen its reach in rural areas, in particular among small producers operating in the coffee, rice, onions, tomatoes, potatoes, cassava, corn or even beans industry. This project will also allow the institution to increase its reach in rural areas, reduce its operational costs and limit the risks associated with handling cash.

For the Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation, this project is at the heart of one of its strategic priorities, namely the strengthening of rural economies. This technical assistance mission thus contributes to strengthening the impact of the funding already granted by the Foundation to PAIDEK.

For more information on the SSNUP programme, click here.

Enhancing the resilience of small enterprises and smallholders: the Foundation organizes training for its partners as part of its TA offer

Small enterprises and smallholder farmers are particularly vulnerable to risks, including climate change and the COVID pandemic, as well as exposure to theft, fire and other threats. Financial institutions serving this market segment have historically focused on financing the operations and growth of these businesses. Now is the time, however, to rebalance the focus so that they give equal attention to the protective role of financial services.

The transition from productive to protective financial services is particularly relevant for financial service providers (FSPs) that mobilise savings as they can offer a bundle of services, including savings, emergency loans, and insurance. The distribution of inclusive insurance products by FSPs makes is possible because they are well embedded within communities and have established trustful relationships with their clients. Plus, introducing insurance into their product portfolio mix also reduces the FSP’s exposure to risks: insured clients are less vulnerable and therefore more likely to repay their loans even in the case of an adverse event.

The challenges, however, are numerous. Offering insurance to their clients requires new skills, such as understanding the clients’ risks, negotiating and managing partnerships with insurers, and putting in place new commercial strategies. Besides, FSPs are often underinsured, not having sufficient protection for their own assets and staff.

In 2017, the Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation and the International Labour Organisation (ILO) conducted a survey with Foundation’s partners regarding their involvement in inclusive insurance. Out of the 36 FSPs that answered to this survey, 69% were already offering some kind of insurance. However, at that time, most of them provided only basic and compulsory products, like credit-life insurance, which offer limited benefits for the clients. Still, 75% of the respondents were interested to introduce inclusive insurance or expand their current offering. For this to happen, however, FSPs pointed out some of their needs, such as access to funding, technical assistance and training.

It is within this context that the Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation organised a first training session with its partners in September 2022 in Benin. With 9 participants from 5 countries, this first two-day training focused on the value of insurance, strengthening the product portfolio, strengthening the organisational structure of MFIs, improving operational processes and ways to improve the impact in the organisation of the institutions. The main objective of the training was to enable partner institutions to acquire the tools to design a global strategy to bring changes to the existing microinsurance offer and to be able to identify ways to increase its efficiency while improving its value and contribution to the MFI’s business strategy.

Overall, the beneficiary institutions appreciated the training and its content and considered it relevant and suited to their needs. This training will also be followed by support actions, including monitoring the West African market in terms of the agricultural insurance offer, sharing good practices with occasional field visits or the revision of protocols or agreements concerning borrower death products.

More information on our technical assistance offer by clicking here.

______________________________________________

Source of presentaion of the project: ILO

The Foundation grants new loans in Central and South Asia

During the first half of 2022, the Foundation granted two new loans in Central and South Asia, bringing to 11 the number of financings carried out at the end of July.

A new loan in dollars equivalent to €2 million has been granted to the microfinance institution Asian Credit Fund (ACF) in Kazakhstan. A long-time partner of the Foundation, ACF is an institution created in 1997 by the American NGO Mercy Corps and whose mission is to help improve the quality of life of households through financial and development products and services. ACF’s financial services are designed to promote rural household development, small business growth and home ownership. The institution adheres to a specialist community lending model that offers tailored financial solutions, business advice and technical assistance to its clients. At the end of June 2022, ACF had 33,856 active borrowers, 66% of whom are women and 92% of of whom are clients living in rural areas.

Similarly, the Foundation granted a loan in local currency equivalent to €1.3 million  to the Indonesian microfinance institution Coop TLM, an institution created in 2010 by the TLM Foundation. Coop TLM’s mission is to provide the poor, micro and small businesses in Indonesia with the means to improve their standard of living. The institution grants loans according to the group methodology. At the end of March 2022, Coop TLM had 145,997 active borrowers, 99.97% of whom were women and 93% of whom were living in rural areas, and managed a portfolio of €18.7 million. It operates in East Nusa Tenggara (NTT), West Nusa Tenggara (NTB), Central and West Sulawesi and Bali through a network of 41 branches and 612 employees.

Discover the partners supported by the Foundation by clicking here.

Publication of the 2022 Impact Finance Barometer

The second edition of the Impact Finance Barometer, to which the Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation contributed once again,  was launched at the 3Zero World Forum on 5 September 2022, in the presence of Philippe Guichandut, Head of the Impact Finance Development unit at the Foundation.

This publication presents key figures and trends in impact investing and financial inclusion around the world. Since its emergence in the early 2000s, the sector has enjoyed a strong and sustained momentum. According to the Global Impact Investing Network (GIIN) data for the year 2020, the size of the impact investment market is estimated to be around $715 billion1. At a time when we seem to be just emerging from the COVID-19 crisis, this dynamic seems far from being halted.

So what are the motivations driving this sector? How can we contribute to its proper definition and the measurement of its objectives? How can we ensure effective coordination of the various impact initiatives on a global scale?

This year, as part of its special report, the Impact Finance Barometer examines the resilience of the impact finance sector to exogenous shocks. By this term, one means all the political, economic, climatic and social risks which, if they materialise, contribute to the destabilisation of the sector, with knock-on consequences for all beneficiaries.

By inviting the structures of the ecosystem to share their expertise on the subject of impact, this publication aims to make a contribution. The Barometer thus offers a panoramic view of the different forms that impact finance can take, highlights its real operating capacities on a global scale through concrete examples, and highlights responses to the issues of inclusion and financing of social and environmental transitions.

To download the Barometer, please click here.

________________________________________

Source: Convergences

The Foundation supports RENACA in technical assistance within the framework of the SSNUP programme

The objective of the SSNUP (Smallholder Safety Net Upscaling) programme is to increase the productivity and resilience of smallholder farmers, mainly in Asia, Africa and Latin America, through better risk management and the promotion of sustainable and face-smart agricultural practices in relation with climate. In addition to improving the food security and standard of living of ten million smallholder farming households, this programme will also contribute to the development of sustainable agricultural value chains.

Spread over ten years, the programme draws on the knowledge and expertise of multiple impact investment fund technical assistance schemes to reach as many smallholder farmers as possible.

It is within the framework of this programme, coordinated by ADA (Luxembourg) and financed by Swiss, Luxembourg and Liechtenstein cooperation, and for which the Foundation has been selected as one of the impact investors in charge of its implementation, that the Beninese microfinance institution RENACA will benefit from a technical assistance mission.

Created in 2005, the National Network of Self-Managed Village Savings and Credit Banks of Benin (RENACA-Benin), which has over 45,000 borrowers, 59% of whom are women, is a microfinance institution particularly committed to agricultural financing and inclusive green finance. The institution has already carried out a diagnosis of its actions in terms of agricultural and green financing, sensitized its staff and its governance on green finance and climate-smart agriculture and drawn up a list of activities excluded from financing as well as an environmental strategy.

Applying lessons learned from its previous experiences, RENACA now wishes to change scale and strengthen its autonomy in the field of non-financial services. As such, the general objective of the project which will be carried out within the framework of the SSNUP programme, will consist in strengthening the capacities of RENACA and creating teams of internal trainers to empower the institution in the creation and animation of training modules on various topics such as financial education for small producers, sustainable, profitable and environmentally friendly agricultural practices for small producers, or risk analysis and setting up an agricultural credit file.

This project will therefore make it possible to strengthen the non-financial offer of the MFI through dedicated training for small producers as well as the financial offer, through a better analysis of requests for agricultural credit which will thus respond in a targeted manner to financial needs of small producers. This project will also make it possible to improve the management of risks linked to agricultural credit thanks to the capacity building of its staff, but also to limit the risks linked to poor management of the farm by the producers.

For the Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation, which has been working with RENACA since 2013, this project is at the heart of one of its strategic priorities, namely the strengthening of rural economies. This technical assistance mission will also reinforce the impact of the funding granted by the Foundation since the beginning of their cooperation.

For more information on the SSNUP programme, click here.

The Foundation invests in the sustainable cocoa sector in the Philippines with a first loan granted to Kennemer Foods International

In July, the Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation granted a first loan to Kennemer Foods International, in the Philippines, for an amount in USD equivalent to € 1.1 million.

Kennemer Foods International is an agricultural company with a strong social and environmental impact, active in the collection and processing of cocoa, bananas, and other agricultural products. It is also the largest Philippine supplier of cocoa beans on the international market. The company sources from approximately 20,000 small-scale producers, offering various services along the value chain: supply of high quality inputs, pre-financing solutions, guarantee of total harvest buy-back at prices linked to the global price, access to agricultural microinsurance solutions and training in sustainable cocoa growing practices. This support results in an improvement of farmers’ life quality and an increase in their resilience in the face of increasing climate risks, while maintaining good soil health over the long term.

Kennemer created a subsidiary financial institution, Agronomika, to facilitate access to financing for small producers, and more recently another entity, Kennemer Eco-Solutions, to launch a carbon credit activity through the protection and restoration of forests in Mindanao , in the south of the archipelago.

According to Vincent Brousseau, Director of the Impact Companies Financing Unit at the Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation, this partnership with Kennemer shows the 2025 ambitions of the Foundation’s new medium-term plan. The Foundation will seek to partner with local actors positioned at the crossroads of the social and financial inclusion of rural communities as well as climate issues and the fight against biodiversity loss.

For Simon Bakker, CEO of Kennemer Foods, this partnership with the Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation represents a strategic initiative with a like-minded organisation. Grameen Credit Agricole’s mission of fighting poverty through financial inclusion and rural development is an excellent fit with Kennemer’s own mission.

With this new investment, the Foundation is relaunching its activity in the field of impact companies financing. It currently has 8 impact companies’ partners, particularly in the agricultural sector, which represents 64% of its funding.

Solidarity Notebooks: a Solidarity Banker in Senegal

Launched by the Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation and Crédit Agricole S.A. in 2018, Solidarity Bankers is a skills volunteering programme open to all Crédit Agricole Group employees in favour of microfinance institutions and impact businesses supported by the Foundation. Discover the notebooks of Stéphane Frénéat, Solidarity Banker of UNEXO who went to Senegal to support La Laiterie du Berger, a social impact company in which the Foundation is a shareholder.

Solidarity Bankers…an incredible worthy professional and personal experience!

Since 2010, the Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation has been a partner of Laiterie du Berger (LDB), a social impact enterprise based in Senegal (Dakar and Richard Toll), created in 2006 by Bagoré Bathily. LDB fights against poverty by building a local dairy industry (from production to distribution) in harmony with the environment, and thus promoting healthy food for as many people as possible. It deploys a specific training programme around the concept of “farm school”, located in Richard Toll (Mauritania border), close to the production plant. This training allows many young Fulani village women to access the breeder profession and thus to have an income from the milk they produce and resell to the Laiterie. They therefore acquire, among other things, financial autonomy.

The proposed mission consisted in supporting Laiterie du Berger and its manager in the (i) structuring of financing (mix of equity, private and public debt, hybrid financing.) and (ii) in the reflection on the governance to be implemented to ensure the development of the company and its sustainability.

The profile sought and the content of the mission matched perfectly my professional skills, my experience, my passion for travel and the discovery of other cultures. It allowed me to combine my job with my values ​​and a certain quest for meaning… “Finance” at the service of solidarity and sharing.

It was therefore only natural that I proposed my candidacy to the Foundation. Upon validation, we immediately prepared the mission with the Foundation and Bagoré teams. All together we “reformulated” the objectives of the mission and its planning. Bagoré and the Foundation sent me all the necessary information so that I could learn about the strategic plan of the Laiterie and the economic and financial issues.

Prior to the trip, the preparation phase is essential. It makes it possible to validate everyone’s expectations, to clarify the objectives, the approach and the expected deliverables. Thus, on the proposal of Bagoré in collaboration with the teams of the Foundation, we set my work schedule for the whole mission: the appropriate interlocutors with whom to meet, the sites to visit, the work and restitution sessions, 10 days is very (too) short…

Flight to Dakar and Richard Toll

The big day arrived! I fly away, happy and excited at the idea of ​​spending 12 days in the field, in Senegal! I was leaving for an online mission with my skills and knowledge in corporate finance but, without specific knowledge of the microfinance sector and impact businesses, in a structure and cultural context different from my daily life.

Welcomed by Bagoré as soon as I arrived, the adventure began! Established not far from the Dakar headquarters of La Laiterie, I prepared this dense week of meetings and work sessions with the LDB teams based in the capital.

After a weekend devoted to meeting the family shareholders of the Laiterie in order to immerse myself in the shareholder context of the company, Ortence, executive assistant, Jean who will lead me throughout the missions and Bagoré welcome me to the headquarters of LDB to start our week of meetings with the various managers. The objective is to immerse myself in the company and to fully understand the challenges and the development strategy:

• Ouakam will make me discover in situ, the two distribution channels of “Dolima” products (commercial brand of LDB products) namely the supermarkets and some of the 22,000 stalls of the “informal” sector!
• Bakary will make me discover in Tiès one of the company’s logistics “hubs”, the real organisational and financial challenge for La Laiterie (respecting the cold chain in a tropical country, collection management, etc.);
• Momar will present to me the plans for the new factory to be built, the technical, organisational and financial issues of such a project in Senegal;
• Emma will share with me the many financial challenges that the company must take up to finance its day-to-day operations and find adequate financing for the various projects in progress in a country where the banking and financial sector does not operate identically to what we are used to here in Europe;
• Arona will show me around the factory based in Richard Toll. We will meet young Fulani village women, students of the livestock farmer training programme initiated by the la Laiterie and future “entrepreneurs” who supply fresh milk to the la Laiterie. Moments of sharing and unforgettable emotions when breaking the fast (I was there during Ramadan) with these incredible young girls, full of courage and energy! laughter, smiles…a clash of cultures!

Back in Dakar and armed with a precise vision of the company and its challenges, particularly financial ones, I devoted the last two days to discussions with Bagoré and Emma on the two topics of my mission (structuring of financing and governance ) and writing the first drafts of deliverables (capitalisation tables, governance model, financing plan, etc.) which will be adjusted when I return to France and then shared with the Foundation team and Bagoré…

I returned to Nantes, happy to have had this experience. This mission brought me a lot, especially on a human level; I was able to discover another culture, have enriching exchanges and meet inspiring people. It is, of course, a significant investment in terms of time and workload, but the mission is definitely worth it. I will forever treasure in my heart the laughter and smiles of the students of Richard Toll’s farm school, their sense of hospitality, and the immense hope they embody for the future generations of this beautiful country.

More information on the Solidarity Bankers’ programme here. 

________________________________________________________________

My thanks to Eric Campos, Vincent Brousseau, Céline Hyon-Naudin, Aurélie Béchara and Maria-Teresa Calvo from Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation for their support throughout the mission and the trust they placed in me . A huge thank you to Bagoré, Jean, Ortence, Emma and the entire Laiterie team for their warm welcome, to Arona for introducing me to St Louis, Djoudj, Richard Toll and the farm school, to Florence Pelletier, Aurélie Cacciotti and Christian Bodenes of Crédit Agricole SA and to Jean-Luc Creach, Managing Director of UNEXO, without whom I would not have been able to live this experience.

The Foundation continues to develop its activity in sub-Saharan Africa

The Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation continues to consolidate its position in sub-Saharan Africa with the granting of three new loans, including two in the Democratic Republic of Congo to two new partners.

In Benin, the Foundation granted a new loan to the microfinance institution COMUBA, for an amount in local currency equivalent to €915,000. COMUBA, a partner of the Foundation since 2015, is an institution created in 2000 by a group of market gardeners who were unable to finance their activities through the traditional financial sector. The institution offers financial and non-financial services through group loans in particular and contributes to improving the well-being of low-income women. To date, the institution has over 45,000 active borrowers, 91% of whom are women.

In the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Foundation granted a first loan to the Société de Microfinance GUILGAL (SM Guilgal), for an amount in dollars equivalent to €950,000. SM Guilgal’s mission is to provide financial and non-financial services to low-income legal and natural persons, especially small traders, young people with bankable projects and farmers (grouped or non-cooperative) in order to contribute significantly and sustainably to improving their living conditions, while preserving the environment. The institution serves nearly 8,000 borrowers, 54% of whom are women.

Also in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Foundation granted a first loan to the microfinance institution SMICO for an amount in dollars equivalent to €970,000. SMICO is an institution created in 2010 with the mission of becoming a benchmark microfinance institution that offers rapid solutions adapted to the needs of local populations to enable them develop income-generating activities. The institution grants loans using individual and group methodologies to more than 7,000 borrowers, 52% of whom are women, and operates in urban areas in eastern DRC through a network of 7 branches and 94 employees.

With these two new partners, the Foundation is now working with four microfinance institutions in DRC. At the end of July, the Foundation had 77 partners, 52% of them in sub-Saharan Africa, which represents 32% of its portfolio under management.

For more information on our partners, click here.

ECLOF Kenya releases a film on its innovative agricultural value-chain financing model

Small farms produce most of the food in Africa. But they need to become more productive to keep up with a growing population.

ECLOF Kenya, partner of the Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation since 2015, is a microfinance institution providing financial and related non-financial services to micro, small and medium entrepreneurs in Kenya as they run their income generating activities.

Within its activities aimed at improving its clients’ life quality, ECLOF runs an innovative agricultural value-chain financing model to enhance the capabilities of smallholder farmers and their cooperatives and plants. Through financial and technical training, loans and linkages with local dairy plants as secure buyers, farmers earn a stable income and invest in higher-yielding cows and better upkeep. On average, participating farmers triple their annual revenue from milk production.

At the same time, this innovative structure reduces ECLOF’s cost and risk of serving farmers: the repayment rate is well over 90%. By December 2021, ECLOF Kenya had disbursed dairy loans worth more than 3 million USD to over 2200 farmers.

The new film on Kenya dairy lets farmers themselves speak up to tell the story.

Click here to watch the film.

Meet the Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation at the Convergences 3Zero World Forum

Since its creation in 2008, the Global Forum has already brought together more than 50,000 participants from all sectors and from all over the world. It calls on all actors of change to come together: companies and SSE actors, non-profit organisations, public bodies, financial actors, the scientific and innovation sector, citizen and youth networks and the media…

Its programming is the result of collaborative work and reflects multiple areas of expertise: environmental action, impact finance, the fight against inequalities, youth mobilisation, international solidarity. The Forum is both a meeting place and a space where committed young people come to challenge decision-makers from all sides!

Today the Forum strongly reaffirms its ambition: only the reconciliation of social, economic and environmental issues will make it possible to deal with the crises we are going through. Through around forty conferences and events, multiple players will share their expertise and best practices!

Among these players, the Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation will participate on September 5th during a session on “What resilience of impact finance in the face of exogenous shocks? – Launch of the 2022 Impact Finance Barometer” with Philippe Guichandut, Head of Inclusive Finance Development.

To find out about the Convergences Forum 2022 programme and to register, click here.

The Foundation is pursuing its activity in Eastern Europe

The Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation granted three new loans to its partners in Eastern Europe. The Foundation’s portfolio amounts to 14.2 million euros in this region where it is present in six countries with nine partners.

In Montenegro, the Foundation granted a new loan to the microfinance institution Monte Credit for an amount of €600,000. Founded in 2005, Monte Credit is a microfinance institution whose mission is to empower rural families to create income-generating activities and jobs that unlock economic potential for communities to thrive. The institution currently has more than 4,000 clients, 54% of whom are women and 51% of whom are rural clients.

In Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Foundation granted a new loan to the microfinance institution Mikra for an amount of €1.9 million. Mikra is a microfinance institution that began operations in 1993. Its mission is to provide access to financial services in a responsible manner to the poorest but economically active population of the country, mainly women. The institution offers access to affordable and quality financial and support services in order to reduce poverty and encourage entrepreneurship. The institution serves nearly 15,000 clients, 68% of whom are women and 58% of of whom clients in rural areas.

Finally, in Moldova, the microfinance institution Microinvest was granted a new loan for an amount of €1.2 million. Microinvest, a partner of the Foundation since 2020, provides microloans and business start-up assistance to small entrepreneurs in many regions of the country. 70% of the institution’s portfolio corresponds to loans granted to private entrepreneurs living in the rural areas of this country landlocked between Ukraine and Romania. To date, Microinvest has around 37,000 clients, 41% of whom are women.

More information about our partners here

The Foundation grants a new loan in Kyrgyzstan

The Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation pursues its funding in Central Asia with a new loan granted to a microfinance institution located in Kyrgyzstan where the Foundation has three partners.

The Foundation thus granted a new loan to the microfinance institution Salym Finance for an amount in local currency equivalent to €860,000. Salym Finance is a microfinance institution whose objective is to support, develop and improve the living conditions of the population by creating favourable financial conditions for economic development. The new loan granted by the Foundation will enable Salym to strengthen its impact by mainly supporting people with limited incomes who come from rural areas or urban peripheries. The institution offers different products to its clients: housing loans, consumer loans, agricultural loans and business loans.

To this day, Salym Finance has over 17 000 clients, 53% of whom are women and 71% of whom live in rural areas.

It should be noted that this funding was finalised during the first quarter of 2022, shortly before the start of the Ukrainian conflict.

More information about our partners here

Sumac, partner of the Foundation, wins 4 awards at Think Business Banking Awards 2022

18

Sumac Microfinance Bank, partner of the Grameen Credit Agricole Foundation, was feted at the Think Business Banking Awards 2022 with four different Awards, a sure message of the Bank’s steady growth in the last few years.

Sumac emerged the Winner in Agriculture & Livestock Financing [Microfinance banking sector], for a third time, having won it in 2019 and 2021. The Bank was also declared the 2nd Runners Up, Best Microfinance Bank in Kenya, which is the first time this Award has been extended to Sumac. There was also two more awards in the Most Efficient Microfinance Bank category and the Fastest Growing Microfinance Bank in Kenya category. Sumac emerged second in both of the two categories.

“We are absolutely delighted by these Awards,” said Eva Wambui Muchina, the bank’s Business Development Manager, whilst receiving the Awards. “This shows the confidence that our clients have bestowed opon us. From here, we can only get better each day as we improve our service delivery to our clients. We dedicate this Award to all our Shareholders, the Board of Directors, Management and Staff and most importantly, our clients who have made us number one. We Thank you all.”

Over the years, Sumac Microfinance Bank Ltd has developed a broad range of product offerings which include various accounts, loan products, Forex, Trade Finance and Bancassurance. In 2018, Sumac was Awarded at the Annual Think Business Banking Awards as the 2nd Fastest-Growing Microfinance Bank in Kenya.

In 2019 Sumac Microfinance Bank Ltd was recognized at the same Awards as the top Microfinance Bank in Agriculture and Livestock Financing; while in 2021, Sumac was recognized as the Most Efficient Microfinance Bank in the Country, while still toping in Agriculture and Livestock Financing.

Further information on Sumac here.

__________________________________________________

Source : SUMAC website

The Foundation grants four new loans in sub-Saharan Africa

During the first half of 2022, the Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation continued its investments by granting four new loans in sub-Saharan Africa, a region in which it has 40 partners, which corresponds to 53% of the total of partners financed.

In Burkina Faso, the Foundation granted a new loan to ACFIME for an amount in local currency equivalent to 457 000 euros. Founded in 1992, ACFIME (Community Agency for the Financing of Micro Enterprises) is a microfinance institution whose vocation is to offer financial and non-financial services adapted to promoters of micro and small enterprises in urban and rural areas, in particular women, in order to improve their economic and social well-being. ACFIME contributes to filling the gap not covered by the large MFIs that operate throughout the country. To date, the institution, which manages a portfolio of 2.3 million euros, has more than 23 000 clients, 90% of whom are women. Only 9.4% of its customers are located in rural areas.

In the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Foundation is continuing its support for the microfinance institution PAIDEK with the granting of a new loan for an amount in USD equivalent to 550 000 euros. PAIDEK is a microfinance institution present mainly in the Kivu region where it operates in both rural and urban areas. The institution participates, through its activity, in the revitalization of the economy, the regression of poverty and the establishment of an economic fabric that can constitute a solid basis for the development of the country. To date, PAIDEK has nearly 16,000 customers, mainly in urban areas, 55% of these customers are women.

In Niger, the Foundation is also continuing its support for the microfinance institution ACEP NE, a partner since 2019, with a new loan in local currency for an amount equivalent to 762 000 euros. ACEP NE is a microfinance institution created in 2012 that manages loans and savings products for urban and peri-urban micro and small businesses rejected by the traditional banking system. ACEP is committed to contributing to the economic development of Niger by promoting the development of small local entrepreneurs. To date, the institution has nearly 4 000 active borrowers, 30% of whom are women and 71% in rural areas.

Finally, in Zambia, the Foundation granted a new loan to the microfinance institution MLF Zambia for an amount in local currency equivalent to 500 000 euros. Established in 2008, MicroLoan Zambia Foundation is a non-profit microfinance institution. Its main activity is to provide low-income women living in the predominantly rural areas of the Eastern, Southern and Central Provinces of Zambia with affordable commercial loans and training programmes. As of June 2022, the institution has 33,948 clients, all of whom are women living in rural areas.

More information about our partners here

The Foundation grants a first loan to Vision Fund Senegal

The Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation is continuing to invest in West Africa with a first loan in local currency equivalent to one million euros granted to the microfinance institution Vision Fund Senegal, over a three-year period.

Vision Fund Senegal is a microfinance institution established by World Vision International and whose mission is to facilitate rural and vulnerable populations access to a conventional financial system, to local financial services, the opportunity to launch or develop income-generating activities and, in general, the possibility of improving their living conditions. Vision Fund Senegal primarily targets women microentrepreneurs, using the group lending methodology. To date, the institution has nearly 40,000 clients, 95% of whom are women and 86% of whom live in rural areas, and manages a portfolio of €9 million.

For more information on the organisations supported by the Foundation, click here.

The Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation becomes a member of the MFC (Microfinance Center)

In May 2022, the Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation became a member of the MFC (Microfinance Center).

The MFC is a social finance network that promotes fairness, inclusion, equality and responsible service. This netork, located in Poland, unites over 100 organisations across 36 countries of Europe, Central Asia, who together deliver responsible microfinance services to almost 2,000,000 low-income clients.

The MFC is also a broad and diverse community of organisations interested in and practicing sustainable social finance. ​Together with its members – microfinance, financial cooperative systems, social finance banks, social investors, academic institutions, national and international support organizations and networks – it seeks to make financial services work effectively for people, communities and the planet by embracing sustainability good practices and standards, sharing knowledge, advocacy and networking in the region of Europe and Central Asia.

On the 29th and 30th of June 2022, the MFC held its 24th Annual Conference to explore the microfinance investment landscape and opportunities, important sector updates, and the latest approaches to gender, green finance, technological challenges and financial inclusion of refugees and migrants. The event welcomed more than 400 microfinance practitioners, policy makers, experts, investors, IT providers, donors, social finance enthusiasts from 40 countries, including representatives of the Foundation.

With this partnership, the Foundation aims to develop new synergies and better impact the social economy and impact investments, particularly in the regions of Eastern Europe and Central Asia where the MFC operates through its network of partners.

For more information about the MFC, click here.

The Foundation grants a first loan to the microfinance institution Baobab in Burkina

The Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation continues to fund in West Africa with a first loan in local currency equivalent to 3.05 million euros granted to the microfinance institution Baobab in Burkina Faso.

Baobab is a financial services group present in eight countries on the African continent, including Burkina Faso, and in one province of China. Through its subsidiaries, Baobab provides financial services to half a million microentrepreneurs and small businesses, thus allowing access to financing to people who are not currently supported by traditional banks. Its product range includes microloans, savings solutions, transaction and day-to-day banking services as well as innovative banking products such as mobile payments, buy now, pay later options and digital nano-loans.

To date, Baobab Burkina Faso has nearly 13,000 borrowers, 41% of whom are women.

For more information on the organisations supported by the Foundation, click here.

Spotlight on the Solidarity Bankers podcasts

Launched by the Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation and Crédit Agricole S.A. in 2018, Solidarity Bankers is a skills volunteering programme aimed at all Crédit Agricole Group employees in favour of microfinance institutions and impact businesses supported by the Foundation. Since 2018, this programme has enabled over 30 employees to carry out missions in some twenty countries, for the benefit of nearly 30 institutions. For each mission,  Solidarity Bankers spend from one to two weeks in the field or are available remotely to provide their expertise to the operational teams of the supported institutions.

The feedback is very positive for each party. Beneficiary organisations greatly appreciate the contribution of technical expertise to develop their projects. Managers consider the commitment of their employees as a real lever for skills development. Crédit Agricole employees are proud to participate in solidarity projects initiated by the Group, to live a unique human experience and to enhance their professional experience.

It is within this context that the Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation and CACEIS Luxembourg have launched a series of podcasts giving the floor to Solidarity Bankers who have carried out a mission, either in the field or remotely. These testimonials allow us to better understand the motivations of these volunteer employees who decide to leave their professional daily life to share their skills and expertise.

These podcasts gave the floor to 5 Solidarity Bankers and to the Head of Communication and Partnerships of the Foundation who coordinates the programme. Discover or rediscover their testimonials:

• Podcast #1 : Carolina VIGUET, Head of Communication and Partnerships, Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation
• Podcast #2 : Andreas BRUNNER, Inspection Supervisor, Amundi
• Podcast #3 : Veselina PETROVA, Accounting Standards Analyst, CACIB and Ali LHAF, Credit Risk Analyst, CACIB
• Podcast #4 : Eva HOGLUND, Chief Financial Officer, EFL & Anne-Sophie DELATTRE, IGL BPI Officer, Crédit Agricole SA

More information on Solidarity Bankers here.

Access the Soundcloud playlist

Results of the first Microfinance Index with 60 Decibels

The Grameen Credit Agricole Foundation participated as a Founding Partner in the inaugural 60-Decibels Microfinance Index.

18,000 customers from 72 microfinance institutions across 42 countries were interviewed to measure outcomes of microfinance in five areas (access to financial services, business impact, household impact, financial management and resilience) in order to better assess the impact of microfinance institutions and to build benchmarks.

While microfinance generally succeeds in reaching people without access to financial services, improving their financial management and quality of life, as well as increasing their ability to face shocks, the outcomes in terms of business and household impacts are more mixed.

Find more about the results in a summary article on Forbes.com and download the full report on 60-Decibels website.

The Foundation finances a new partner in Kenya

The Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation is pursuing its investments in sub-Saharan Africa with the signing of new partnerships, particularly in Kenya where it has a new partner.

Sumac Microfinance Bank was established in 2002 by a group of 14 investors who initially formed an investment group to help chart out a better future for themselves. In 2004, the institution opened its doors to the public as Sumac Credit Ltd with a mission to empower businesspeople who couldn’t match the stringent loan requirements by commercial banks.

The institution’s focus on serving businesses is driven by the fact that business enterprises are the backbone of the country’s economy. Its promise is always to keep offering the best financial services to businesses.

The Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation thus granted a first loan to Sumac, for an amount in local currency equivalent to € 2 million over a two-year period. With this new loan, the Foundation now has 40 partners in sub-Saharan Africa, including six in Kenya. This represents 53% of the partners supported by the Foundation and 32% of its portfolio under management.

For more information on the Foundation’s partners, click here.

International context calls for vigilance towards MFIs and their clients

Inpulse and the Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation have been working since 2020 on the analysis and monitoring of the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic crisis on the microfinance institutions (MFIs) for which they are the donors. This periodic monitoring, shared through several articles,^[1] contributes to the exchange of information between the different stakeholders of the sector.

The conclusions presented in this article follow on from the last study conducted at the beginning of May 2022. Given the international context marked in particular by the war in Ukraine, the content of the survey has been adapted to gain a better understanding of the impact of this conflict on the microfinance sector. The 47 institutions that responded are located in Europe and Central Asia (ECA-51%), Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA-34%), South and South-East Asia (SSEA-13%) and the Middle East and North Africa (MENA-2%).^[2]

1. Latent risk of COVID-19 is gradually declining

As we have seen continuously over the past year with the global economic recovery, the major consequences of the containment phases since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic have gradually faded away for MFIs. At the end of May 2022, almost all respondents still report a continuous recovery of activities and 68% (32 MFIs) even report that they have returned or are close to returning to a pre-pandemic pace.

The main financial consequence of COVID-19 that 30% of the respondents still perceive is the persistence of a high-risk portfolio compared with the end of 2019. However, this point is becoming less and less significant as operations have been able to resume in a more or less stable manner and the moratoria granted are gradually being repaid.

This effect can be seen in the Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation’s MFI portfolio as a whole, where the credit risk (PAR30, restructured loans and COVID-19 moratoria) is improving: it was 10% at the end of March 2022; compared with 21% at December 2020 (the average in 2019 was 5%). This improvement can also be observed in the portfolio of MFIs financed by Inpulse, both for clients in the  MENA region and in Central and Eastern Europe. In the case of MENA clients, the deterioration of their portfolio was very significant in 2020, reaching up to 37% of their outstanding loans, but it improved significantly in 2022, to 14%, with a value closer to the pre-crisis risk level (10.2%). For Central and Eastern European clients, this credit risk was 3.3% in the first quarter of this year, compared with 8.6% in 2020, almost the same level as in 2019 (2.7%).

2. Other events affecting microfinance institutions: inflation before the consequences of the war in Ukraine

This survey clearly shows that other factors than the COVID-19 crisis are now affecting the activities of our partners. The first, mentioned by 80% of respondents, is the upsurge in inflation in recent months. Thus, the vast majority of the countries of operation of the respondents are affected by the significant rise in energy costs and, to a lesser extent, by that of agricultural products. These factors are closely linked to the start of the war in Ukraine and are therefore global in scope. Our partners in sub-Saharan Africa are also noting the difficulties in obtaining supplies from abroad in the current context and are reinforcing fears of a food crisis.

At the beginning of May 2022, the Europe and Central Asia region stood out for its exposure to other economic difficulties. For example, 50% of respondents in the region reported that their country was facing rising interest rates, 25% reported tensions on the local currency (partly resolved at the time of at the time of writing of this article), 21% pointed out reduced foreign capital flows and 17% reported a decline in remittances. Currency tensions appear to be much higher in Central Asian countries than in Europe. A situation of devaluation of the local currency was reported by 83% of Central Asian MFIs (6% for European MFIs) and 50% reported a reduction in capital flows and remittances (compared with 11% and 6% respectively for European MFIs).

Finally, some microfinance institutions note a deterioration of the security situation in their country, notably in sub-Saharan Africa (Burkina Faso, Mali, and South Africa), South-East Asia (Myanmar, Indonesia) and Palestine. Whereas these results are not discussed in depth here, our partners confirm these issues and their impact on their activities.

3. Consequences on MFIs and their clients

The macroeconomic factors presented above are negatively affecting microfinance institutions. At the time of the survey, 50% of them indicated that they were already feeling the first effects, including 65% of those located in the ECA region – although some (Lithuania, Kosovo and Bosnia-Herzegovina) did not express such a feeling. The main consequence so far, mentioned by 39% of the affected MFIs, is the compression of their financial margin, which is mostly explained by the increase in funding costs over the last months, experienced by 32% of the respondents. This increase is mainly due to the cost of currency hedging on international loans, but also to the reduction of local hedging opportunities and access to local funding.

“The quotes offered by TCX/MFX for MDL continue to be too expensive” – Partner in Moldova

While this has not yet materialized at the time of this survey, at the beginning of the year MFIs also indicate that they fear an unbudgeted cost increase in the coming months.

“The increase in the price of fuel is affecting the institution’s expenses“ – Partner in Togo

Only a few MFIs cite the increase in portfolio at risk or the decrease in demand as immediate effects of the international context. However, this is a possibility in the coming months: 71% of them (all areas) consider the probability of deterioration high, although it is still too early to estimate it. And if this were to materialize, it would come directly from customers finding themselves in a more difficult situation, notably through a contraction in their disposable income and their ability to repay in the face of increased food and energy costs.

“We could be affected by the impact of the war on the economic situation of our clients” – Partner in Romania

“[We could be affected by] the increase in the cost of bread, due to the cost of supplying wheat flour” – Partner in Burkina Faso

Thus, even if the situation is until now well understood and seems to be under control by our partners with adapted measures, weak signals of real difficulties to be expected are clearly perceived. It seems that they are announcing a negative impact on their clients in the medium and long term.

Finally, let us note the humanitarian actions deployed from the first days of the outbreak of hostilities by certain MFIs in Central and Eastern Europe, which participate in the reception or emergency aid of Ukrainian refugees (Moldavia, Lithuania, Romania, Kosovo).

“From the company’s funds were purchased goods which are considered the necessities and donated to refugees Also, while some of our employees donated food, clothing, or money, others especially young people, decided to become volunteers. It is worth to mention that during last month Microinvest hired a refugee, which decided to remain in Moldova for a longer time within our IT team” –  Partner in Moldova

____________________________________________________________

^[1] Articles available here: //www.gca-foundation.org/observatoire-covid-19/ and //www.inpulse.coop/news-and-media/

^[2] Number of responding MFIs per region: ECA: 24 MFIs; SSA 16 MFIs; SSEA 6 MFIs; MENA: 1 MFI.

The Foundation project on adaptation innovation approved

The Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation is happy to announce that the GEF project ” Indicators and Framework for Climate Change Adaptation and Biodiversity conservation finance for Smallholders and Rural communities: leveraging private and public finance: //www.thegef.org/projects-operations/projects/11001” has been just approved.

The project aims to foster and scale up climate change adaptation for the most vulnerable ones, thanks to provision of trainings, technology and adapted financing. To support the generation of long lasting and scalable transformation, part of the project will be implemented by the Foundation and in partnership with the JuST Institute (in the project document the “CBIFI”), the non-for profit, members based, entity aiming to catalyse market development towards Inclusive, Biodiversity, Climate Change Positive Finance.

The Foundation is proud to partner with IFAD for the project implementation. It sees this project as an opportunity to foster its strategy on climate change adaptation, green finance and agriculture finance, with specific focus in smallholder farmers.

Further information on the GEF here.

Solidarity Bankers Podcasts: episode N.4

Interview with Anne-Sophie DELATTRE, IGL / Project manager, Crédit Agricole SA
and Eva HÖGLUND, Chief Financial Officer, EFL Crédit Agricole Group
By: Mireille de Kerleau, Communications Manager, CACEIS
With the intervention of Mamadou FALL, Managing Director of Kossam
and Marie FAYE, CFO of Kossam

Hello, for the fourth edition of this podcast dedicated to Solidarity Bankers, I suggest you board a ferry that connects Dakar to the island of Gorée, in Senegal.

Eva: It was during a weekend, when we visited the island of Gorée, there were lots of children, and they were singing while crossing the ferry, and it was quite nice, so I filmed them.

This is Eva Hoglund speaking. We will discover in this podcast her experience as a Solidarity Banker, in tandem with Anne-Sophie Delattre.

You are going to ask me, what are the Solidarity Bankers? Well, the Solidarity Bankers are a skills volunteering scheme. It is open to all employees of the Crédit Agricole group and these are missions in favour of microfinance institutions and impact enterprises, which are supported by the Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation.

So before starting, I will just remind you that Senegal is a predominantly rural country. Livestock represents 7.5% of national GDP and 35% of agricultural GDP, but Senegal is highly dependent on the import of milk powder: 90% of the milk consumed in Senegal is imported in powder form, while 30% of the population traditionally lives from livestock and can produce this milk. It is in the face of this observation that Bagoré Bathily created in 2006 a social enterprise called La Laiterie du Berger, with the aim of promoting local dairy production. Today, La Laiterie is the main national processing company for local milk. Its subsidiary, which is called Kossam, is in charge of supervising and improving milk production and collection systems.

So there you go, the scene is set, I suggest you now discover who Eva and Anne-Sophie are.

Anne-Sophie: My name is Anne-Sophie Delattre and I have been with the Crédit Agricole group since the end of 2006. First with an initial experience of more than 10 years in the Crédit Agricole Consumer Finance subsidiary, and a final experience at CACF in expatriation in China where I was responsible for Risks and Permanent Controls for four years. And then following this experience in China, I returned to France, to the head office of Crédit Agricole S.A. and I work at the Group General Inspection, I am in charge of missions at the level of the international local banking division. This is what I have been doing since my return from China, in April 2018.

Eva: I am Eva Höglund. I joined the group in 2001, first at CACF where I worked in international management as supervisor of various CACF subsidiaries abroad. In 2010, I left for my first expatriation in Denmark and then I continued with a second expatriation in China, and that is where I worked day to day with Anne-Sophie. Anne-Sophie was responsible for risks and I was responsible for finance. Then, when I returned from China, I joined BPI, Banque de Proximité à l’International, at the head office in Paris. And for two years now, I have been an expatriate again, in the financial department of EFL, the leasing and factoring entity in Poland.

And so, you are Polish, Eva.

Eva: No, I’m Swedish

Ah Swedish, not at all Polish, okay

Eva: Nothing to do, I don’t understand a word!

So Anne-Sophie and Eva knew each other from having worked together a few years earlier as expatriates in China. I asked Eva how they found out about the Solidarity Bankers mission and how they ended up together in Senegal.

Eva: There you go… in fact, I had already conducted a Solidarity Bankers mission, it was in 2019 I think, and I went to Kenya. I have great memories of it, it went very well, it was also very rewarding because the company really used the material I produced. And when I saw this offer, I saw that it was in the finance field, I saw that it was also in Africa, I was interested, and I ideally saw a Risk and Finance pair.  I said to myself, there you go, Anne-Sophie, she is an adventurer like me, I sent her a message right away, and she answered right away. I said to her: are you sure? Because if we apply, I’m sure we’ll get it. Because, really, our complementarity was perfect for what the announcement said and I said to myself there are not two other people who are going to match the offer the way we do. And we got it.

Then, I asked them to tell me about the social enterprise they have been supporting for the past two weeks in Senegal. Anne-Sophie begins by telling us about Kossam.

Anne-Sophie: It is a company whose main mission is a social mission. La Laiterie du Berger is a company with a capital mission, you could say, to make a profit, which is not necessarily the case with Kossam, it is really the particularity. Kossam today, of course, seeks to balance its activities, but it is very strongly colored by the social mission of developing the milk collection subsidiary in northern Senegal in fact, since the CEO of the Laiterie du Berger, when he set up this company, it was following an observation which was that the cattle were used only for meat and that the milk, in the end, it was not used in Senegal, and so he said to himself, we can’t let this material go to waste, not be exploited, so the Laiterie du Berger makes yogurts and Kossam develops the entire collection structure and therefore aims to improve the living conditions of breeders, to develop female employment since 53% of breeders are female breeders. And they also have a farm-school in which they accompany female breeders, or breeders to optimize milk production, help them to properly care for their animals and, incidentally, also try to teach them some methods for growing vegetables for example, that they can implement in the villages when they return later. So it was really a very different prism, for us who are grassroots bankers, to say to ourselves, in fact, each activity is not seen through a prism of profitability but more through a prism of social impact.

And Eva sums up the overall structure for us.

Eva: Kossam is a subsidiary of the Laiterie du Berger. It was created by the Laiterie du Berger, which owned it 100% until last year, when they brought in cooperatives, the breeders’ cooperative. Today, the Laiterie is the main shareholder, with à 95% stake, and the cooperative owns 5% of Kossam.

So why did Kossam call on the Solidarity Bankers? Mamadou Fall, managing director of Kossam, answered Anne-Sophie’s microphone.

Mamadou Fall: The maturity phase in which Kossam is now entering requires good control of operational processes, effective financial monitoring and permanent risk monitoring. The quality of work and the pragmatism of the solutions proposed by the Solidarity Bankers’ missions from which we have already benefited, motivated us to source this new mission to help us structure these subjects.

I then wanted to know more about their missions as such: what were their objectives, how did they go about it, and with which actors in the company.

Anne-Sophie: We had three projects: one project that we addressed together, Eva and I, which was Organisation and Process, a Financial Reporting project that was lead by Eva and a Risk Mapping part on which I was more in lead.

So on the Organisation and Process part, we worked on the basis of interviews with the Management Committee. There, the principle was to discuss with them and to understand the major processes of the company, that they explain to us the detailed operation of their processes, what could be the blocking points or the risks that they already had in mind, the areas for improvement that were already underway. Here we are, we have already discussed a bit of all that and then, on the basis of these interviews, afterwards, with Eva, we had observations, we established a diagnosis and recommendations which we then shared within the framework of the Steering Committee we had every two days. So we really built everything with them, shared the action plans, and validated the work to be done with them. And then afterwards, on the Risk Mapping part, we still went back to a lot of the interviews and also the findings of the project conducted by Eva on Financial Reporting. So there it was rather me who built a risk-based approach to set up a management system, or at least of control, by identifying advanced operational indicators of Risks, and it was me who built it and I shared it with them afterwards. So there, we are more in a stage where they have to appropriate the tools that we shared at the end of the mission and we remain available to discuss with them and finalise the tools.

This response from Anne-Sophie raised a question: what kind of risks might the company face?

Anne-Sophie: Not surprisingly, we have a major operational risk, which then breaks down into sub-topic risks. The operational is quite critical because it relies on key people, and on a process context in a society, in a country subject to fairly high climatic risks, water shortages, processes that are very manual and basically, the collection is done by tricycle drivers, in the bush. A tricycle accident seems silly, but we are really on the first level risk. If there is a tricycle accident, the collection does not reach the Dairy, so the breeders are not paid, it is a net loss for everyone. These are the risks related to operations and then afterwards, at Kossam level, I think you will confirm, Eva, we have a key person risk, which is very very high since we have no back-up on the Management Committee and we have roughly 4/5 people who are really key in the company. Afterwards, there are slightly more detailed risks, tax risk, financial risk, things like that, but it’s a little less critical, I would say, than operational and key person risks. Eva, do you want to talk about your project on the Reporting part? Because it is still a big pillar of the mission?

Eva: Anne-Sophie quickly mentioned the tax risk, which is good because there is no transfer-pricing in place, which is a fairly high risk because there are a lot of activities that link the Laiterie du Berger and Kossam, but without a transfer premium between the two of them. This creates a significant tax risk. And then, the financial risk that Anne-Sophie mentioned is a fairly basic risk since it is not an interest rate risk or an exchange rate risk or a liquidity risk, it is really a Financial Reporting risk since everything is manual. It is linked on the one hand to the key person question. If the key person is not there for the reporting, it will not be done. And then, because everything is manual, it also creates a fairly high risk of error. And then we also worked on the target financial reporting. The current reporting was a little too simple and complicated at the same time: it repeated the same data from one page to another and it was not necessarily the same figure from one page to another. And we identified the new target reporting with them. And now, based on the presentation proposal that I made to them, I am now waiting for them to verify and confirm it. So the ball is now in their court. We remain available to work with them post-mission until the end of June. And we remain available if they need us.

Marie Faye is the CFO of Kossam. She tells us about the contribution of the Solidarity Bankers mission to her daily work.

Marie Faye: I expected the mission to serve to strengthen the administration’s improvement capacities – I am the CFO of Kossam. And today, at the end of your mission, I admit that it will change a lot in our daily work. For example, it will allow us to minimize the risks, to strengthen our financial productions such as reporting and at the same time to save time, mainly. I will be able to move from operational tasks to more strategic tasks.

To conclude, I wanted to know what our two bankers got out of their mission.

Eva: do you want to start Anne-Sophie?

Anne-Sophie: I was about to say, come on, I’ll start ! Yes, it was very interesting, in fact, I hadn’t necessarily taken this whole social dimension into account before leaving, in fact, I hadn’t apprehended it well. And suddenly, it’s still very interesting and very rewarding to say that we are working to ultimately help the development of villages, to increase the standard of living of a population through the profitability of milk collection, by securing processes and similar. And then, being confronted with the operational process in the bush, it was also very interesting, you will tell what your point of view is, Eva, but overall, with hindsight, I tell myself that it was really funny to meet again, a morning like that, at the collection, at 7am with the collector who arrives with his son on his tricycle and his cans, the breeders who arrive with their cans, their buckets of milk to register the morning milking. And then, the second observation that I will also make is that in the end, I left with a lot of certainty about what I was going to deliver at the end of this mission and I did not deliver at all what I had in mind because we had to get back into a small entity context, with few people and we are often used to bringing out the heavy artillery and there, we had to be very operational so reframe the deliverables a little as regards the entire risk mapping part. So that was what was quite interesting because we had to rebuild tools, rethink things on the spot, and deliver things that may seem a little easy from our point of view, but which I think will greatly help.

Eva: I find that these solidarity banker missions are really unique experiences and I think we are very lucky to be in a group such as Crédit Agricole where we have the opportunity to participate in such missions. It really requires a significant open-mindedness, because you have to adapt to an activity that is not ours. Neither Anne-Sophie nor I are dairy farmers or cow breeders. We are experts in finance and risk, but in financial institutions. So you really have to adapt to the size of the company, to the activity of the company and in a context that is not at all ours. For me, one of the best memories is to see this landscape of sand, women who came from right and left, from a house, they sometimes came from quite a distance in fact, on foot. And who came to drop off these two liters of milk in these colorful clothes, very often with the children who accompanied them, and that was a great experience that I feel very lucky to have been able to experience.

A very satisfying mission for our two supportive bankers. I hope that this testimony will have aroused vocations among our listeners and I look forward to seeing you for the next episode of Solidarity Bankers… see you soon!

Listen to the podcast here

The Foundation grants three new financings in South and South East Asia

During the first half of 2022, the Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation granted 3 new financings in Asia. To date, the Foundation manages a portfolio of € 89 million, 30% of which in South and South East Asia.

In Cambodia, the Foundation granted a new loan to Chamroeun for an amount equivalent to €3 million. Chamroeun is a Cambodian microfinance institution that puts social vocation at the heart of its economic model. It provides financial services to the poorest, excluded from the offer of more commercial microfinance institutions. In order to maximize the impact of credit and effectively help very poor families, in addition to the financial component, Chamroeun also offers a range of training and economic, social and personal support services. To date, the institution serves over 45,000 clients, 80% of whom are women.

In Indonesia, the Foundation granted a new loan to the KOMIDA for an amount in local currency equivalent to €3 million. KOMIDA is a microfinance institution created in 2004 as a foundation. Its mission is to provide financial assistance in the form of savings and loan services, non-financial services (health training), motivational education for members’ children, family financial management and provision of quality services to members. The institution, which transformed into a savings and credit cooperative in 2008, caters exclusively to women. To date, the institution has nearly 720,000 clients 97% of whom are located in rural areas.

Lastly, in India, the Foundation granted a guarantee of an amount equivalent to €4.4 million to the microfinance institution Fusion, for a loan in local currency granted by CACIB India. Fusion Microfinance is a microfinance institution created in 2009 by Devesh Sachdev. Its mission is to be an autonomous financial institution that leverages the existing distribution network to channel other products and services. Fusion has a social vision and business orientation aimed at providing disadvantaged women with economic opportunities to transform their quality of life. To date, the institution has more than 2 million clients, exclusively women.

At the end of May 2022, the Foundation had 75 partners in 36 countries. 15% of these partners are located in South and South East Asia.

More information on the organisations supported by the Foundation here.

Technical assistance: testimony of two beneficiaries of the African Facility

In 2013, alongside the French Development Agency (FDA), the Foundation launched its first technical assistance programme: the African Facility. The objective of this scheme is to support small and medium-sized rural microfinance institutions, with a strong social impact, in Sub-Saharan Africa. More than eight years after its launch, the Facility’s results bear witness to the importance of providing not only financial but also technical support to partner microfinance institutions.

Through the African Facility, the Foundation and the FDA have supported 26 microfinance institutions, which have themselves financed income-generating activities of more than 500,000 borrowers with average loans of €200. The programme, that allowed carrying out 328 technical assistance missions, has covered many areas of expertise, from the development of environmental strategies to the digitalisation of the credit granting process and the strengthening of the governance.

In this context, Bimas and MicroLoan Fondation, two microfinance institutions in Africa, received several technical assistance missions. Spotlight on their assessment of the African Facility. Discover the interview of Elizabeth Karinga, financial manager of BIMAS and Randall Williams former CEO, of MicroLoan Malawi who looks back on this programme.

What is your assessment of the African Facility?

Elizabeth: The African Facility has been an extraordinary adventure for BIMAS. The progress made by our institution is important. For example, when we started to be supported by the African Facility, our operations management processes were still manual, whereas, through the support of the programme, we were able to begin a digitalization process. Thanks to the African Facility, we have also improved our social performance management and the communication with our clients.

Randall: MLF Malawi joined the African Facility in 2018 and has benefited from several missions, particularly on digitalization. For example, with the assistance of the facility, we have implemented a new HR platform which has made it possible to automate some HR procedures and ensure more efficient staff management such as the management of staff leave. Prior to implementing the platform, it took branch staff two days and four sheets of paper to get approval on their leave requests. It now takes less than five minutes and no paper for that same approval. We were also able to implement a new cloud-based accounting platform to replace the legacy system that we had. This came at absolutely the right time as it allowed our Finance staff to work remotely from home during the COVID-19 crisis, something that was not possible before. I should point out as well that both platforms have centralised file archiving capabilities that allows teams to access digital files securely and remotely. So, apart from the significant gains in productivity, we have also become a more agile organisation since Management is now able to use the real time access to information on the platforms to make strategic decisions faster.

Elizabeth: The African Facility has really helped us in terms of developing our business. One of the essential things in microfinance is to be able to gauge how many people we reach, what type of disbursement we make and how to increase the financial inclusion of the greatest number. At the start of the programme, BIMAS had approximately 18,000 clients; today we serve 42,000 people, thanks to the new processes that we have implemented within the framework of the African Facility. We have moved up from 21 to 40 branches and this has created jobs in our new areas of intervention, particularly in rural areas. This growth demonstrates the positive impact of the programme and the partnership with the Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation.

Randall: We are really grateful for the support that we have received under the African Facility to implement these capacity building initiatives. These technical assistance missions have really helped to strengthen our operations by improving the governance structure and increasing the overall resilience of our organization. More importantly, it has helped us to minimize the disruption linked to the COVID-19 pandemic and has also enabled us to scale our outreach at a much faster rate than before. For context – we were able to grow our branch network from 15 to 22 over the last two years (despite the pandemic) and this is largely due to the productivity improvements which has allowed our staff to better focus on scaling outreach, improving customer satisfaction, as well as driving other key social performance management objectives. I hope that Grameen Credit Agricole Foundation will be able to continue this very important initiative because as you can see, there are clear benefits not only to the institution itself, but also to the base of pyramid clients that we serve.

More information about our technical assistance programmes here.

Newsletter #41 : The Foundation consolidates its action in favour of financial inclusion

The Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation publishes its Newsletter N.41 that highlights the activities of the Foundation and the usefulness of its action.

In 2021, the Foundation once again demonstrated the usefulness of its activity: it supported 81 microfinance institutions and impact enterprises that serve over 9 million beneficiaries, particularly women and rural populations, in 37 countries. These are some key figures that we present to you in the 2021 Integrated Report.

In this edition of the Newsletter, you will also discover the testimony of a Solidarity Banker from Crédit Agricole CIB who went to Kyrgyzstan and the joint interview of two managers of microfinance institutions benefiting from the African Facility, the first technical assistance programme launched by the Foundation, in partnership with the French Development Agency.

Read the Newsletter

Publication of the Annual report of Crédit Agricole’s FIR Fund

The FIR Fund (for Inclusive Finance in Rural areas, in French), which is exclusively reserved for Crédit Agricole Group entities, makes investing in the financing of rural microfinance institutions possible. The investment serves populations traditionally excluded from the banking sector in emerging countries.

To date, 21 Regional Banks*, Amundi and CA Assurances have subscribed to the capital of the FIR. The FIR Fund has supported new institutions in 2021. It provided €1 million in loans to ACF in Kazakhstan, €800,000 to Lazika in Georgia, €1 million to Montecredit in Montenegro and €500,000 to Furuz in Tajikistan.

By the end of December 2021, the FIR Fund supports 6 microfinance institutions in 6 countries: Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Kosovo, Montenegro and Tajikistan. Despite the health crisis, which increased credit risk and reduced profitability, these institutions have shown strong resilience. They continue to contribute to the development of income-generating activities, particularly village-based agricultural production (71% of beneficiaries live in rural areas).

Download report
(only available in French)

*Alpes Provence, Alsace-Vosges, Brie Picardie, Centre-est, Centre-France, Centre Loire, Centre-Ouest, Champagne-Bourgogne, Charente-Périgord, Finistère, Franche-Comté, Ille-et-Vilaine, Languedoc, Loire-Haute Loire, Martinique-Guyane, Normandie-Seine, Provence Côte-d’Azur, Réunion, Savoie, Sud Rhône Alpes and Touraine Poitou

Travel diary of a Solidarity Banker in Kyrgyzstan

Launched by the Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation and Crédit Agricole S.A. in 2018, Solidarity Bankers is a skills-based volunteering programme open to all Crédit Agricole Group employees in favour of microfinance institutions and social impact enterprises supported by the Foundation. Discover the interview of Mark Diakhaté, Account Manager in the Structured Finance Distribution team at Crédit Agricole CIB, who left for Kyrgyzstan in 2021 to support Salym.

The discovery of the programme and preparation
I have always had a keen interest in the fight against poverty. Indeed, I had participated in associative projects based on microcredit in Vietnam in 2008 and in Senegal in 2016, and I had followed a microfinance course during my university exchange in Manila in 2011, but I haven’t had the opportunity to work in a real financial institution offering this type of product. So, applying to the Solidarity Bankers programme and in particular to the mission with Salym in Kyrgyzstan was an obvious choice for me.

Salym is a microfinance institution that provides financial services to low-income populations in Kyrgyzstan and my mission consisted in launching the environmental and social risk management (E&S) approach in the lending process.

To frame the mission, I was able to draw on my skills in internal control and risk management – having been an internal auditor and then a credit analyst – I also benefited from a training course on Salym and Kyrgyzstan provided by the Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation. In mid-July, we started preparing the mission with Salym so that I could get to know their organisation and procedures. In addition, I looked for various resources on microcredit and took some private lessons in Russian – which was my third language during my studies – in order to be able to have simple conversations on the spot without an interpreter.

The mission in Kyrgyzstan
I visited Salym’s premises in Bishkek for two weeks in September 2021. I arrived in Bishkek on the first Sunday of September and on Monday morning, I presented the mission during a kick-off meeting with the Management Committee. During the first week I met with the main managers and also with some borrowers, in order to get acquainted with the conditions of Salym’s activity and to map the main E&S risks inherent to the lending activities.

During the second week, I discussed with the management a first version of the risk mapping, and then possible evolutions of the credit process in order to integrate E&S risk management. At the end of the second week, I conducted a training session on E&S risk management with the Salym Management Committee and presented the roadmap for the deployment of the E&S risk management system. The pace during the mission was fast. Thus, I was able to finalise the initially planned deliverables (E&S risk matrix, proposal for a new credit process, training, roadmap) during my stay on site.

The return home
Back in Paris, at the request of Salym’s General Manager, I proposed a new and more comprehensive version of the Kyrgyz microfinance institution’s E&S policy. Mid-October, we had a final meeting by videoconference to discuss my proposal, with a view to deploying the E&S risk management system in 2022.

I was delighted to be able to put my skills at the service of a company with an impact, in an unknown cultural environment (Central Asia remains a landlocked area with few tourists) and particularly exotic. I came back with the image of a dynamic country, rich in entrepreneurial opportunities.

I sincerely thank Carolina Viguet, Maxime Borgogno, Gabrielle Ferhat of the Foundation but also my hierarchy at RPC (Natacha Gallou, Hubert Frédéric, Michael Beucher) and the Human Resources of CACIB (Virginie Halipré, Nawel Frioui), who allowed me to participate in this mission as a Solidarity Banker.

SFA: A Solidarity Banker in Senegal

The Société Sénégalaise des Filières Alimentaires (SFA) [Senegalese Company of the Food Industries] is a social business that promotes the production of quality rice by smallholders in the Senegal River Valley through a long-term partnership. SFA provides them with access to financing and technical support, then processes the paddy into white rice and sells it on the Senegalese market.

THE ORGANISATION AND THE FOUNDATION

The Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation has been a shareholder in the Senegalese Food Industry (SFA) since 2013. SFA benefitted from the Solidarity Bankers programme: a high-level expert, Head of the Group Purchasing Information System project management unit at Crédit Agricole S.A., spent two weeks in the field to support SFA in optimising its information system.

CONTEXT OF THE MISSION

Keen to develop its activities, SFA wanted to benefit from an external viewpoint and the support of an expert in information systems to develop a technological application for local teams in order to manage better and to optimise their operations and the follow-up of producers. Our Crédit Agricole expert was able to visit the SFA plants in Saint Louis and Dakar where she took stock of the information system through interviews with the various SFA stakeholders. She also worked with them on the digitalisation of the rice collection chain in order to optimise productivity and yields.

RESULTS

By visiting the field, she was able to understand the different stages of rice collection and processing and to propose recommendations. Thanks to the implementation of the management information system under development and a weighing application integrated into the Sage software, the Solidarity Banker has enabled SFA to improve its industrial activity and production conditions, as well as the technical and financial monitoring of producers. Since the improvement of its production system, SFA’s ambition has been to double its volume of activity by 2022, while supporting the local rice industry in Senegal.

This article was published in “Our technical assistance offer”, accessible here

Discover the mission on video here

Technical assistance: the digitalisation of GRAINE in Burkina Faso

The GRoupe d’Accompagnement à l’INvestissement et à l’Epargne (GRAINE SARL) [Investment and Savings Support Group, private limited liability company] offers individual and group loan products in Burkina Faso to a mainly female clientele in rural areas. The African Facility programme has enabled the organisation to digitalise its operations and products.

THE ORGANISATION AND THE FOUNDATION

Under the African Facility, GRAINE has benefited from a €131,000 grant from the Agence Française de Développement for the implementation of 18 technical assistance missions in various fields (governance, financial management, process review, human resources management, etc.). The Foundation has also granted three loans to GRAINE for a total amount of €1,262,000 since 2015.

CONTEXT OF THE MISSION

As part of its digitalisation project, GRAINE wanted to offer innovative financial products, distribution channels and services to its clients such as SMS banking, improve data reliability and have a real-time view of activities. Thanks to the African Facility, GRAINE benefitted from the support of a technical assistance provider, in particular for the implementation of a new cloud-based information and management system, secure data migration, and user training.

RESULTS

As a result of this mission, GRAINE has improved information management and data reliability and security significantly, and has reduced the risk of error when entering transactions. The centralisation of databases has also enabled the institution to gain a real time view of activities and to improve its monitoring and reporting to the authorities.

OUTLOOK

GRAINE hopes to continue to digitalise by providing loan officers with tablets so that they can record client information, receive repayments/savings deposits, and eventually prepare loan applications and disburse loans in the field. The digitalisation of financial education training modules will also allow for more efficient training processes. Finally, GRAINE hopes to develop a network of external agents to provide local service to clients.

This article was published in “Our technical assistance offer”, accessible here

The Foundation publishes its 2021 Integrated Report

The Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation publishes its 2021 Integrated Report which retraces the highlights and key figures of the year. As of December 31, 2021, the Foundation managed €78.5 million in assets for 71 microfinance institutions and 10 social enterprises in 37 countries. Women’s entrepreneurship and the development of rural economies remain at the heart of the Foundation’s action: 90% of the 9.2 million beneficiaries of supported institutions are women and 81% live in rural areas.

To increase the resilience of our partners, we coordinated 130 technical assistance missions, the strongest activity in this area in the history of the Foundation. The African Facility developed with the French Development Agency, ended successfully, supporting since its launch 26 small microfinance institutions with a strong social vocation, in 13 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa. It is within this context that the Foundation has decided to carry out a review of its technical assistance offer in 2021, eight years after the launch of its first missions, with the publication of “Our technical assistance system“.

Throughout the year, the Foundation pursued its quarterly surveys, allowing continuous monitoring of the impact of the health crisis on the microfinance sector. At the same time, the Foundation published, with ADA and Inpulse, a Covid-19 Report which brings together the lessons of this period and the future prospects for the sector. Thanks to this regular monitoring, our responses have been better adapted to each situation, combining new financing, technical assistance, rollovers and, very exceptionally, debt restructuring. The Foundation also continued to promote initiatives in favour of the protection of clients and staff of microfinance institutions.

The year was also marked by the renewed confidence of donors. The Foundation has benefited from a new grant from the European Investment Bank to promote financial inclusion in Sub-Saharan Africa. We have also launched a new programme to develop microinsurance in Africa and Asia with PROPARCO and the International Labor Organisation (ILO).

It also strengthened ties with the Crédit Agricole group, in particular via Banquiers Solidaires. With this skills volunteering scheme, open to all Group employees, the Foundation is strengthening its technical support for funded institutions and enterprises. This represents nearly 30 missions launched in favour of about twenty organisations since the inception of the programme in 2018.

The Foundation has also strengthened its climate commitments. It joined the Manifesto of the French Coalition of Foundations for the Climate and obtained funding from the Global Environment Facility (GEF) to support adaptation projects to climate change of partner institutions’ clients.

Download the Report

The Foundation’s job interview: Investment Officer

In the early years of its existence, the Foundation focused on financing microfinance institutions, gradually specializing in smaller institutions, located in rural areas and mainly benefiting women who develop small income-generating activities.

In this interview you will discover the testimony of Sébastien Simonot, Investment Officer, who explains his job.

In a few words, what is your Investment Officer Job about?

The investment officer job consists of establishing and developing sustainable partnerships with microfinance institutions, and organisations that provide financial and non-financial services to low-income population.
A big part of our job is devoted to identifying these potential partners, through an in-depth analysis of their financial, social and environmental performances. The first phase is desk review, on a basis of the documents the institution sent us, and then on site during our due diligences missions. We also regularly exchange with the institutions we already have in our portfolio to evaluate the evolution of their financial, social and environmental performances, and to assess their financial and technical needs in order to strengthen our partnerships.

What was your path? Is there a typical career path to be an Investment Officer?

I started my career in commercial banking, first at Crédit Lyonnais, then at Crédit Agricole CIB. After a detour into the humanitarian field, I moved into the microfinance sector a dozen years ago, approximately when the Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation was created. During these 12 years, I led management and consulting missions for microfinance institutions in Haiti and Africa. I joined the Foundation in the summer of 2020, and I cover for it several areas in Africa as well as the Middle East.
I would say that there is no typical career path at the Foundation. The Investment Officer profiles are varied, but they have a common trait. We all have training and experience in economics and finance, coupled with exposure to the field of development and humanitarian work.

What are the strengths of your job?

This job gives us the opportunity to observe the innovation that microfinance institutions bring to their services to vulnerable populations. Despite the difficult contexts in which they must operate. The in-depth analysis of these institutions, particularly through on-site visits, and meetings with their clients, reminds us of the Foundation’s ambitions: to promote social entrepreneurship and financial inclusion. Finally, on the cross-functional aspect of the job, an Investment Officer works with all the Foundation’s teams: Middle Office, Risk, Technical Assistance, and Communication.

Why did you choose the Foundation?

The sector of financial inclusion has grown considerably in the recent decades. Many funds exist to support these institutions, both financially and technically. From the outset, the Foundation has equipped itself with the tools to intervene with small institutions with a high social impact. On the other hand, it has been able to intervene in areas where many other operators did not intervene, in fragile countries, particularly from an economic, social and climatic point of view. Today we have significant feedback experience in many countries, particularly in Africa, which contributes to the strength of our identity.

Watch the interview

The Foundation’s jobs interview: technical assistance

Starting 2013, the Foundation wanted to complement its approach with a targeted expertise intervention to strengthen the operational performance of its partners. For nine years now, we have been developing, coordinating and implementing technical assistance programs.

In this interview, you will discover the testimony of Victoire Binson, in charge of technical assistance, who explains her job and its impact.

In a few words, what is the Foundations technical assistance offer?

Technical assistance is an additional support mechanism for the Foundation partners. These may be microfinance institutions or social enterprises, the modalities of intervention are varied. It can be participating in training, support missions, but also co-financing for the acquisition of equipment. The Foundation plays a coordination and technical assistance role in the framework of programmes in conjunction with our technical and financial partners. Therefore, by the end of December 2021, it was almost 380 technical assistance missions that have been launched and coordinated by the Foundation.

What programmes did the Foundation develop?

The technical assistance offer of the Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation kept on expanding since the launch of our historical program: the African Facility in 2008, which aims to strengthen small MFIs in rural areas. Since then, we have also launched a technical assistance programme financed by the government of Luxembourg and coordinated by the EIB, in order to build the capacity of microfinance institutions in sub-Saharan Africa. Moreover, in Uganda, with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and thanks to funding from the Swedish cooperation, we were able to enable refugee populations to access financial and non-financial services.

What are the technical assistance programmes of the Foundation that are open to Social Enterprises?

We also have other programmes open to social enterprises. First, the Solidarity Bankers programme, which aim to enhance the skills of Crédit Agricole Group employees and allows our partners, microfinance institutions and social enterprises, to benefit from pro bono missions in the field, in Africa, Asia and Eastern Europe. Finally, we have one last programme that is called the SSNUP programme, whose objective is to strengthen the resilience of small producers and the structuring of agricultural value chains in Africa and Asia.

What are the main impacts of the programmes?

The Foundation has just published a report on its technical assistance programme, in which we identified three direct impacts. First, the technical assistance helps strengthen the operational performance of its partners. Secondly, technical assistance allows the development of new services such as digitalization or micro insurance. It also helps to reach new targets such as refugees. Finally, through its technical assistance programmes, the Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation promotes innovative practices and strengthens its ties with the main players of the inclusive finance sector.

What are the future projects?

Technical assistance is an integral part of the Foundation’s new 2022-2025 strategic plan, and is a major focus of its development. In 2022, we are also launching a programme with the International Labor Organization and financed by Proparco. It will enable us to support 12 of our microfinance institutions in Africa and Asia to develop micro insurance products. We have strong ambitions in terms of digital technology and resilience to climate change. And we are also working on setting up new support systems to help our partners deal with this major transition.

Watch the interview

Technical assistance: Green microfinance with RENACA in Benin

RENACA provides individual and group loans to a predominantly female clientele in six regions of Benin. RENACA has received support under the African Facility to strengthen its actions in inclusive green finance.

THE ORGANISATION AND THE FOUNDATION

Under the African Facility, RENACA has received a €182,000 grant from the Agence Française de Développement [French Development Agency] for the implementation of 18 technical assistance missions in various fields (information system, business plan, etc.), including a mission to strengthen inclusive green finance. The Foundation has also granted three loans to RENACA since 2013, for a total amount of €1,738,000.

CONTEXT OF THE MISSION

Faced with the deterioration of ecosystems, RENACA wanted to engage in inclusive green financing activities, particularly through the financing of agricultural activities that preserve forests and biodiversity and activities that contribute to reducing the vulnerability of clients to climate change. The institution thus benefitted from the support of an international firm (YAPU Solutions) to chart a green strategy and to assess and develop its green product offering.

RESULTS

Thanks to this mission, a diagnosis was made of RENACA’s actions in the area of inclusive green financing and the institution benefitted from advice on developing its product offering. The mission also helped raise awareness among the staff and governance on the topic of inclusive green finance and climate smart agriculture. An institutional green strategy and an action plan were also devised, allowing RENACA to clarify its objectives in terms of inclusive green finance.

OUTLOOK

Following the mission, several priority actions were defined, including the organisation of awareness raising sessions on inclusive green finance for RENACA agents, the definition of a list of activities excluded from financing because they are harmful to the environment, the charting of an environmental and social policy, and the development of an environmentally friendly agricultural product offer.

This article was published in “Our technical assistance offer”, accessible here

Chamroeun Microfinance: A Solidarity Banker in Cambodia

Chamroeun Microfinance Plc is a Cambodian institution that puts social mission at the very heart of its business model. It provides financial services to poor segments of the population which are excluded from the offer of other more commercial microfinance institutions.

THE ORGANISATION AND THE FOUNDATION

The Foundation has granted 8 loans to Chamroeun Microfinance Plc since 2010 for a total amount of €5,054,000. The institution also benefited from the Solidarity Bankers programme in 2018. An expert in International Human Resources from the Crédit Agricole group, went on a two-week field trip to support Chamroeun Microfinance Plc’s teams in identifying and implementing an Human Resources strategy.

CONTEXT OF THE MISSION

Faced with transformation challenges, Chamroeun Microfinance Plc needed to adapt its business model, strategy and HR policies. In 2017, despite a restructuring, the institution was still facing HR issues, such as team turnover and the need to hone the skills of operational staff, as well as supervision issues in some branches. The objective of the mission was therefore to support the institution’s HR function in adapting and improving its strategy, policies, procedures and management tools.

RESULTS

The Solidarity Banker assessed the existing HR tools and procedures, proposed a 2-year HR strategy and ways to promote leadership within the organisation. Thanks to this operational support, Chamroeun Microfinance Plc, which was in the process of completely transforming its business model and renewing its management team, has been able to implement an effective human resources policy. After the mission and thanks to the trusting relationship created with Chamroeun Microfinance Plc management, the Crédit Agricole expert was also able to provide punctual support, upon request, for the implementation of his recommendations.

This article was published in “Our technical assistance offer”, accessible here

Podcasts Solidarity Bankers: episode N.3

Interview with Veselina PETROVA, Accounting Standards Analyst, CACIB
and Ali LHAF, Credit Risk Analyst, CACIB
By: Mireille de Kerleau, Communications Manager, CACEIS

Launched by the Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation and Crédit Agricole S.A. in 2018, Solidarity Bankers is a skills volunteering programme open to all Crédit Agricole Group employees in favour of microfinance institutions and impact businesses supported by the Foundation. Discover the 2nd episode of the series of podcasts dedicated to Solidarity Bankers, the skills volunteering scheme run by the Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation and Credit Agricole SA. The first episode covered Carolina Viguet, Communications and partnership Director of the Foundation and co-initiator of this programme, and the second Andreas Brunner, Inspection Supervisor at Amundi in Paris, Solidarity Banker who went on a mission to Kyrgyzstan. With this 3rd episode, we will share the experience of Veselina PETROVA, Accounting Standards Analyst, and Ali LHAF, Credit Risk Analyst, both at CACIB.

They carried out a field mission in pairs for Faten, a microfinance institution created in 1999 and which is supervised by the Palestinian monetary authority. Faten’s mission is to meet the financial services needs of low- and middle-income Palestinian entrepreneurs and individuals. It operates throughout Palestine, the West Bank and Gaza, through a network of 37 branches and 277 employees.

Before giving the floor to our speakers, allow me to briefly review the economic and social situation in Palestine.

In a context marked by conflicts and geopolitical tensions, access to essential services in Palestine is a major problem. With a banked population rate just over 25% and an economy heavily dependent on agriculture, microfinance plays an essential role in supporting income-generating activities and rural development. Faten is a key player in financial inclusion in the Palestinian territories by financing economic and agricultural activities and improving housing with its some 26,000 customers. Now a large institution with nearly $140 million in portfolio, Faten is embarking on a process of structuring and transformation into a multi-channel and multi-product bank requiring cutting-edge expertise. That is why Veselina and Ali, specialists in risk assessment, reporting standards and accounting standardization at CACIB, support this transformation as part of a Solidarity Bankers mission.

Hello Veselina, hello Ali. So to start this interview, I would like you to introduce yourself to our listeners.

Veselina: My name is Veselina and I have been working in the accounting analysis team at CACIB for five years now. I am originally from Bulgaria and I come from Varna, which is a city on the shores of the Black Sea, where I did part of my studies. I finished my studies in France and since then I have been working here. In addition, I am the mother of two young boys. I like to learn and share and this mission is an opportunity for me to immerse myself in a new environment which is microfinance, with issues that have nothing to do with those of a bank such as CACIB.

Ali: My name is Ali Lhaf. I arrived in France in 2005 for my studies and since 2010 I have been working at CACIB where I have been a credit risk analyst since 2017. At the same time, I am also a professor. I teach finance at the CNAM in Paris. For my part, it is extremely important to reach out to others, to really try to share what we have and this type of mission allows me to use my technical skills to help others.

Did you know each other before the mission, given that you work in the same company, or did you meet on this occasion?

Ali: We actually met on this mission and, for this mission in particular, we needed someone who was a little expert in IFRS, this is the case of Veselina, and someone who had more of the profile of credit analyst and  who speaks Arabic, which is my case. Our work is complementary.

You are located in the same buildings, are you both in Paris, in Montrouge?

Yes, we are based in Montrouge

You met physically along the way.

Veselina: Yes we met during the presentation of the mission. Ali, I believe that you were the first one to have contacted the Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation for the mission because when I contacted them they told me that there was already someone, an Arabic speaker who had proposed for the mission, and therefore they expected a person who had knowledge of IFRS accounting standards.

Ali: Indeed, I have a former colleague who is now on the communication side, and it was her who actually told me about this mission. She told me that the Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation was looking for someone who spoke Arabic and who knew a little about credit. And here, I told her, if I can do something, it is with great pleasure, and it started like that.

And you Veselina, how did it go for you?

Veselina: So I had attended a videoconference presentation of the ongoing missions of the Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation and so I saw that there was this mission for which they were looking for someone who matched my profile. This mission was the only one where the skills I have were required and I found it interesting. So I contacted the Foundation and that was it. It happened like this.

So you went through a selection process on your own and then you were selected.

Veselina: As far as I am concerned, when I contacted the Foundation and expressed my interest, they asked me to send my CV, with a brief description of what I could bring and then they confirmed to me that my CV corresponded to some of the skills sought. It could be complementary to Ali’s profile, and I met them. And I met Ali afterwards.

And from that moment, did you immediately start working on this mission?

Ali: Actually, the mission was remote. It’s not easy to start right away. So we took stock with Faten and they explained what they are doing. Afterwards we received a good part of their documents. We spent a lot of time with Veselina to really understand what the institution does and try to detail their mission so that we can really have a fairly global idea of ​​their accounts, their business model. And it started like that. And we also translated because there are documents in Arabic, in English, so we had to understand their documents. And then little by little we had two, three meetings with Faten and there we started to get into the technical IFRS / NAF part and there it was Veselina who brought her skills in this area.

Have you exchanged with several people from Faten or do you have a particular correspondent? Who are your correspondents there?

Veselina: We have two main correspondents at the moment. At the presentation meetings there were three or four people if I’m not mistaken. So we have the finance manager of the microfinance institution, one of her collaborators who is competent in the preparation of the accounts to IFRS standards and for the credit risk models that they want us to review. So here we are, two main interlocutors and then we will see if for the other subjects that we have to review we will exchange with other people.

Do these people mainly speak Arabic or do they also speak English?

Ali: They speak English too.

That way it also allows Veselina to follow I imagine.

Veselina: Yes in English it is easier for me indeed

I was wondering if you had any idea of ​​the culture of the country or not at all? Or are you learning as you go by relating to these people?

Ali: Personally, I know the culture a little. I come from Lebanon. Lebanon is not very far from the Palestinian territories, indeed. It’s not 100% identical, but there is a lot in common. It is the Orient, … I know a little bit. This simplifies communication. Frankly, for the moment, things have gone well with them. They were very available… I don’t know Veselina what your feeling is but…

Veselina: Yes, yes, they are reactive. In my case, I don’t really know the cultural or other environment there. They are very responsive, they communicate in a natural and professional way like us, so I don’t see any obstacle in that regard.

I see that the mission will take place one day a week for 15 weeks. Is that more or less the idea?

Veselina: Yes, that is a general framework, it is indicative. And then we also modulate according to our own workload every day at CACIB.

Ali: Indeed. I note that this is quite a technical mission, honestly, which requires a bit of personal work on our side as well. These are not necessarily 100% subjects of our daily life because we work in an investment bank. We are really talking about microfinance here, so it is not the same kind of job. On our side it takes a little time.

Veselina: Yes, that is it. We have our knowledge, the general framework, well not just general. We also have specific knowledge that can be useful for the mission. But on the other hand, due to the activity of the entity, in fact there are very specific points which require other additional expertise. And for example, we are trying now to find someone from Crédit Agricole more on the retail banking sector. Finally, we need additional expertise. So there are pluses and minuses. The minus is that we cannot directly work on the subject 100% from the start. But afterwards, the advantage is that it will allow us to learn other things and then also to exchange with other teams at Crédit Agricole and we hope that people will be able to bring us what we lack.

Ali: The first part is really the technical part on accounting standards and the second part is more the organisation between their holding company in Ramallah and the subsidiaries around. So it is the communication between the holding company and the small subsidiaries. So I think those are the two big topics on which we have to work with Faten.

And when you have meetings with them, you are systematically the two of you or sometimes you alternate, once one and then the other?

Veselina: Up to now, we tried to be both. Afterwards, there is no obligation in itself but at the beginning it is important that we attend together, in case there is a need to switch to Arabic, Ali can do it, not me.

When the mission is complete, I imagine you’ll do a bit of follow-up on what’s going on and how it is implemented?

Veselina: Yes, yes. That’s what the Foundation told us. That generally the mission ends with a meeting which concludes precisely on the achievement of the objectives. And on the achievement of goals, we can always keep in touch.

And maybe one last question that comes to me. I wanted to talk in a more general way about the skill donation mission. Do you already feel that it is a gift of your skills and that you will be useful, that it makes you happy? What does this bring you to do that?

Veselina: Already we hope that we will be useful. But again, we’re not even halfway through the mission yet. So we strongly hope that we can achieve a result that will be useful to Faten. As far as I’m concerned, I was initially interested in being able to participate in a mission like that, volunteering. I think it will be really rewarding in the end, once we have seen that the result of what we have been able to produce corresponds to the expectations, I hope, of our interlocutors.

Ali, maybe you have a feeling about that too?

Ali: While waiting for the result, I hope we will bring good things to Faten. But on a personal level, giving and sharing is something that touches me a lot, so I really try, on quite a few levels, to do it, either as a teacher if I give lessons, or else I do interpreting for refugees here in Paris, … I think that if you have something, you must above all share it with others.

Veselina: Yes and then we too will surely learn a lot.

Ali: Actually personally and also technically, yes really.

Well thank you very much for this exchange. Thank you for listening to this podcast and  I invite you to join us for the fourth episode, which this time will focus on a field mission in Senegal, a mission carried out by two Solidarity Bankers from Crédit Agricole SA and EFL in Poland. See you soon !

Listen to the podcast here

Technical assistance: building the strategic plan of MLF Zambia

THE ORGANISATION AND THE FOUNDATION

Under the African Facility, MLF Zambia has received a €49,000 grant from the Agence Française de Développement [French Development Agency] for the implementation of 10 technical assistance missions in various fields (risk management, digitalization, staff training, etc.), including the development of a new business plan. The Foundation also granted a loan to MLF Zambia in 2020 for a total amount of €250,000.

CONTEXT OF THE MISSION

Given the robust development of its activities, MLF Zambia wanted to benefit from an external viewpoint and the support of an expert so as to position itself more clearly on the market and strengthen its competitiveness. The institution thus benefited from the support of a local technical assistance provider to develop a new five-year strategic plan (2021-2025), an action plan and financial forecasts.

RESULTS

Thanks to this mission, MLF Zambia was able to gain a better understanding of the local microfinance sector, as well as to define with precision its objectives and medium-term growth forecasts. The institution is now equipped to face competition, prioritise its actions and make forecasts. The development of the business plan also enabled MLF Zambia to communicate more clearly about its organisational goals to its staff and to potential new investors.

OUTLOOK

MLF Zambia is targeting significant business growth aspiring to serve 80,000 active clients within five years. The institution also aims to increase its operational efficiency through refined lending methodologies and smart technology, and to boost staff motivation, develop products dedicated to financing agricultural activities, and build client loyalty – all with the ultimate goal of improving women’s lives.

This article was published in “Our technical assistance offer”, accessible here

Technical assistance: the risk management improvement of ACFIME (Burkina Faso)

ACFIME is a Burkinabe microfinance institution that targets very vulnerable populations excluded from the large microfinance institutions operating throughout the country. The loans granted by ACFIME therefore have a very high potential for social impact.

THE ORGANISATION AND THE FOUNDATION

Under the African Facility, ACFIME has received a €131,000 grant from the Agence Française de Développement for the implementation of 16 technical assistance missions in various fields (business plan, human resources management, risk management, training, etc.), including the mapping of risks and training of the Internal Audit Department The Foundation has also granted three loans to ACFIME for a total amount of €732,000 since 2014.

CONTEXT OF THE MISSION

The structuring of procedures and risk management are determining factors in consolidating and ensuring the sustainability of an institution. In the first phase of the African Facility programme, ACFIME benefitted from an upgrade of most of its procedures. As a follow-up to this mission, ACFIME was given another technical assistance mission to strengthen risk management further. The organisation was assisted by a local technical assistance provider in mapping operational, financial and strategic risks and in training the Internal Audit Department.

RESULTS

Thanks to the participatory approach of the technical assistance provider and the training of the Internal Audit Department, ACFIME has gained autonomy in identifying the internal and external risks it faces in order to measure them and implement mitigation measures where necessary. A risk management committee is now in charge of updating the mapping and mitigation plans of the related risks.

OUTLOOK

Following these first positive results, ACFIME now wishes to map all the risks for each agency and point of service so as to be able to identify and prevent them, at each level of the institution. ACFIME also wants to develop a business continuity plan.

This article was published in “Our technical assistance offer”, accessible here

New Solidarity Bankers mission in Benin

At the initiative of the Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation and Crédit Agricole S.A, skills volunteering missions Solidarity Bankers are offered to employees of the Crédit Agricole Group on behalf of organisations supported by the Foundation. A new Solidarity Bankers mission is to be filled in favour of the  Association des Caisses de Financement à la Base (ACFB) in Benin. The microfinance institution was created in 1995 as a project of the local NGO GRAPAD.

ACFB aims at offering quality financial and non-financial services to the active, economically weak, and mainly female populations with a view to their promotion. ACFB offers its clients loan and savings services through group and individual methodologies.

Today, ACFB has a Human Resources Department, within the General Administration Service, composed of two agents: an HR Monitoring Officer, promoted in 2019 to prepare the retirement of the former Monitoring Officer, and an Assistant. The institution also has a human resources management manual, HR management tools and software to manage salaries. However, ACFB lacks a formalized staff evaluation system and a career management plan to harness the skills and potential of its staff, while identifying and meeting their expectations.

To discover the details of this mission click here.

How to apply

To apply send your CV as well as one or two paragraphs explaining your motivation and expertise to carolina.viguet@credit-agricole-sa.fr

___________________________________________________________

Created in 2008, under the joint impetus of the directors of Crédit Agricole S.A. and Professor Yunus, winner of the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize and founder of the Grameen Bank, the Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation is a cross-business actor that contributes to the fight against poverty through financial inclusion and entrepreneurship with a social impact. As an investor, lender, technical assistance coordinator and fund advisor, the Foundation supports microfinance institutions and social enterprises in nearly 40 countries.

72 Microfinance Institutions Join Inaugural Financial Inclusion Index

Impact performance measurement of microfinance institutions in 41 countries will launch in Q2 2022 with support from sector leaders.

April 13, 2022 – In a global effort to promote standard, comparable impact outcomes data for the microfinance industry, 60 Decibels will release the first microfinance index driven entirely by end customer voices later this quarter. This groundbreaking initiative will include aggregated data from the customers of 72 participating microfinance institutions (MFIs), supported by 19 Founding Partners. Collected through phone surveys, the data and resulting insights will be shared in a public report and dashboard to establish performance benchmarks for ongoing impact measurement and management by MFIs and their funders.

Global MFI participation has been made possible by 19 Founding Partners supporting and collaborating on this initiative: Accion, Advans, BRAC, ECLOF, FMO, Fundación Netri, Global Partnerships, Grameen Foundation, Kiva, LeapFrog Investments, MCE Social Capital, Nordic Microfinance Initiative, Opportunity International, Pro Mujer, ResponsAbility, SPTF, Symbiotics, WaterEquity, and Women’s World Banking. Catalytic, field-building sponsorship for this inaugural effort came from the Tipping Point Foundation on Impact Investing and Ceniarth. Together, these sponsors and founding partners have provided project funding and engaged their portfolios to include MFIs from 41 countries in this research.

“As an investor in microfinance for 14 years, the Grameen Credit Agricole Foundation is really excited to participate in this initiative and to support its partners in gathering this outcome data. When issuing its impact model in 2020, the Foundation committed to further monitor its impact, so we’re happy for our team to have comparable impact outcome data for the first time” said Alice Rullier, Impact Analyst at the Foundation.

For each participating MFI, 60 Decibels researchers survey a representative sample (200 – 250 respondents) of MFI customers and conduct a standardized phone survey to gather quantitative and qualitative data along five key dimensions of impact. The survey, developed by 60 Decibels and based on its experience working with hundreds of companies in the financial inclusion space, utilizes questions proven to assess and compare social outcomes across five impact themes: Access, Business Impact, Household Impact, Financial Management, and Resilience. The aggregated data from all participating MFIs will establish benchmarks to be shared in the public report, providing essential insight into the range of performance on these key outcomes to be utilized across the MFI industry.

“We started listening to end customers eight years ago because the standard of practice—things like counting the number of customers reached—wasn’t telling us if people’s lives were improving,” said Sasha Dichter, CEO and co-founder of 60 Decibels. “We’re thrilled at the response to this initiative and the collaboration of so many industry leaders to listen better and set a new standard in understanding social outcomes. This Index brings the value of our impact benchmarks to a new level and helps MFIs and investors understand customer outcomes with 100% comparability for each and every metric.”

In addition to providing insights that will be directly applicable for impact management in the microfinance sector, the index signals and demonstrates the value of rigorous outcomes data from end stakeholders for understanding impact performance. In the coming year, 60 Decibels will produce sector-level benchmarks through similar index efforts in other sectors to elevate the importance of listening to end stakeholders to drive greater impact.

The index is designed to complement and integrate with existing frameworks and standards in microfinance, impact investing, and international development. Participation in the MFI Index to conduct surveys with clients provides MFIs and investors with feedback on the practices recommended by SPTF and CERISE in the Universal Standards and the Client Protection Principles, as well as the SDG Impact Standards, and provides data aligned to IRIS+ metrics and the five dimensions of impact guidance established by the Impact Management Project.

Learn more and sign up to receive the 60 Decibels Financial Inclusion Index here.

About 60 Decibels

60 Decibels is a global, tech-enabled impact measurement company that brings speed and repeatability to social impact measurement and customer insights. We provide genuine benchmarks of impact performance, enabling organizations to understand impact relative to peers and set performance targets. We have a network of 850+ researchers in 70+ countries, and have worked with more than 800 of the world’s leading impact investors, companies, foundations, corporations, NGOs, and public sector organisations. 60 Decibels makes it easy to listen to the people who matter most.

About the Grameen Credit Agricole Foundation

Created in 2008 under the joint leadership of Crédit Agricole S.A. executives and Professor Yunus, the Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation supports microfinance institutions and social enterprises in 37 countries at the end of 2021. As a recognized player in the sector, the Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation aims to work in countries where poverty and financial exclusion are the most significant. As an investor, lender, technical assistance coordinator and funds advisor, the Foundation supports 81 partners in 37 countries with more than €78 million in commitments.

Solidarity Bankers: a strong impact lever for Crédit Agricole

Launched by Crédit Agricole S.A. and the Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation in June 2018, the Solidarity Bankers sponsorship and skills volunteering programme has enabled some 30 Group employees to carry out technical assistance missions with impact enterprises and microfinance institutions in more than a dozen countries. Three questions for Bénédicte Chrétien, Group Human Resources Director at Crédit Agricole S.A.

How would you assess the Solidarity Bankers initiative for the Group’s employees and for Crédit Agricole as an employer brand?

Since 2018, this programme has enabled 39 employees to carry out 357 days of missions in 21 countries for 29 organisations. For each mission, our Solidarity Bankers are present for one to two weeks in the field or accessible remotely to bring their expertise (marketing strategy, logistics, financial reporting, fundraising support, purchasing, HR, etc.) to the operational teams.

The feedback is very positive, and both parties benefit. Beneficiary organisations greatly appreciate the technical expertise provided to secure the deployment of their project. The managers consider the commitment of their employees as a real lever for the development of their skills, especially their soft skills. Employee volunteers are proud to take part in solidarity projects initiated by the Group, to live a unique human experience and to enhance their professional experience.

Recent studies have confirmed that the commitment of employees to solidarity, whether on their own initiative or that of the company, is strongly correlated with their professional commitment. By responding to their search for meaning and social utility, these missions are a powerful driver of appeal, motivation and cohesion for our employees.

Do you think that this programme meets your employees’ demand for social commitment?

The Group has set itself the goal of being a responsible employer in a citizen enterprise. Usefulness is the hallmark of our raison d’être and education is a key aspect of our social and societal contribution, as perfectly illustrated by this programme which is a strong symbol of our commitment to society. The health crisis has amplified the expectations of civil society, which are increasingly focused on developing the human capital of our companies. Commitment to solidarity is no longer the prerogative of millennials. It is therefore legitimate and essential for the Group to support such volunteer programmes, which are a strong symbol of its social commitment.

Is inclusive finance part of the Bank’s strategic plan?

Crédit Agricole is committed to being a trusted partner to all its customers. It aspires to serve both the most modest and the most affluent households, local professionals and large international companies. Its solidity and the diversity of its expertise enable it to provide long-term support to each of its clients in their day-to-day lives and their journey through life, helping them to protect themselves against unforeseen events and to plan for the long term. Inclusive finance is therefore at the heart of Crédit Agricole’s raison d’être and is an integral part of our strategic objectives, in France and abroad.

This article was published in “Our technical assistance offer”, accessible here

Technical Assistance : COOPEC-SIFA (Togo), partner of the African Facility since 2013

In addition to the financial support provided by the Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation, Coopec-Sifa has benefitted from the support of the African Facility programme. Philippe Fori, Managing Director of the MFI, looks back on this relationship of trust with the Foundation.

Could you introduce us to Coopec-Sifa?

Founded in 1997, Coopec-Sifa is a Tier 3 microfinance institution that provides financial and non-financial services to vulnerable populations. At the end of December 2020, the institution had 43,232 clients for an outstanding loan portfolio of €5.37 million. Approved in 2011 by the Togolese Ministry of Economy and Finance, Coopec-Sifa operates in the Savanes region in northern Togo. Our clients are organised individually or collectively and are mostly women (72%) living in rural areas (70%).

How did the various technical assistance missions you benefited from go?

Under the African Facility programme, Coopec-Sifa has benefitted since 2013 from 16 technical assistance missions aimed at the institutional strengthening of our organisation. Most of these missions were conducted by local experts, always with rigour and in close cooperation with our teams. Dedicated to strategy, organisational strengthening, human resources or information systems, each mission has helped us progress.

Among the missions carried out, the relevant analysis of our environment has allowed the development of the 2014-2018 and 2019-2021 business plans, integrating our strategic objectives, detailed financial projections and an action plan. A mission to strengthen risk management also led to the creation of an internal control procedures manual and training for internal controllers and members of the Supervisory Board, to enable them to play their roles satisfactorily. Finally, another essential project was the improvement of the information system and the interconnection of the databases of each agency with the headquarters.

How have these missions helped you strengthen your institutional and operational capacities?

Managing an MFI requires real know-how. The partnership with the Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation has enabled us to integrate the best practices and knowledge necessary for the proper functioning of our institution. The development of business plans has laid the foundations for controlled growth, better risk management and better governance. Furthermore, the interconnection of databases is real added value internally and externally. We now have reliable, real-time financial and operational information, enhanced control of field activities, and professionalised institutional management. Our clients can carry out operations without having to travel, which is a real competitive advantage.

What do you think of the overall guidance and support provided by the Foundation?

The tools deployed to help Coopec-Sifa get off the ground have proven to be extremely effective. Despite our limited geographical coverage, we are often cited by the authorities as a model of cooperative management. Our institution would never have reached its current position without the guidance and support of the Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation. Beyond technical assistance, the Foundation promotes meetings and the sharing of experiences among peers. The annual African Facility Forums bring together all programme partners and are excellent opportunities for exchange and learning.

This article was published in “Our technical assistance offer”, accessible here

Podcasts Solidarity Bankers: episode N.2

Interview with Andreas BRUNNER, Inspection Supervisor, Amundi
By: Mireille de Kerleau, Internal Communication Manager, CACEIS

Launched by the Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation and Crédit Agricole S.A. in 2018, Solidarity Bankers is a skills volunteering programme open to all Crédit Agricole Group employees in favour of microfinance institutions and impact businesses supported by the Foundation. Discover the 2nd episode of the series of podcasts dedicated to Solidarity Bankers, the skills volunteering scheme run by the Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation and Credit Agricole SA. The first episode covered Carolina Viguet, Communications and partnership Director of the Foundation and co-initiator of this programme. Today we have the pleasure of welcoming Andreas Brunner, Inspection Supervisor at Amundi in Paris. Andreas is a Solidarity Banker. He carried out a field missions for OXUS Kyrgyzstan in October 2021, when he worked at Credit Agricole Assurances.

First, some financial data concerning Kyrgyizstan. It is a former republic of the USSR and one of the poorest countries of Central Asia. With more than 12% of its GDP dedicated to the agricultural sector and a strong dependence on mining, the Kyrgyz economy is not very diversified and relies largely on money transfers from abroad. Although significant progress has been made in recent years in terms of financial inclusion, according to the latest figures available, barely 40% of the population over the age of 15 has an account with a formal financial institution. Microfinance institutions are trying to make up for these lack of progress by targeting rural populations excluded from the traditional banking sector, institutions like OXUS Kyrgyzstan, which Andreas supported in 2021 as part of a Solidarity Bankers mission.

Can you, Andreas, tell us about the institution and the objective of your mission?

Yes of course. OXUS Kyrgyzstan is a microfinance institution with approximately 10,000 clients. It operates in the various regions of the country, through a network of about fifteen agencies. It employs 130 people with about 30 people at the headquarters in Bishkek, the capital of Kyrgyzstan. Regarding the mission, there were two objectives. The first is to establish a marketing plan for the year 2022 and also a loyalty programme for their customers.

Going back a bit, how did you hear about the mission and what prompted you to apply for it?

It is a while ago now. In 2019, I had the chance to meet a former Solidarity Banker who told me about his own mission and told me that there were going to be other missions offered by Grameen. He told me about his own experience and I told him that I was also interested too. So I contacted the Grameen Foundation which had, at that time, several missions to offer. I looked at the terms of reference, we call it, it is a small description of what had to be done. And I immediately said, ok I’m interested and, in addition, it’s in a country in Central Asia that I absolutely did not know. It was therefore a good opportunity to go and help this entity, to immerse myself in the subject of microfinance, and at the same time, discover another country.

After that, you were selected. How was the preparation stage of the mission and the in-the-field part of the mission?

I had a few interviews before being selected and selection was not at all a certainty because it is true that there were other people who also wanted to do this mission. Once selected, I was really happy. I was supposed to leave at the beginning of 2020 but you all know what happened afterwards, so I could not leave in March. I left only at the end of 2021 but the preparation yes…. First of all, I did not know about microfinance at all. I had to make some research by myself, I had to read. There were a lot of elements on internet to understand the challenges of microfinance. Of course, there is aid for financial inclusion, that is kind of the overall objective, and then you had to understand how it works, how credits are distributed to people who need them. And then, the mission itself. It was also necessary to prepare it, therefore to understand the entity. I asked them to send me a certain number of documents so that I could learn about the entity, its operation, its positioning, its products, its customers, etc. I analysed all that and defined a work plan. I also defined a consulting approach, which was my consulting approach with this entity. Then I presented that and I did more research again before leaving.

How was your arrival in the country and the meetings? How was the mission on the ground?

Little anecdote: arriving at 2 am after a 12-hour flight, with a short stop-over in Turkey, I finally arrived quite tired and, a great surprise, normally there should have been a driver so I was a little worried because I didn’t see anyone. But it was the general manager himself who came to pick me up at the airport. Already, with this reception, I think we got off to a good start with a two-week collaboration and I was in good hands.

We started the mission the same day after a little rest at the hotel. The first week passed very quickly. There were a number of interviews that were already scheduled. I met the various directors, the financial director, the commercial director, a person in charge of marketing, so I was able to learn about a certain number of elements. I was able to ask all my questions that I needed to establish a structured document on the marketing approach that I wanted to bring to this entity. So the field mission is above all a lot of interviews, it is also a bit of evening work to put it all on paper, to draft a deliverable, several deliverables for that matter.

As I said before, there were two objectives. The first objective was to build a marketing plan and the second a loyalty approach, a loyalty programme. So there were two key deliverables. These deliverables had to be built, produced. I built them in English. At the end of the first week, I presented my first learnings by saying I am working on this. Is it ok with you, are we going in the right direction? They were very happy with it and it needed to be refined in the second week.

The question we ask ourselves when we listen at you is that we wonder how the exchanges went with the people working at the institution and the customers, knowing that the language and the culture are very different from ours.

Yes, quite! At headquarters, I was lucky to have people who spoke English, so it was easier. On the other hand, the second week I had a few interviews in agencies. I was also able to meet with one or two clients and there, indeed, it is more complicated. Fortunately, a translator accompanied me during these exchanges throughout the day, because even to go to lunch, for example, you had to speak either Russian or Kyrgyz. So luckily, I had this person with me, because otherwise, it is difficult to communicate, and it is also true that the people at headquarters who speak English, even sometimes for them, it was easier to answer to me in Russian and then the person translates. As a result, it added a little time to the exchanges, it was a little slower than during regular communication when you master the language, but it was very very interesting.

So you have travelled a bit around the country. You have been to visit other towns and villages I imagine. Did you have some time to visit this beautiful country?

Yes it is true that the main work was in and around the capital. And between the two weeks of work, I was able to take two days on the weekend to discover the country. There is a very large lake called Issyk-Koul, which is a lake that is almost 200 km long and 60 km wide, so it is almost like a sea.

Is it almost as big as Luxembourg!

These two days I went around the lake. So this huge lake, when you look to the left you see a mountain range, when you look to the right, there is the other mountain range. So it is true that by doing the whole route, quite a small circuit around the lake, I was able to discover this country. I was even able to sleep in a yurt. That, too, is an unforgettable experience. In addition, I met someone who makes the yurts. So he explained to me how it works. There I also had a guide with me. I was able to talk a little bit in Russian too, because I have some basic knowledge of Russian. When I was in high school, I learned a little bit so it was nice to get back into it too. As we said earlier, it is a human experience.

If you wanted to know, what I remember from all this, it is above all also these experiences, these human relationships, these encounters. With the different people, not only through the mission, with the teams, but also with the people we were able to meet over the weekend, spanning the country. Very warm people.

Even without the language, there is always a way to understand each other, with gestures, smiles, expressions, I imagine.

It is true. We were able to do a little local dance one evening in a yurt, in a big yurt by the way. It was the yurt where we had dinner and in fact there were only locals and it was very difficult to be understood but there was the telephone, the applications and we put music on and immediately it gave us confidence and it allowed us to communicate also through music because we found songs that they knew and …

Such a great event! Listening to all this, my last question is, would you go back on a mission? I imagine so…

Absolutely, absolutely, yes. Right away! Maybe not tomorrow because there is quite a bit of preparation involved but anyway yes, with great pleasure. The skills sponsorship is about applying the knowledge we have and sharing it with others and not being paid for it because there, every day, we work, we are paid, it is our job. There, to be able to share it with others is gratifying; it gives meaning to what you do.

Thank you, thank you very much for agreeing to take part in this interview. I, for sure, invite our listeners to the next edition of this podcast series, focusing this time not on one banker, but two, who are currently preparing a remote mission in favour of a microfinance institution in Palestine. Goodbye.

Listen to the podcast here

The SSNUP programme supports cacao cooperatives in Ivory Coast

SSNUP is a programme coordinated by the NGO ADA, whose objective is to increase the productivity of smallholder farmers in Asia, Africa and Latin America through better risk management and the development of sustainable agricultural value chains. Funded by governments of Luxembourg, Switzerland and Liechtenstein, the SSNUP aims to improve the living conditions and food security of more than 10 million smallholder producers. The Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation is one the impact investors in charge of implementing the project.

The producers’ cooperative, a lever for development

In Ivory Coast, where half of the producers of cacao lives below the poverty line, producers’ cooperatives are an important development lever. Beyond the commercial advantage that it offers to producers, cooperatives offer to theirs members services ranging from small equipment input and supply to the improvement of community life through actions such as the establishment of schools and hospitals. However, cooperatives sometimes encounter repayment difficulties of their members and unpaid debts are covered by cooperatives with their own funds, which prevents them from carrying out their social development mission.

This is what Advans Ivory Coast wanted to support since its creation in 2012, by being the first financial institution to give access to input credit to cocoa cooperatives. Advans Ivory Coast’s input credit consists of granting cocoa cooperatives financing that allows them to grant credits to their members for the purchase of fertilizers and crop protection products.

Reinforce the capacities of the cocoa cooperatives in Ivory Coast and its members

Advans Ivory Coast has received a grant of SSNUP to support cocoa cooperatives in improving the level of reimbursement of theirs members. With the funding received, the institution has recruited technical assistance providers to develop input credit management and monitor tools for cooperatives and financial education modules on credit management for smallholder cocoa farmers.

Ultimately, building the capacity of small producers in financial education will help limit the risk management and thus fulfil their role as facilitators on the value chain and carry out their social actions in favour of the community. It will also make it easier for cooperatives to renew their loan from Advans Ivory Coast and for producers to have access to the inputs needed to ensure a good agricultural yield and thus increase their incomes and improve their living conditions. Finally, Advans Ivory Coast will strengthen its risk profile, which will help consolidate existing relationships with its current partners and attract new investors.

The Foundation publishes the 2nd edition of “Taking the Floor”

11

The Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation has been promoting financial inclusion and social entrepreneurship for thirteen years now and continues to work in favour of the development of rural areas and female entrepreneurs. At the end of 2021, the Foundation had accumulated nearly €300 million in funding, 379 technical assistance missions in progress or completed and 136 organisations funded.

We are pleased to share with you this second edition of “Taking the floor”. It presents our daily support for entrepreneurs, rural communities, refugees and farmers. Enabling refugees from the Nakivale camp to access credit in Uganda, modernising agricultural practices in Moldova, financing access to water and ensuring the pay of breeders in Senegal, these are some of the actions highlighted in this second edition.

These stories demonstrate the resilience of the microfinance sector, this ability to cope with the health context, the economic difficulties and the effects of global warming. Resilience also refers to the ability to transform obstacles into opportunities to strengthen oneself. The digital transformation, the coordination between stakeholders and the innovation demonstrated by our partners throughout these last difficult months are a clear proof of it.

Download the publication

New Solidarity Bankers mission in Kosovo

At the initiative of the Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation and Crédit Agricole S.A, skills volunteering missions Solidarity Bankers are offered to employees of the Crédit Agricole Group on behalf of organisations supported by the Foundation. A new Solidarity Bankers mission is to be filled in favor of agency for finance (AFK) in Kosovo. The institution was created in the years 2000 and have obtained the status of microfinance institution in 2011.

AFK aims to improve living conditions in Kosovo by providing access to sustainable financial services to small and micro enterprises. As of December 2021, the organisation has 24 branches across Kosovo and 225 employees. It serves 20,733 active borrowers (23% women and 50% in rural areas) and manages a portfolio of 40.2 million euros.

AFK has developed a risk policy focused on credit risk while the other risk areas are managed by each department without a formalized framework. Given its growing size, the institution would like to structure a proper risk management framework to improve identification and analysis of risks, especially operational risks. The Solidarity Banker will be responsible for supporting AFK in the diagnosis of the procedure and tools to manage risks and more precisely operational risks.

To discover the details of this mission click here.

How to apply

To apply send your CV as well as one or two paragraphs explaining your motivation and expertise to carolina.viguet@credit-agricole-sa.fr

___________________________________________________________

Created in 2008, under the joint impetus of the directors of Crédit Agricole S.A. and Professor Yunus, winner of the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize and founder of the Grameen Bank, the Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation is a cross-business actor that contributes to the fight against poverty through financial inclusion and entrepreneurship with a social impact. As an investor, lender, technical assistance coordinator and fund advisor, the Foundation supports microfinance institutions and social enterprises in nearly 40 countries.

New Solidarity Bankers missions in Cambodia and Kenya

At the initiative of the Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation and Crédit Agricole S.A, skills volunteering missions labeled “Solidarity Bankers” are offered to employees of the Crédit Agricole Group on behalf of organisations supported by the Foundation. Two new Solidarity Bankers missions are to be filled in favor of PPSE in Cambodia and ACRE Africa in Kenya. Two new Solidarity Bankers missions are to be filled in favor of PPSE in Cambodia and ACRE Africa in Kenya.

PPSE is a social enterprise that employs young artists from disadvantaged backgrounds to whom it offers career opportunities in circus professions by combining the best of Cambodian cultural traditions and contemporary circus. PPSE extends and amplifies the work of the NGO Phare Ponleu Selpak by offering real career prospects to professional artists from the Phare School, while providing additional financial resources to the NGO.

PPSE now needs to develop and expand its digital community and position its new range of services and activities. The organisation wishes to explore and maximize the use of social and traditional media, train its staff and extend its scope of action as much as possible. The Solidarity Banker will be responsible for supporting PPSE, particularly in the diagnosis and implementation of a new marketing and communication strategy.

ACRE Africa is a social enterprise operating in Kenya, Rwanda and Tanzania. The organisation makes agricultural insurance accessible for small farms and for very low insured amounts, thanks to a triple innovation: index insurance; distribution by aggregators; payment by mobile money. ACRE thus enables small farms to access credit on more favorable terms.

After having decided to diversify its activities to offer consulting services, ACRE now needs to expand its clientele and mark its new range of services and activities. The organisation wants to, among other things, explore and maximize the use of social and traditional media, and train its staff. The Solidarity Banker will be responsible for supporting ACRE Africa in the diagnosis of the organisation’s marketing and communication strategy and tools in order to propose a new strategy and appropriate tools.

Other missions are still to be filled:

• Risk and compliance mission on behalf of the microfinance institution SEF (South Africa)
• Digital strategy mission to support the microfinance institution OXUS Kyrgyzstan (Kyrgyzstan)
• Risk and compliance mission in favour of the microfinance institution Bimas Ltd (Kenya).

HOW TO APPLY

To discover the details of the missions:

• Go to the CA Solidaires website “Find a project”
• Enter the search bar: “Grameen”. All the Solidarity Bankers missions will appear!
• Click on the offer of your choice, you will find all the information you need to apply.

More information: carolina.viguet@credit-agricole-sa.fr

___________________________________________________________

Created in 2008, under the joint impetus of the directors of Crédit Agricole S.A. and Professor Yunus, winner of the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize and founder of the Grameen Bank, the Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation is a cross-business actor that contributes to the fight against poverty through financial inclusion and entrepreneurship with a social impact. As an investor, lender, technical assistance coordinator and fund advisor, the Foundation supports microfinance institutions and social enterprises in nearly 40 countries.

The Grameen Credit Agricole Foundation in 2021

Eric Campos, Fondation Grameen Crédit Agricole

In 2021, the Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation supported 81 microfinance institutions and social enterprises in 37 countries. In the context of the Covid-19 crisis, the Foundation supported its partners with funding and technical assistance. Spotlight on the interview with Eric Campos, Managing Director of the Foundation and CSR Director of Crédit Agricole SA.

How did you support microfinance institutions?

Contrary to what we thought, the entire year of 2021 was marked by the Covid crisis and the economic effects and measures taken by the States to protect the population. The Foundation therefore intervened in three ways with the partners. First, we have maintained a fairly high volume of financing, with 45 million Euros lent to microfinance institutions. We also granted deferrals, to give institutions a break, to allow them to deal with their own deferrals that they granted to their beneficiaries. Finally, we have increased our capacity, our coordination in terms of technical assistance since, and this is a record, we have coordinated 130 technical assistance missions, mainly to support institutions in terms of risks, counterparty risks, strengthening their risk team, their organisation, and also in terms of managing their cash flow.

How is the microfinance sector doing at the end of 2021?

2020 was a Covid year and the institutions coped, knew how to deal with this systemic crisis. 2021 has been tougher. They had been a little exhausted by this first year of 2020 and they had to pursue their efforts, their resistance. And therefore, the Foundation was indeed able to support these institutions, but some difficult cases appeared for which it was necessary to grant not only deferrals but also restructurings.

It is important to say that the entire microfinance sector, foundations, investment funds, were able to talk to each other to provide the best possible support to the institutions that were experiencing the most significant difficulties. The sector is still resilient. It is an attractive sector. We can say that it has faced this systemic crisis with a resilience that was probably even greater than what we thought.

What is the Foundation’s agenda for 2022?

2022 will be the year of preparation for our 2022-2025 medium-term plan. It will hinge on this climate crisis that is hitting the Foundation’s areas of intervention hard.

Better support rural populations, strengthen their economic resilience, in the aftermath of an extremely serious economic crisis; this will be the first axis on which we will work. And the second one is to support the most vulnerable populations, those who have also suffered from this economic crisis and who need us to be able to support them in accessing financing, in the development of income generating activities. These will be the two pillars of our 2022-2025 medium-term plan.

View the interview here

New Solidarity Bankers mission in South Africa

At the initiative of the Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation and Crédit Agricole S.A., Solidarity Bankers is a skills-sponsorship programme open to Crédit Agricole Group employees on behalf of the organisations supported by the Foundation.

A new Solidarity Bankers mission is to be filled in favour of Phakamani Foundation. Phakamani is a microfinance institution that empowers poor women to succeed in microenterprise. Its microentrepreneurial programme is inspired by the Grameen Bank. Its training, group lending and ongoing support system provides both empowerment and practical assistance for microenterprise development.

The institution serves over 35 000 active borrowers, all of them women living in rural areas, and manages a portfolio of €3.1 million. The Solidarity Banker will be responsible for supporting Phakamani Foundation in developing a framework and plan to improve risk management.

HOW TO APPLY

To discover the detailed offers of the missions:

• Go to the CA Solidaires website “Find a project”
• Enter the search bar: “Grameen”. All the Solidarity Leave offers will appear!
• Click on the offer of your choice, you will find all the information you need to apply.

More information: carolina.viguet@credit-agricole-sa.fr

___________________________________________________________

Created in 2008, under the joint impetus of the directors of Crédit Agricole S.A. and Professor Yunus, winner of the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize and founder of the Grameen Bank, the Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation is a cross-business actor that contributes to the fight against poverty through financial inclusion and entrepreneurship with a social impact. As an investor, lender, technical assistance coordinator and fund advisor, the Foundation supports microfinance institutions and social enterprises in nearly 40 countries.

Solidarity Bankers Podcasts: Episode N.1

Interview with Carolina Viguet, Head of Communication & Partnerships, GCAF
Conducted by: Mireille de Kerleau, Communications Manager, CACEIS

1. A few words about the Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation?

The Foundation was created in 2008 by Crédit Agricole and Muhammad Yunus, Nobel Peace Prize laureate who founded the world’s very first microfinance bank in Bangladesh. Our mission is to fight poverty through financial inclusion and impact entrepreneurship.

In concrete terms, we will finance and support with technical assistance missions microfinance institutions and social businesses that serve primarily women and rural populations in Africa, Asia and Europe.

2. What is the Solidarity Bankers programme?

The Solidarity Bankers programme is part of this technical assistance offer. It is a skills volunteering scheme launched by the Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation and Crédit Agricole SA in 2018 that is open to all employees of the Crédit Agricole Group, entities and Regional Banks, for the benefit of the organisations financed by the Foundation.

These are two-week pro bono missions in the field or longer but remote missions that are carried out by 1 or 2 Crédit Agricole employees to support an organization financed by the Foundation on a specific need. This may thus entail building a business plan for a new project, establishing the organisation’s marketing plan for the next three years or strengthening the financial plan of the beneficiary company.

3. Who can be a Solidarity Banker?

All employees of entities of Crédit Agricole and Regional Banks in France and abroad are eligible. But there is still one condition: they must have solid expertise in the subject of the mission. We really have all types of profiles, from Directors and Senior profiles to employees with 2-3 years’ experience but who are experts in the subject of the mission.

4. How does the system work?

I would say there are four steps:

STEP 1. DETERMINING THE MISSION AND SELECTING THE SOLIDARITY BANKER

• We determine the mission following a specific request from the company we are financing;
• We launch a call for applications for the mission on our website and also on the Crédit Agricole SA sponsorship platform, CA Solidaires;
• We then carry out a traditional recruitment process via interviews conducted by the Foundation’s team to select one or two Crédit Agricole employees (depending on the complexity of the mission).

STEP 2. CONTRACTING AND PREPARING THE MISSION

• An agreement is signed by the Solidarity Banker’s employer, the beneficiary organization and the Solidarity Banker
• For field missions, there is also a preparation to be done before leaving on mission: there are interviews, documents to be read, so that the 2-week field mission is as efficient as possible

STEP 3. MISSION IN THE FIELD OR REMOTELY

• There are many exchanges, progress points, workshops, training sessions and many meetings with the teams of the beneficiary businesses or microfinance institution as well as end customers.

STEP 4. FINALIZING THE DELIVERABLES

– For example, the Solidarity Banker will finalize the HR plan that has been requested or the business plan of the new product to be launched within 3 or 4 weeks after the mission.

5. Does the employee have to take time off for a Solidarity Banker mission?

Not necessarily. There are 3 possible options for carrying out the mission: a) in a volunteer capacity (during the employee’s leave); b) as skills-based sponsorship (within the framework of the employment contract), or it is mixed, so part of the mission is done during the leave and another part within the framework of the employment contract. This is decided by the Solidarity Banker’s employer. There is no obligation on the employer’s part, but in point of fact, all the participating Crédit Agricole entities and Regional Banks participating have always given days of sponsorship.

6. What is your assessment, within the Foundation, of the Solidarity Bankers programme?

It has already been three years. The programme was launched in 2018. Three years after it was launched, the success of the programme confirms the commitment of employees and the Group’s desire to support social impact projects. The programme has launched around thirty missions in some 15 countries for around 20 organisations supported by the Foundation. There are over 300 days of missions planned or carried out in the form of skills volunteering by around 30 Solidarity Bankers.

Besides, some missions launched in 2021 are still available and about ten missions will be launched this year. So to all the potential Solidarity Bankers who are listening to us, go to our website or contact me, because great impact missions are waiting for you.

Access the podcast here

“Making finance work for refugees” by the ILO

Each month, the International Labor Organisation (ILO) publishes “Social Finance Brief”, a publication that traces the journey of financial service providers around the world. In the January 2022 edition, the ILO documented the journey of the Uganda Agency for Development Limited (UGAFODE), an organisation supported by the Gramen Crédit Agricole Foundation.

UGAFODE is one of the microfinance institutions benefiting from a programme launched by the Foundation, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida) to promote financial inclusion and non-financial assistance to refugees and host communities in Uganda.

Through the programme, UGAFODE opened a mini-branch in the Nakivale refugee camp in Uganda. It received financial support for the opening of the branch in Nakivale and technical support, coordinated by the Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation, to develop a range of products and services adapted to the needs of refugees.

The ILO Social Finance Brief describes the evolution of UGAFODE’s decision-making and operational process to become an actor of inclusion serving refugees and host communities. UGAFODE is an example of good practice for the microfinance sector and a great story of the impact of the action of the Foundation and its partners in the field.

Download the Brief here.

€10 million partnership in favour of African entrepreneurship between EIB and the Foundation

16 February, 2022

Small entrepreneurs across Africa to benefit from €10 million partnership between European Investment Bank and the Grameen Credit Agricole Foundation

• Ongoing cooperation to strengthen access to microfinance by rural and underserved entrepreneurs impacted by COVID pandemic
• Scheme to back microfinance institutions in different countries across Africa, with a focus on gender inclusion
• Africa private sector to benefit from local currency financing and support for smaller microfinance institutions

Access to finance by entrepreneurs and businesses impacted by COVID-19 in rural regions in Sub-Saharan countries will be enhanced by a new €10 million targeted financing initiative launched by the European Investment Bank (EIB) and the Grameen Credit Agricole Foundation ahead of the first EU-Africa summit since the pandemic.

The latest cooperation between the European Investment Bank, the world’s largest international public bank and the Grameen Credit Agricole Foundation, a leading supporter of microfinance across Africa, will focus on ensuring that small business can access finance, create jobs and combat poverty.

“Ensuring that entrepreneurs and communities across Africa can access finance is essential to unlock opportunities, accelerate social inclusion and strengthen economic resilience to challenges unleashed by the COVID-19 pandemic. The EIB is committed to supporting microfinance across Africa and we are pleased to strengthen over long-standing cooperation with the Grameen Credit Agricole Foundation. The €10 million engagement launched today will directly benefit small businesses across the continent.” said Ambroise Fayolle, Vice President of the European Investment Bank.

“Delivering targeted financing in fragile regions is capital to beat poverty, prevent social exclusion and unlock opportunities that drive economic growth. This new cooperation between the EIB and our Foundation will strengthen access to finance by entrepreneurs in sectors impacted by COVID and in remote and rural communities.” said Eric Campos, Managing Director of the Grameen Credit Agricole Foundation.

The new pan-African microfinance partnership was formally agreed in Brussels earlier today ahead of the EU-Africa Summit at the EU-Africa Business Forum.

Improving private sector access to finance in disadvantaged communities

The new cooperation between the EIB and the Grameen Credit Agricole Foundation will help to scale up microfinance activity across Africa by providing long-term and local currency financing to local microfinance institutions.

The investment is expected to finance more than 147,000 loans to self-employed and micro-enterprises, alongside sustaining up to 36,000 jobs. Reflecting the importance of empowering women and girls across Africa the scheme will support an estimated 98,000 loans to female entrepreneurs.

Tackling challenges holding back microfinance in Africa

The new operation will support smaller microfinance institutions than those that the EIB can finance directly. These microfinance partners are often also unable to receive financing from local commercial banks and cannot scale up.

The initiative will benefit financial and social inclusion and is expected to support entrepreneurs in remote regions, micro business run by women and young people who have limited or no access to financial services. This vulnerable and underserved segments are also the most impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Supporting fragile regions across Africa

The Grameen Credit Agricole Foundation will be able to allocate the loan across the many microfinance institutions in sub-Saharan Africa. The network of partner microfinance institutions spans sixteen countries across the region, including fragile ones such as Benin, Togo, Niger and Malawi.

Building on longstanding cooperation between microfinance partners

The European Investment Bank and the Grameen Credit Agricole Foundation have worked together to strengthen microfinance across Africa since 2018 and strive to enhance microfinance best-practice and help entrepreneurs to improve business skills through technical assistance projects.

The European Investment Bank is the world’s largest international public bank and since the pandemic has provided more than €8 billion for new investment across Africa.

The European Investment Bank (EIB) is the long-term lending institution of the European Union owned by its Member States. It makes long-term finance available for sound investment in order to contribute towards EU policy goals.

Created in 2008 at the joint initiative of Crédit Agricole and Nobel Peace Laureate Pr. Muhammad Yunus, the Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation finances and supports through technical assistance microfinance institutions and social enterprises in around 40 countries.

Plastic Odyssey Lab: meeting with plastic recycling entrepreneurs

Plastic Odyssey collects and develops plastic recycling technologies and solutions to distribute them in open-source to as many people as possible. They are embarked on a laboratory ship, which will leave in 2022 for a world tour along the most polluted sides of the planet. At each stop on its expedition around the world, Plastic Odyssey’s floating recycling workshop will welcome entrepreneurs from around the world to help them test, prototype and develop their plastic recycling solutions.

Plastic Odyssey and its partner Crédit Agricole are organizing “PO Lab: meeting with plastic recycling entrepreneurs” at Village By CA in Paris on February 16 from 3:30 p.m. to 6 p.m.

The programme

1 – Pitch of the winning PO Lab projects

A look back at the 1st edition of the PO Lab, with the pitches of the 5 winners:

• Conchyl’Innov, Charlotte Rhone
• Plasti-Cycle, Daovone Sribouavong
• Recycled plastic skateboard, Jason Knight
• Purple Alternative Surface, Pierre Quinonero & Sebastien Molas
• Mon empreinte plastique, Alban Desbarax & David Le Gall

`2 – Round Table: Plastic pollution & recycling solutions in Africa and Asia: context, challenges and perspectives

With inspiring speakers:

• Matthieu Witvoet: 27-year-old eco-adventurer, member of Circul’R, who cycled around the world in 2017 to find out about good plastic recycling practices.
• Pascale Martel Naquin:Former Director of the CEFREPADE association, who has supported skills building and waste recovery actions for more than 20 years, especially in Haiti and sub-Saharan Africa.
• Said Benhamida: CEO and co-founder of Mika, a startup that collects and recycles plastic waste along the Moroccan coast.
• Jean-Baptiste Grassin: Managing Director of Nomad Plastic and Research and Strategy Manager at Plastic Odyssey.

This meeting can be followed on Webex.

——————————————————————–

The Village by CA is a network of start-up accelerators supported by Crédit Agricole. It relies on innovation ecosystems to support the transformation of businesses in the regions. Find out more: //www.levillagebyca.com/

Covid-19: Crisis evolution in some of our countries of intervention

Since the beginning of the pandemic, the Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation has been monitoring the evolution of the health crisis in its countries of intervention to better understand its effects on supported microfinance institutions and their clients. After Covid-19: the impact of the crisis on microfinance, this new publication compiles data and analyses from some of the countries where the Foundation works.

The Foundation has chosen to use accessible, quantitative and qualitative measurement tools. The quantitative indicators focus on the number of Covid cases and the number of deaths, which are analysed on average over 7 days and as a proportion of 1 million inhabitants in order to have comparative data. The percentage of fully vaccinated inhabitants is also taken into account to assess the effectiveness of the vaccination campaign in the country. The qualitative measurement tools are based on the government’s actions in response to the crisis, the pandemic’s impact on the economy and the health mapping (red, orange or green countries) developed by the French government.

Sources are exclusively from relevant entities: the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control, International Monetary Fund, French Ministry of Foreign Affairs, French Ministry of Public Health, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, World Bank and World Health Organisation.

With this publication, intended for policy makers, funders, operators and microfinance institutions, we hope to contribute to the understanding of the effects of Covid-19 on the microfinance sector in order to better prepare, innovate and respond to the crisis.

Download the document here.

Digital Technology at the Heart of the Strategic Orientations of Microfinance Institutions

ADA, Inpulse and the Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation joined forces in 2020 to monitor and analyse the effects of the COVID-19 crisis on their partner microfinance institutions (MFIs) around the world. This monitoring was conducted periodically in 2020 and 2021 so as to get a better view of the development of the crisis worldwide. The conclusions presented in this article follow the last study conducted in November 2021. With this regular analysis, we hope to contribute, at our level, to the charting of strategies and solutions adapted to the needs of our partners, as well as to the dissemination and exchange of information by and between the different stakeholders of the sector.

The results presented here are from the 8th survey in the joint series (1) of ADA, Inpulse and the Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation. The 70 institutions that responded are located in 39 countries in Eastern Europe and Central Asia (ECA-24%), Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA-38%), Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC-20%), South and Southeast Asia (SSEA-9%), and the Middle East and North Africa (MENA-9%) (2).

1. Despite the recovery in operations, growth is limited by weak demand

The COVID-19 environment improved substantially for our partner microfinance institutions in the 2nd half of 2021. More specifically, as of November 2021, 64% of them reported that the measures taken to contain the epidemic in their countries had eased compared to those experienced in the summer, and 70% of respondents (49 MFIs) no longer faced COVID-19-related constraints in their operations.

MFIs in Eastern Europe (Bulgaria, Lithuania, Moldova and Romania) stand out as an exception to this dynamic, since some of them (7 MFIs out of 13 in this sub-region) report a hardened context during this period, linked to the resurgence of the epidemic in the region in the last quarter. This is reflected in the difficulties in meeting clients in the field or in branches and therefore in conducting activities in general (collection and disbursement of loans).

It is in this changing context that MFIs have been operating for almost two years now. Although conditions are improving, operational performance has remained below expectations as the surveys continue: 53% of respondents (37 MFIs) report that they have not met their disbursement targets since the beginning of the year. This phenomenon is encountered globally in every region, with the exception of LAC (where most partners are located in Central America).

The low levels of disbursements are related first and foremost to difficulties experienced by MFI clients. The two most common reasons given (54% and 49% respectively) for the MFIs that are not growing at the expected levels this year are the deteriorated risk profile of clients and the reluctance of clients to take out new loans. This justification is further confirmed by the fact that 53% of respondents still have a higher risk portfolio than before the crisis. This persistent increase in risk and the situation of a portion of the MFIs’ clients with little or no needs consequently limits the possibilities of MFIs for development.

2. Digitalization remains the top priority for microfinance institutions

A gradual and contrasting economic recovery notwithstanding, the proactive approach of MFIs to adapt to current and future challenges continues to be demonstrated as the months go by. We have noticed that the crisis has fuelled reflection on strategic issues since its onset. At the end of 2021, 47% of MFIs confirm that the important areas of work for the coming years have emerged with the crisis. Above all, the topics most mentioned at the beginning of the pandemic (product development for agriculture, adaptation of the offer, digitalization) are still at the heart of the directions that partner institutions should take.

The implementation of (internal and external) digital solutions is considered the main area of development. Digitalization is essential to overcome the difficulties of direct contact with borrowers, a subject that has been highlighted since the beginning of the pandemic. We also note that the appeal of digitalization is found in all regions, but that it is more or less pronounced depending on the size of the MFI: 69% (9 MFIs) of Tier 1 (3) institutions are thinking of launching new digital products and services, while this concerns only 47% (15 MFIs) of Tier 2 and 24% (5 MFIs) of Tier 3 institutions.

The other strategic areas cited are mentioned to a lesser extent. 30% of the respondents nonetheless plan to focus more on the agriculture sector. The responses on this subject do not show a marked correlation either in terms of MFI size or location; only the SSEA region shows a particular interest (67%). This echoes the testimonies we collected a year and a half ago: this sector appeared to be one of the least affected by the COVID-19 crisis. This intention to invest more in the agricultural sector is particularly positive as this sector represents an economic, social and environmental challenge for the years to come.

Finally, another point that stands out among the responses of our partners is the training and awareness-raising of clients on various topics: the use of digital solutions (27%), financial education (27%), health (11%) and environmental protection (11%). While these topics are less popular, they are related to the MFIs’ areas of development mentioned above and highlight the need to support clients so that they can adapt to these changes.

3. The capacity to implement these strategies varies according to the size of the MFIs

We note that 76% of the MFIs have already started to implement measures related to these strategic lines and 16% plan to launch actions in this direction in the coming months. Thus, only 7% of the sample have less clear perspectives on this point. A certain time lag in the implementation of these measures emerges however, depending on the size of the institutions: the vast majority of Tier 1 MFIs (93%) have already implemented such measures, whereas this proportion drops to 77% for Tier 2 and 64% for Tier 3 MFIs.

These differences by MFI size (which we already noted in our 2020 work on the direct consequences of the crisis on MFIs (4)) are also reflected in the level of support expected from external stakeholders (investors, donors, etc.). Whereas technical assistance (69% of responses) and dedicated funding (66%) are the two components that stand out the most for making progress on these issues, they are much more requested by Tiers 2 and 3 MFIs. Similarly, the ECA MFIs are the only ones to show a certain independence on this subject, with a third of the respondents in the zone not stressing any need for support.

The larger MFIs therefore appear to be better equipped and more autonomous after the crisis to meet their next challenges, as they were at the peak thereof. At the same time, some of the smaller MFIs also confirm strong orientations for the years to come, albeit to a lesser extent. They are no less ambitious even though they have fewer resources.

_____________________________________________

(1) The results of the first seven surveys are posted on //www.gca-foundation.org/observatoire-covid-19/, //www.ada-microfinance.org/fr/crise-du-covid-19/ and //www.inpulse.coop/news-and-media/
(2) Number of MFIs per region: ECA: 17 MFIs; SSA: 27 MFIs; LAC: 14 MFIs ; SSEA: 6 MFIs; MENA: 6 MFIs.
(3) Tier 3 MFIs have outstanding loans of less than US$5 million, Tier 2 MFIs between US$5 million and US$50 million, and Tier 1 MFIs over US$50 million.
(4) //www.gca-foundation.org/en/covid-19-affects-mfis-of-different-sizes-in-different-ways/

The African Facility: review of our first microfinance technical assistance scheme

In 2013, alongside the French Development Agency (AFD), the Foundation launched its first technical assistance programme: the African Facility. The objective of this scheme is to support small and medium-sized rural microfinance institutions, with a strong social impact, in Sub-Saharan Africa. Eight years after its launch, the Facility’s results bear witness to the importance of providing not only financial but also technical support to partner microfinance institutions.

Through the African Facility, the Foundation and the AFD have supported 26 microfinance institutions, which have themselves financed income-generating activities of more than 500,000 borrowers with average loans of €200. The programme, that allowed carrying out 328 technical assistance missions, has covered many areas of expertise, from the development of environmental strategies to the digitalisation of the credit granting process and the strengthening of the governance.

The Facility has strengthened the risk profile and consolidated partner institutions. Although it is complex to isolate the effects of technical assistance on the performance evolution, the Foundation was able to observe the impact of the Facility within the framework of “Our technical assistance offer“, a study carried out with the support of CERISE, an organisation specialising in impact measurement. It shows an overall increase in the number of active borrowers and outstanding credit, an improvement in operational self-sufficiency as well as efficiency gains for beneficiary institutions.

To close the programme, the Foundation organised in October 2021 in Kigali, on the sidelines of the African Microfinance Week, the last and 6th Facility Forum, gathering all the beneficiaries and partners. This was an opportunity to assess and highlight the best practices of the scheme.

Today, technical assistance is one of the Foundation’s key areas of expertise. What started as a single and beautiful adventure with the African Facility is today a set of six technical assistance schemes, with a €7.1 million portfolio under management in 2021. Being a vehicle for change and resilience, technical assistance is a strong line of development for the Foundation and will be an integral part of the 2022-2025 Strategic Plan.

Microfinance must play a greater role in helping vulnerable populations cope with the effects of climate change

“The need to act in the face of environmental risks is a logical consequence of the mission that our institution has set itself: come to the aid of the most vulnerable populations.”

Historically organized to promote access to finance for vulnerable populations, the microfinance sector must change its tools and methods of intervention in a climate and environmental emergency that can no longer be ignored. Rural populations living in economically fragile areas are very exposed to these effects in fact, as they are dependent on agriculture and have difficulties in accessing basic services (access to water, energy, acceptable sanitary conditions, etc.).

We conducted a series of qualitative interviews with the microfinance institutions that are partners of the Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation so as to gain a better understanding of these mechanisms. This approach enabled us to identify the main environmental risks gauged by these institutions and the means implemented to prevent and address them. We share here some elements of analysis as well as the avenues of reflection that our partners have already embarked upon.

1. Meteorological risks are in most urgent need for response

Natural disasters of meteorological origin and the disruption of the seasonal cycle are having an increasing impact on the activities of MFI clients. For 65% of our partners, meteorological risks will be the most important environmental threat in the near future. Vulnerable and rural populations in particular are more exposed because they depend on agriculture, their infrastructures are fragile or they have difficulties in accessing healthcare. Our partner institutions share many examples of disruptions that impact their clients’ business. Droughts affect yields and reduce access to clean water, and floods destroy crops and infrastructure and interrupt supply chains.

The scale and nature of environmental risks vary greatly by region. Sub-Saharan Africa is the geographical area where our partners suffer the most from meteorological risks, which have already materialized for 40% of them. Significant risks of soil erosion and pollution are also reported in this region more than elsewhere. Conversely, health risks linked to air pollution are more worrying for our partners in Eastern Europe and South East Asia.

2. Strong awareness, but not very significant implementation yet

Our partners are largely aware of the environmental risks that weigh on their activities. The vast majority of respondents (88%) consider that protecting their beneficiaries against environmental risks is part and parcel of their mission. This does not necessarily translate into concrete actions at the moment, however. The commitment of the institution’s governance appears to be an indispensable prerequisite: many institutions indicate that decisions in this direction are taken and implemented only when governance is really involved in monitoring environmental issues. Of the 88% of respondents who believe that environmental aspects are included in their mission, 16% do not yet have tangible governance involvement in these issues.

3. Institutions are not yet sufficiently proactive on environmental issues

One of the levers for encouraging institutional governance to take action is client demand: many institutions have observed that when clients express their expectations regarding specific services or financing relating to the climate transition (irrigation equipment, adapted seeds, access to energy, etc.), boards of directors are more inclined to want to develop new offers and to ask their teams to be more involved in this issue. Only 40% of our partner MFIs get explicit requests from their clients on these environmental issues however, which suggests that there is real potential on this point.

The influence that donors can also have reinforces this institutional commitment. Many among our most advanced partners on these subjects have been encouraged or supported by their own financiers to define an environmental strategy or to design inclusive green finance products. This is the case for four of the seven Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation partners with whom we conducted qualitative interviews.

4. Inspiring initiatives have already been implemented by some institutions

Several of our partners have already put in place interesting initiatives to strengthen the resilience of their activities to environmental risks and limit the portfolio’s contribution to these risks.

In order to protect clients and by extension their business, 51% of our partner institutions are making their clients aware of the vulnerability of their business to the effects of climate change (lower yields, impact of meteorological hazards, etc.). 35% of them have exclusion lists, which ban the financing of practices that weaken the activities of clients, such as the use of pesticides or overexploitation of the land, which pollute and impoverish the soil. One third of our partner MFIs train their clients in more resilient practices, especially in the agricultural sector. Finally, one of the most common actions is to promote precautionary savings, offered by 25% of the institutions. It enables small producers to make provisions and anticipate potential climatic hazards (drought, floods, cyclones, etc.).

Another effective action to protect clients is to propose specific insurance offers, particularly agricultural, but their implementation is often difficult and complex. Fewer offer emergency loans and loans with flexible conditions precedent so as to respond quickly to the needs of clients in the event of a natural disaster.

To limit the contribution of clients’ activities to environmental risks, 65% of our partners have adopted what could be called “sector policies.” These policies exclude activities that contribute to deforestation, water or air pollution or waste generation. More than 50% of our partners raise their clients’ awareness of the impact of their activity, for example the over-consumption of water or energy. 51% of the MFIs surveyed finance low-consumption equipment or transitions to clean energy. This includes, for example, low energy cooking, solar equipment and home insulation. Finally, 47% finance environmentally friendly agricultural and livestock practices. This financing is often complementary to training and awareness-raising actions for clients for strengthening agricultural value chains.

5. MFIs face many obstacles in implementing their environmental offerings

Whereas we can provide many examples of initiatives among our partner institutions, these still concern a limited number of them. Although 64% of the institutions that responded to our survey have future plans on these themes, they are confronted with financial and technical obstacles: 78% of them claim to lack the financial resources and 52% the expertise to implement their projects. In terms of financial support, the MFIs would like to have lines of financing of more than 3 years, as well as loans at advantageous rates indexed to environmental performance objectives. Technical assistance is also an effective tool to support businesses in designing new products, raising awareness and training their customers, and adapting their business to be more resilient and environmentally friendly. Our interviews revealed that receiving technical assistance plays a key role in their development, and the needs of MFIs for technical assistance are significant. In particular, many of our partners are interested in developing an agricultural micro-insurance offer, which requires a lot of resources and specific knowledge.

6. In conclusion

In order to move the microfinance sector forward on environmental issues, it seems necessary to mobilize the governance bodies of microfinance institutions. In addition to the support offered by donors, which should be strengthened, such mobilization can be achieved by learning from and replicating existing effective practices on a large scale: sharing experience by and between institutions, organizing forums and focus groups, designing adapted financial products such as microinsurance or the financing of agricultural value chains.

An “environmental protection pathway” remains to be built together with our peers and partners (like the SPTF-CERISE customer protection pathway), building on existing initiatives in the sector (Green Index, ALINUS). The practice of “green loans,” which is rapidly gaining momentum in other sectors, should be further promoted in microfinance as well. This would for instance entail offering preferential rates indexed to environmental performance targets.

Technical assistance is essential to enable institutions to implement concrete actions. As regards the Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation, adapting the offer to the needs of the institutions is one of the key learnings of the in-depth assessment of “Our Technical Assistance Facility.” This need for adaptation applies particularly to assignments on environmental issues: the environmental risks that affect the activity of our partners vary greatly from one region to another, and even from one MFI to another. It is therefore necessary to design a technical assistance support system that is flexible and adaptable to the specific features of the institutions and the economic situation, without imposing overly precise themes and standardized methodologies. This should be accompanied by a wide variety of possible funding for different types of technical assistance missions. Another learning identified in the publication is the need to think about models for measuring the impact of missions on environmental issues, with the formulation of precise objectives and indicators.

In order to define relevant common indicators, both in terms of direct and indirect impact through portfolio activity, it is necessary to agree collectively on good practice and common definitions. In particular, the sector can reflect on support for and the development of a more sustainable agriculture, which is undoubtedly one of the major challenges of the most fragile countries on the African continent.

The Solidarity Bankers of Crédit Agricole : a great success for this impact project

Carolina Viguet, Head of Communication & Partnerships, GCAF

Three years after its launch, the success of the Solidarity Bankers programme has confirmed the commitment of our employees and the Group’s desire to support projects with a social impact. Since 2018, the programme has included 28 missions launched in around fifteen countries with 19 organisations supported by the Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation. 316 days of missions have been planned or carried out by 34 Solidarity Bankers.

An impact project with the Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation

Launched by the Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation and Crédit Agricole S.A. in 2018, Solidarity Bankers is a skills-based volunteer programme open to all Crédit Agricole Group employees, assisting microfinance institutions and high-impact businesses supported by the Foundation.

The objective of the “Solidarity Bankers” programme is twofold: it enables Crédit Agricole Group employees to enhance their skills and while providing additional support to microfinance institutions and partner companies of the Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation. This is the first time that a partnership of this type has been launched by the Crédit Agricole Group.

Senegal, Morocco, Cambodia … a great success

Some emblematic missions of the programme :

• With the support of Crédit Agricole de Franche-Comté, a solidarity banker left for two years to help La Laiterie improve the structure of the dairy sector in Senegal. Another Crédit Agricole CIB solidarity banker left for two weeks to support KOSSAM SDE, a dairy subsidiary, in the rollout of a digital application. Other missions in support of La Laiterie are planned for 2022.
• A Solidarity Banker from Crédit Agricole S.A. carried out a mission in cooperation with Crédit du Maroc to improve the systems for combating money laundering and the financing of terrorism (AML-CFT) of the Al Karama Foundation, which offers microloans to low-income people in Morocco.
• In Cambodia, a Solidarity Banker left for two weeks, with the support of Crédit Agricole Val de France, to assist Cirque Phare (PPSE), a social enterprise that promotes the inclusion and empowerment of young people through Cambodian culture and arts, in improving its financial management and organisational structure.

“There is no doubt this experience exceeded my expectations, both in terms of the mission carried out and on a human level.” Olivier Mancini, Collections Manager at Crédit Agricole du Languedoc, who carried out a mission in September 2021 supporting OXUS in Tajikistan. Read about his experience here.

“I especially remember a warm welcome and great encounters.” Andreas Brunner, Internal Audit Supervisor at Crédit Agricole Assurances, who carried out a mission in October 2021 supporting OXUS in Kyrgyzstan. Read about his experience here.

Missions to be filled

Some missions are still to be filled and others are being planned for 2022 :

• AML-CFT” mission supporting SEF in South Africa
• A “Digital Strategy mission supporting OXUS in Kyrgyzstan
• AML-CFT mission supporting Bimas in Kenya

With this programme, the Crédit Agricole Group is strengthening its Societal Project alongside the Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation in order to promote more inclusive finance.

You can find more information on the missions here.

To apply, send your CV and a motivational paragraph to Carolina Viguet : carolina.viguet@credit-agricole-sa.fr

The latest funding of the Foundation in Europe and Central Asia

During the second half of 2021, the Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation granted new fundings in Europe and Central Asia, including a first funding to Furuz, a new partner in Tajikistan. At the end of December 2021, the Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation had 81 partners in 37 countries and was managing a portfolio of €82 million, 46% of which are located in fragile countries.

In Moldova, the Foundation granted a new loan to the microfinance institution Smart Credit for an amount equivalent to €580,000. Smart Credit is a microfinance institution created in 2010 to help clients improve their living conditions, especially among socially disadvantaged small entrepreneurs. The institution offers loans according to the individual methodology. To date, Smart Credit serves 3,253 clients, 54% of whom are women and 69% live in rural areas.

The Foundation also granted two new loans to Lazika in Georgia for a total amount equivalent to €1.4 million. Lazika is a microfinance institution created in 2000 by Oxfam Great Britain. Its mission is to facilitate the access of low- and middle-income entrepreneurs to financial services tailored to their needs. Currently, Lazika serves nearly 15,000 clients, 49% of whom are women and 69% live in rural areas.

In Kazakhstan, the Foundation also provided new funding to Asian Credit Fund (ACF), for an amount in local currency equivalent to €1 million. ACF was created in 1997 and its mission is to provide financial and development products and services to low-income households. ACF’s financial services are designed to promote the development of rural households, the growth of small businesses and home ownership. The institution has nearly 27,000 clients, 93% of whom live in rural areas, and 70% are women.

In Tajikistan, the Foundation granted initial funding to Furuz, a new partner, for an amount in local currency equivalent to €500,000. Furuz is a microfinance institution that started its activities in 1999 as part of the microenterprise development programme of the NGO Millenium Relief and Development Services. The institution offers financial services to small businesses. Furuz has over 5,000 clients, 30% of whom are women and 81% live in rural areas.

For further information, click here.

The Foundation grants 7 new financings in Subsaharan Africa

During the second half of 2021, the Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation carried out 7 new financing in Subsaharan Africa. To date, the Foundation manages a portfolio of €83 million, 34% of which is in Subsaharan Africa.

In Kenya, the Foundation granted a new loan to the microfinance institution Bimas for an amount in local currency equivalent to €800,000. Bimas is a microfinance institution whose mission is to offer innovative financial and non-financial services to people living in rural areas. Bimas has nearly 18,400 customers, 59% of whom are women and 86% rural customers. The Foundation also granted a new loan to ECLOF Kenya for an amount in local currency equivalent to 1.2 million euros. ECLOF Kenya is a microfinance institution whose mission is to enable clients to realize their projects through the provision of related financial and non-financial services. To date, the institution has more than 38,000 clients, 63% of whom are women.

In Benin, the Foundation granted a new loan to the microfinance institution Renaca for an amount in local currency equivalent to €1.5 million. Renaca is a microfinance institution that aims at strengthening the economic base of vulnerable rural, peri-urban and urban populations. The institution has nearly 41,000 clients, 40% of whom live in rural areas and 57% are women.

In Burkina Faso, the Foundation granted a new loan to the microfinance institution ACEP Burkina for an amount in local currency equivalent to €2 million. ACEP Burkina is a microfinance institution that offers financial services that are accessible to people excluded from the traditional banking sector. ACEP Burkina is aimed mainly at micro, small and medium-sized enterprises in urban and peri-urban areas. It finances nearly 18,000 clients, 21% of whom are women, and operates only in urban areas.

In Cameroon, the Foundation granted a loan to another institution of the ACEP network, ACEP Cameroon, for an amount in local currency equivalent to €2 million. ACEP Cameroon is a microfinance institution that supports the development of Very Small Enterprises in the country’s urban centers. To date, the institution has around 15,000 clients, 34% of whom are women and 28% live in rural areas.

In Uganda, VisionFund Uganda received a loan equivalent to €400,000. VisionFund Uganda is a microfinance institution and a subsidiary of World Vision. The institution operates nationwide in Uganda with 23 branches. VisionFund Uganda has expanded its outreach to the West Nile region to serve refugees and their host communities through a pilot project conducted by the Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation. Today the institution has nearly 45,000 clients, 95% of whom live in rural areas and 59% are women.

Finally, the Foundation granted a €600,000 loan to LAPO in Sierra Leone. Lauched in 2008, the institutions mainly grants microcredits to women in disadvantaged areas. Today, LAPO is one of the largest microfinance institutions in the country and covers around 80% of the national territory.  As of today, the institution has around 23,000 clients, 93% of whom are women and 84% live in rural areas.

For further information, click here.

Oxus Kyrgyzstan, a beneficiary of the Solidarity Bankers programme

Solidarity Bankers is a skills volunteering programme launched by the Foundation and Crédit Agricole S.A. in 2018. The programme has a twofold objective: on the one hand, support microfinance institutions and social impact enterprises financed by the Foundation with technical assistance, and on the other hand, enhance the skills of Group employees who want to invest themselves in projects with high social impact.

OXUS Kyrgyzstan is a microfinance institution, which aims at providing financial services to the working poor and under-banked in Kyrgyzstan. Andreas Brunner, Supervisor Internal Audit at Crédit Agricole Assurances, accompanied the institution in the definition of an annual marketing plan.

Feedback on the programme with Denis Khomyakov, CEO of OXUS Kyrgyzstan.  

• Presentation: Can you present your microfinance institution? Key figures, mission and approach, clients, structure…

The company was created in 2006 by OXUS Group and ACTED (main shareholder). The mission of our institution is to be a transparent and responsible enterprise committed to providing financial services to the working poor and the under-banked in Kyrgyzstan. The company is located in 5 out of 7 regions in Kyrgyzstan, has 15 branches and 135 employees. Nowadays we have around 9 500 clients, with outstanding loan portfolio of 800 million KGS (USD 9.4 million). 50% of OXUS clients are women and 63% of their clients are coming from rural areas.

• You benefited from a Solidarity Banker mission in 2021 to structure an annual marketing plan and a loyalty programme. Why was this important for your institution?

A properly designed and well-functioning loyalty programme will increase the retention rate of clients, while attracting new ones. The marketing plan should allow the company to structure the resources allocated to marketing activities in a more efficient way. Those two deliverables of the Solidarity Banker mission will allow us to better value the offer of OXUS Kyrgyzstan.

• How did you prepare the mission before the Solidarity Banker came?

We spent a lot of time on selecting the priorities that we wanted to cover with the Solidarity Banker. We prepared the full documentation about the company, its clients, its activities, the current run of the business and a list of the people involved in future projects. We organised several calls with Andreas to discuss what we wanted to do in terms of marketing and how to do it. The preparation phase was capital for the success of the mission.

• What did you expect from the Solidarity Banker? Do the results match your expectations?

I actually expected a consultancy with some documents as deliverables. What we received: a detailed training from a marketing specialist! Andreas, the Solidarity Banker, conducted interviews and trained all the people involved in the marketing process, from loan officers and branch managers to the CFO and COO. The result is fantastic and we use now the documents created with Andreas. Those documents are 100% adapted to our reality. The mission was excellent and beyond all expectations.

• What were the priorities defined following the recommendations made?

The priority is to fine-tune the marketing plan for 2022 and implement it. The loyalty programme is also a work in progress, but presupposes the implementation of the 2022 marketing plan. We are looking forward to implementing both projects.

Field mission of the Foundation’s Administrators in Bosnia

From the 23^rd to the 27^th November, the administrators of the Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation participated in a field mission in Bosnia during which they met the supported microfinance institutions and their clients. Operating in Bosnia since 2018, the Foundation has funded three partners working mainly in rural areas and that have a high percentage of women among their clients: Partner, Mi Bospo and Mikra.

During the mission, the Foundation’s administrators were able to discuss with partner institutions and learn more about the microfinance sector in Bosnia, a country still scarred by the 1992-1995 war. They also met the clients of these institutions that thanks to the microcredits obtained, develop income-generating activities and can improve their living conditions. These discussions highlighted the important place that microfinance has in the development of microentrepreneurship in Bosnia.

In addition to meeting with the Foundation’s partners, this field mission in Bosnia was also an opportunity for the administrators to discuss the Foundation’s positioning and the thematic axes of the 2022-2025 strategic plan. This reflection will continue over the coming months with the Foundation’s teams and other stakeholders.

Discover the video testimonials of Raphaël Appert, Chairman of the Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation and Vice-Chairman of Crédit Agricole SA, and Bernard Lepot, Chairman of the Foundation’s Investment Committee, on this field mission.

Discover the latest Newsletter of the Foundation

The Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation publishes its Newsletter N.40 that highlights the commitments made to its partners and the impact of its actions on the field in a context of health crisis. In this Newsletter, the Foundation presents the results of the 7th survey conducted with ADA and Inpulse to monitor and analyse the effects of the Covid-19 crisis on the partner microfinance institutions around the world.

You will discover the testimony of Olivier Mancini, Solidarity Banker of the Regional Bank of Crédit Agricole Languedoc, who went to Tajikistan to support the microfinance institution OXUS Tajikistan. Launched by the Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation and Crédit Agricole SA in June 2018, Solidarity Bankers is a skills volunteering programme open to all Crédit Agricole group employees for the benefit of microfinance institutions or impact enterprises supported by the Foundation.

Discover the results of the Foundation’s support for the microfinance institution RENACA in Benin, which received support to strengthen its actions in the area of inclusive green finance.

Download the Newsletter

The Foundation is committed to small agricultural enterprises

The Council on Smallholder Agricultural Finance (CSAF) is the leading global network of lending practitioners promoting an inclusive financial market for producer organizations and small- and medium-enterprises (SMEs) in the agriculture sector. Since 2013, CSAF’s 16 members and affiliates have provided $5B in lending to agricultural SMEs providing market access for 3.4M smallholder farmers across 65 countries in Africa, Asia, and Latin America.

After becoming a CSAF affiliate in June 2020, the Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation pursues its commitment in 2021 by participating in the construction of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in order to provide clearer principles and protocols for loan restructuring and workouts.

The need for a MOU  

Increased co-operation by CSAF members has generated positive collaboration between lenders, resulting in additional funds and technical assistance for the borrowers. In some cases, however, there has been a lack of coordination with sub-optimal outcomes for lenders and borrowers alike. The Covid-19 crisis has increased the need for clearer principles for loan restructuring and workouts.

Collective work

CSAF members organized several Workshops in March 2021 in order to focus and develop explicit expectations for loan workouts. Following these Workshops, a Workouts Working Group (WWG) has been established to develop basic principles, outlined in the MoU, that members can follow during loan restructurings and workouts. The Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation has been a contributor to this reflection and the “Key principles to protect microfinance institutions and their clients in the Covid-19 crisis” Pledge has been a useful resource.

Download the MoU here.

Notebook of a Solidarity Banker in Kyrgyzstan

Launched by the Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation and Crédit Agricole SA in June 2018, Solidarity Bankers is a skills volunteering programme aimed at all Crédit Agricole group employees for the benefit of microfinance institutions or impact enterprises supported by the Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation. Andreas Brunner, Solidarity Banker of Crédit Agricole Assurances, carried out a field mission in favour of Oxus Kyrgyzstan in October 2021.

Testimony of Andreas Brunner, Supervisor Internal Audit, Crédit Agricole Assurances

A social commitment in favor of financial inclusion

From my beginnings at Crédit Agricole (14 years ago!), I have been sensitive to the solidarity actions offered by the group. I first discovered the Solidarity Bankers program when a colleague shared the call for applications for a mission in marketing. He once carried out a Solidarity Bankers mission in Africa and his feedback motivated me. I therefore applied in October 2019 for this marketing mission in favor of OXUS, a microfinance institution in Kyrgyzstan. After several interviews, I got selected for the mission. It fully met my expectations: to put my skills at the service of a solidarity project and discover a new culture and activity. My mission was initially scheduled for March 2020 and we believed in it … until the lockdown. Then another attempt in April 2021 which again resulted in a postponement. Finally, I left in October 2021.

Preparation of the mission

My mission in favor of OXUS Kyrgyzstan had two main components: the definition of an annual marketing plan and the creation of a loyalty program to increase the retention rate of their customers. Several interviews with the teams of the Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation and OXUS allowed me to better assess and understand the challenges and objectives of the mission. In order to prepare my visit in the field, I analyzed documents about the institution’s strategy and the microfinance market in Kyrgyzstan before departure. I also had a long discussion with an employee of the main shareholder of OXUS, the NGO ACTED. Once my schedule was defined, nothing left but to go!

In the footsteps of the Silk Road

I have to admit: I didn’t know much about this beautiful Central Asian country, not even its capital. In addition to the documentation I read before my departure, the long flight was a good opportunity to review the geography and learn more about the history of the country.

Arrival in Istanbul, the airport reminds me of the crowds before the Covid-19 crisis and I feel like I am on the Silk Road. After a second 5 hour flight, I finally arrive in Bishkek (IATA code: FRU, for connoisseurs) where I am welcomed by the Managing Director himself! First stone of our friendship.

Two weeks of intense work followed: interviews, agency visits, analyzes … Time flies by but I can count on the availability of my interlocutors. The exchanges are done mainly in English, but I am happy to be able to exchange a few words in Russian, which helps me not only during interviews but also at the restaurant. I spent the second week of the mission finalizing my deliverables (strategic and tactical analyzes, annual plan, loyalty program and practical tools for teams) and testing my proposals. It was also an opportunity to discuss with the OXUS teams on the work they will have to carry out in the coming months. Thanks to the support of the CEO and the Board of Directors, I am leaving confident that they will be able, on the one hand, to carry out a large number of actions planned in the 2022 marketing plan, and on the other hand, to implement their new loyalty program.

An unprecedented human experience

Above all, I remember a warm welcome and meeting great people. The Kyrgyz people taught me a lot to their culture and showed great hospitality. I was able to discover the capital with its history, its architecture, its Russian heritage. An excursion organized over the weekend allowed me to get to know this country better with its yurts, its cuisine, its agriculture, its petroglyphs, its huge salt lake at an altitude of 1600m, and above all, its high mountains towering at more than 7000m and surrounding the city.

I would like to thank the CEO of OXUS Kyrgyzstan, Denis Khomyakov, for his generosity and his trust, the entire team of the Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation for the support (Carolina Viguet, Cécile Delhomme, Julie Serret, Philippe Guichandut), Aurélie Cacciotti of Crédit Agricole SA for the logistics as well as all the people of Crédit Agricole Assurances who have contributed to make this mission possible.

[INTERVIEW] Humo, a beneficiary of the Solidarity Bankers programme

Solidarity Bankers is a skills volunteering programme launched by the Foundation and Crédit Agricole S.A. in 2018. The programme has a twofold objective: on the one hand, support microfinance institutions and social impact enterprises financed by the Foundation with technical assistance, and on the other hand, enhance the skills of Group employees who want to invest themselves in projects with high social impact.

HUMO is a microfinance institution in Tajikistan, which aims to support vulnerable and underserved populations living in rural areas through financial and advisory services for small businesses. Julien Leroy, Innovation Leader at CA-CIB accompanied the institution in the transformation of its business.

Feedback on the programme with the interview of Firdavs Mayunusov, Finance Officer at HUMO.

1) Why was the optimization of your business model important for your institution?

The financial sector has long been one of the most conservative and non-digitalized industries in the world. Experience shows that the introduction of innovations and new technologies dramatically increases competitiveness and improves customer experience. However, for the development of innovations and cutting-edge solutions, it is important to reengineer the business model and organizational structure.

17 years ago, Humo was launched to improve access to finance and social development in Tajikistan. Today, the requirements for financial products are changing rapidly. It is important to constantly evolve and transform into a tech company, not just a financial institution. This is the key to reaching the mission and unlocking the potential of the region. Therefore, we have begun the digital transformation and are making the company structure more flexible and product-oriented.

2) What did you expect from the Solidarity Banker? Do the results match your expectations?

Humo expected advice and guidance on business transformation. Thanks to Solidarity Bankers, we were able not only to understand our weaknesses, but also to find new opportunities for growth and reinforce business model. Now, two years later, we have implemented most of the recommendations and started digital transformation. We were able to take a fresh look at the business model and develop a transformation strategy. The results exceeded expectations.

3) What were the priorities defined following the recommendations made?

We thought about the role of innovation and organizational change for business development. The company must be more flexible and faster to compete in the market. First of all, we opened a new Product Department to manage cutting-edge financial solutions. Then we began to rethink the customer experience and opened a Sales Department. Finally started digital transformation and implemented agile methodologies. This made it possible to become one of the most technological players on the market.

4) 2 years and a bunch of Covid-19 waves later, what is the major mark the Solidarity Banker left at Humo? 

Over the years, Humo has changed the organizational structure, strengthened the business model, and identified opportunities. Optimized core business processes and minimized bureaucracy. The company has become more agile, strategy-focused and has launched several digital products. We attracted new user segments and became one of the leading FinTech in Tajikistan. Thanks to the Solidarity Banker, Humo was able to choose the right path of development and realize the potential for growth. Today Humo is undisputedly one of the recognized market leaders despite the challenges of Covid-19, legislation, and socio-economic development.

SOLIDARITY BANKERS: THREE MISSIONS TO BE FILLED WITH THE FOUNDATION’S PARTNERS

Solidarity Bankers is a skills volunteering programme launched by the Foundation and Crédit Agricole S.A. in 2018. The programme has a twofold objective: on the one hand, support microfinance institutions and social impact enterprises financed by the Foundation with technical assistance, and on the other hand, enhance the skills of Group employees who want to invest themselves in projects with high social impact.

Missions can take place during the Solidarity Banker’s working time and/or during holidays (volunteering).

Currently, three missions are to be filled in the field (field missions last 2 weeks and are organized in accordance with the rules for international travel enacted by the Crédit Agricole group):

• “Digital Strategy” mission in favor of Smart Credit (Moldova)

Smart Credit is a microfinance institution created in 2010 by 5 local professionals having one same vision: providing financial services to socially disadvantaged people and small entrepreneurs in Moldova. The institution has more than 3,000 active borrowers and manages a portfolio of 4.4 million euros.

The Solidarity Banker will be in charge of helping to build the digital strategy of Smart Crédit. The expert is an employee of the Crédit Agricole Group who is fluent in English and has experience in IT project management.

For more information, download the term sheet.

• « Marketing » mission for Lazika Capital (Georgia)

 Lazika Capital is a microfinance institution created in 2000 by Oxfam Great Britain in Georgia. Its mission is to facilitate access to financial services for low and middle income entrepreneurs. Lazika Capital is among the leaders in the Georgian microfinance sector and has nearly 14,000 clients.

The mission will take place in pairs. The selected Solidarity Banker will be responsible for evaluating the organization’s actions and marketing strategy as well as developing a marketing plan for the end of 2021/2022. A first Solidarity Banker was selected for the mission; we are now looking for her partner. Junior profiles accepted.

For more information, download the term sheet.

• “AML-CFT” mission in favor of SEF (South Africa)

SEF is a microfinance institution that was established in 1992. Its mission is to “work aggressively towards the elimination of
poverty by reaching the poor and very poor with a range of financial and non-financial services to enable them to realize their potential”. As of December 2020, the institution serves 225 317 active borrowers (100% women and 100% in rural areas) and manages a portfolio of € 45 153 765.

The selected Solidarity Banker will be responsible for analyzing the environment, the regulatory framework and the AML-CFT risks that SEF faces, updating the procedure and leading training on the risks and AML-CFT prevention devices. At least 5 years of experience in compliance is required.

For more information, download the term sheet.

To apply: send your CV and cover letter (or a few lines explaining why you are interested in the mission) to :

• Cécile DELHOMME, Communication and Partnerships Manager : cecile.delhomme@credit-agricole-sa.fr
• Violette CUBIER, Technical Assistance Manager : violette.cubier@credit-agricole-sa.fr

The Foundation is one of the 10 winners of the GEF Challenge Programme for Adaptation Innovation

The Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation is one of the 10 winners of the Global Environment Facility (GEF) Challenge Programme for Adaptation Innovation, a competition that provides seed funding for innovative initiatives designed to help vulnerable countries cope with the worsening climate crisis.

The GEF Challenge: Supporting innovations to cope with climate change

The GEF Challenge Programme for Adaptation Innovation catalyzes innovation and private sector action in support of vulnerable populations. Open to direct submission from technology and private sector innovators, this Challenge Programme supports models for scalable and bankable climate adaption solutions for adapting to the adverse impacts of climate change.

The GEF has announced 10 new winners, out of 418 submissions, of its Challenge Programme for Adaptation Innovation. Each winning concept will be eligible to receive grants from the GEF-hosted Special Climate Change Fund and Least Developed Countries Fund, which have provided, over the past 20 years, targeted financing for climate resilience projects in developing and low-income countries.

The Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation’s project

Little public and private financing exists today for climate change adaptation and biodiversity conservation, especially for the inclusive finance sector. One of the main reasons for this is that the sector lacks common framework and indicators to assess the opportunity of Financial Service Providers (FSPs) to develop and scale up this type of offer.

In coordination with five other institutes, including its partner YAPU Solutions, the Foundation aims to provide public and private actors with common intervention frameworks, indicators and specific products to help them coordinate their methodology, activities and propose a concrete offer. This will enable FSPs to receive financial, technical and technological support to accompany the adaptation to climate change and biodiversity conservation for their clients, especially the most vulnerable: small producers and rural communities.

The approach draws on existing and proven UNEP Microfinance for Ecosystems Based Adaptation (MEbA) project methodologies and the Green Index 3.0 of the Green Inclusive and Climate Smart Finance Action Group (GICSF AG). The scope is to support FSPs to monitor and improve the climate change resilience and biodiversity impacts of their institution and their clients. The present project builds on these preliminary experiences and it aims to roll-out this approach for the benefit of the full inclusive finance sector.

“Initially, the Foundation will set up a blended finance vehicle and pilot this triple assistance programme (financial, technical and technological) with four microfinance institutions. We then want to engage other actors to use this vehicle and the proposed tools. It’s fully part of our strategy to support our partners to strengthen their adaptation to climate change in serving smallholders and rural communities.” – Eric Campos, Managing Director, Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation.

Download the press release 

A Solidarity Banker in Tajikistan

Launched by the Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation and Crédit Agricole SA in June 2018, Solidarity Bankers is a skills volunteering programme aimed at all Crédit Agricole group employees for the benefit of microfinance institutions or impact businesses supported by the Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation. Olivier Mancini, Crédit Agricole du Languedoc’s Solidarity Banker, carried out a field mission in favour of Oxus Tajikistan (OTJ) in September 2021.

Testimony of Olivier Mancini, Head of Collection Processes, Crédit Agricole du Languedoc.

An unfailing motivation

I discovered the Solidarity Banker programme through a call for applications launched by the Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation at the end of 2019 on the creditagricole.info website. The offered mission, in favor of Oxus, a microfinance institution in Tajikistan, caught my attention and motivated an initial contact.

After a rewarding experience in Zimbabwe in 2018 as part of a solidarity leave I wanted to invest myself again in volunteer assignments or training missions with adults, preferably abroad. Immersion in a new context, the discovery of a different culture and the opportunity to practice a foreign language strengthened my motivation as much as the desire to share my knowledge.

When the mission in favor of Oxus was launched early 2020, I did not hesitate to apply! As the objective of the mission matched with my activity, my application caught their attention. I then carried out several interviews with the Foundation’s teams before being definitively selected. That was without taking Covid-19 into account: impossible to avoid the postponement of the mission. Never mind, it would leave me plenty of time to prepare the field mission upstream.

Mission preparation

Created in 2006, at the initiative of ACTED and following the adoption in Tajikistan of laws on microfinance, Oxus Tajikistan (OTJ) is a microcredit organization which grants loans mainly to micro entrepreneurs and farmers in rural areas. Partner of the Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation since 2012, OTJ aims to improve the economic and social conditions of low-income populations excluded from the traditional banking system.

The objective of the mission was to review the valuation process for different types of guarantees and to consider the introduction of additional valuation methods in order to be as close as possible to best practices in this area. To achieve this result, the mission had to be well framed and prepared before joining the teams in the field. So I learned about the principles of microfinance and I studied the internal documentation of the institution in order to acquaint myself with their procedures. I have also spoken many times with OTJ and the Foundation to best formulate the expectations of the mission.

Once the terms of reference were finalised and the health situation improved, I only had 5,000 km to go and 18 hours of flight left to achieve the mission!

In the direction of Tajikistan

I arrived at 3:00 am in Dushanbe and was welcomed by Bakhtyior. I immediately had to cope with the language barrier: I don’t speak (unfortunately) Russian nor Tajik, but thanks to a few words shared in English, we managed to communicate on the essentials.

The next morning, meeting with Vantasho, Chief Executive Officer, then with the managers of the various divisions to get a better understanding of the conduct of activities. I was also able to speak with beneficiaries to discuss with them the requests for financing and the characteristics of the goods offered as collateral. The documentation and information collected on site, in addition to the documents studied previously, enabled me to construct and submit my recommendations to Vatansho. With its validation, I continued the work started with Umedjon, Chief Risk Officer, and Shurhat, Chief Financial Officer, to establish the foundations of a new methodology for valuing guarantees and then providing the elements supporting this new method to be implemented.

The mission in the field lasted 10 days, which was sufficient to meet the terms of reference of the mission and develop the supports necessary for the implementation of the recommendations planned a few weeks after my departure. In this perspective, the mission will continue remotely for a few days of support in order to provide additional insight and vision on the implementation modalities and assessment of the relevance of the methodology.

An unforgettable experience

This experience undoubtedly exceeded my expectations, both on a human and professional level.

Confronted, over a short period, with the expressed desire to fulfill the objectives of the mission in order to provide concrete and appropriate responses, I was able to count on the great availability of all OTJ employees regardless of their function. I was also able to rely on the expression of a mutual critical look in a real spirit of openness by my main interlocutors. The co-construction of the offered solutions was very rewarding, especially since it was necessary to achieve the same requirement in terms of consistency and solidity of the recommendations as in my professional activity, but with clearly fewer external facilitating tools. It is thus a real satisfaction to have been able to contribute to the evolution of the organization’s practices with OTJ team.

Obviously, and despite the short stay, the human experience is unforgettable thanks to their hospitality. The (many) moments of conviviality were real opportunities for sharing. It allowed me to learn more about the history of Central Asia, Tajikistan and even their personal history. I would do it all over again with great pleasure. I keep the precious memory of people who greet with their hand on their heart but who also are big-hearted.

I would particularly like to thank the people of Crédit Agricole du Languedoc who supported my project; to Caroline Brandt, Carolina Viguet, Cécile Delhomme from the Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation who made this mission possible; to Aurélie Cacciotti of Crédit Agricole SA for logistical support; and of course to Vatansho Vatanshoev, CEO of OTJ, and Umedjon shodiev, Head of Risks, Shurhat Zoidoc,CFO, as well as to all the OTJ teams for their help and welcome, with a special greeting to Bakhtyior and Yosuman.

The Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation will lead a new technical assistance programme to develop microinsurance in rural areas

The Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation receives a new technical assistance grant of €900 000 from PROPARCO to facilitate rural communities’ access to insurance products.

Insurance products are tools that enable to protect people against a series of risks, particularly related to diseases or natural disasters. They are drivers of economic development and social well-being. Yet the penetration rate of insurance in Africa is less than 2%. To address this, it is essential to ensure the sustainability of insurance products for people excluded from traditional insurance markets.

New technical assistance programme: training of microfinance institutions to microinsurance

The Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation receives a technical assistance grant of €900 000 from PROPARCO, a subsidiary of AFD group, in order to implement a microinsurance programme with the International Labour Organization (ILO).

This new technical assistance programme will enable the Foundation to train and support partner microfinance institutions so that they can add new insurance services to their products, including agricultural insurance. Their clients, vulnerable individuals often excluded from insurance products (low-income households, women, smallholders, microenterprises and small and medium-sized enterprises) will thus be better protected and will be able to increase their resilience to climate, economic and sanitary shocks.

The Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation will be able to rely on the expertise of the ILO’s Impact Insurance programme to develop this programme and train nearly a dozen partner MFIs in Africa and South-East Asia.

The Foundation had already obtained a guarantee of €10 million from the AFD group to support these partner institutions in Sub-Saharan Africa during the Covid-19 crisis at the end of 2020. This guarantee, as well as this grant, is part of the long-standing partnership between the Foundation and AFD / PROPARCO that started in 2013 with the launch of the African Facility programme which comes to an end in December 2021.

Download the press release

More information on the Foundation’s technical assistance offer: //www.gca-foundation.org/en/our-technical-assistance-offer/

Signs of economic recovery remain mixed

ADA, Inpulse and the Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation joined forces in 2020 to monitor and analyse the effects of the COVID-19 crisis on their partner microfinance institutions around the world. This monitoring was carried out periodically throughout 2020 to gain a better insight into how the crisis has developed internationally. We are extending this work this year, on a quarterly basis. The conclusions presented in this article follow the second quarter of 2021. With this regular analysis, we hope to contribute, at our level, to the construction of strategies and solutions adapted to the needs of our partners, as well as to the dissemination and exchange of information by and between the different stakeholders in the sector.

In summary

The results presented in the following pages come from the seventh survey in the series shared by^[1] ADA, Inpulse and the Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation. Responses from our partner microfinance institutions (MFIs) were collected in the second half of July 2021. The 78 institutions that responded are located in 40 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA-32%), Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC-30%), Eastern Europe and Central Asia (ECA-22%), North Africa and the Middle East (MENA-9%) and South and Southeast Asia (SSEA-6%).^[2]

The fairly positive overall trend nevertheless conceals highly contrasting realities, with the largest number of institutions returning to growth and others continuing to encounter difficult economic conditions. The first group shows growth in their assets and positive development projections for the end of 2021. This outlook remains measured nonetheless (mostly between 0 and 10% of portfolio growth) as factors such as client demand and risk management continue to affect expansion opportunities.

Conversely, some institutions are facing difficulties specific to health contexts, the effects of which are weighing on economic life and are having a strong impact on transaction volumes. As a result, the profitability of their financial performance has been affected to the point of having a negative effect on the equity capital of the most fragile.

1. An operating environment that continues to improve overall

The reduction of operational constraints and the gradual recovery of business activities are again confirmed in this latest survey. Needless to say, this trend hides some disparities that are less well oriented due to the measures taken to fight the spread of the virus. At the beginning of July 2021, 47% of the institutions surveyed said that they no longer faced operational constraints on a daily basis (Figure 1). Also, all constraints relating to traveling in the country and meeting clients do not concern more than 20% of respondents.

This is reflected in the level of activity of the institutions: 72% of the MFIs have either returned to a pace similar to that before the crisis or are experiencing a gradual recovery without major interruptions (figure 2). This phenomenon is particularly visible in the ECA region, where the level of activity has not declined for almost all institutions. In the LAC and SSA regions, a majority of organisations are in the same situation (63% and 68% respectively). In these areas, the difficulties are particularly acute in East Africa, Panama, and Honduras. Finally, for MFIs in the MENA region, the trend is towards recovery while those in SSEA are largely facing new difficulties (Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Sri Lanka).

2. Part of MFIs have returned to growth

It is in this context that MFIs continue to disburse loans to their clients. Whereas the increase in portfolio at risk (PAR) and the reduction in the loan portfolio were the major financial consequences of the crisis in 2020, only 36% of the MFIs surveyed in July still report a decline in their outstanding loans (figure 5).

This positive analysis masks a slow process, however, as shown by the response of our partners to whether they met their disbursement targets in Q2 2021. More than half (53%) indicated that they did not meet their disbursement targets in this period, a figure that is relatively close to that obtained in Q1. This result is not entirely correlated with an organisation’s level of operations: more than half of the MFIs in the LAC and SSA regions report unmet targets despite a favourable operating environment. Note that three major reasons are cited by MFIs that did not meet their growth targets this quarter: the drop in amounts requested by clients (45%), clients’ reluctance to commit to new loans (43%), and managing risk by focusing only on existing clients (38%). Thus, MFIs in the EAC region are the exception with excellent performance in Q2 2021.

Even if these indicators reveal an inconsistent pace of development, the year 2021 is expected to end with growth in outstanding loans for the vast majority of MFIs. In fact, 86% of the institutions surveyed expect to have more outstanding loans than in December 2020 by the end of the year 2021. This growth will be reasonable for a large proportion of them: 44% of respondents expect portfolio growth of between 0 and 10%, particularly in the MENA and Latin America & Caribbean regions. For slightly more than a third of MFIs (36%), it will be between 10 and 30%. Projections are split between these two estimates in the other three regions analysed. Finally, it should be noted that 10-20% of MFIs in each region expect to reduce their outstanding loans.

3. Credit risk remains under control but is still present

Despite these reassuring signs of portfolio growth, MFIs still face a high credit risk, a lingering remnant of the crisis. In point of fact, 58% of respondents in Q2 2021 stated that the current portfolio at risk remains higher than in early 2020. While some institutions still have an active moratorium (only 5%), the loans of clients in trouble at the beginning of the crisis are now showing up in the PAR as restructured or delinquent loans. In addition, there are clients in arrears who did not have a moratorium. All these loans are provisioned to cover the proven risk of default. The decline in profitability is another major financial consequence of the crisis, fuelled by the sharp increase in provisioning expenses and the reduction in the number of outstanding loans.

In detail, it appears that 59% of our partners have increased their provisioning levels compared with before the crisis (Figure 6). For most (71% of these 59%), the increase is between 0 and 25% of the usual amount, a situation that is found in every region except the SSEA. Conversely, there is a group of MFIs (40%) that no longer see a major increase in credit risk and whose provisioning expenses are similar to the past or even decreasing. In this respect, the ECA region again stands out, as this is the case for nearly 60% of the organisations surveyed in the region.

As we noted in our recent studies, however, this has not yet translated into a very large increase in loan write-offs. At the end of Q2 2021, 59% of respondents indicated that loan write-off levels for the year were either down from previous years or at the same level. Nevertheless, 13% of MFIs had to write off at least twice as many loans as they did before the crisis.

4. Equity has been largely unaffected so far

The profitability of microfinance institutions is affected by the return of business activities, the variation in outstanding loans and the risk coverage (factors presented in the foregoing paragraphs). The trend is downward for 51% of our partners (Figure 5). However, the information collected at the end of June 2021 is reassuring: 80% of respondents have a level of profitability that is at least balanced, which does not affect the capital of their structure (Figure 7). In the same vein, despite a negative result, 11% of respondents do not feel pressure on their equity. The situation is nonetheless more critical for 8% of the partners surveyed, whose level of capitalisation is at risk, leading to a potential breach of covenant with their funders or the regulator.

Given the difficulties faced by some of the clients, whom are up against new waves of complications related to COVID-19 or other factors, potential losses could affect the solvency of microfinance institutions. Some of them already require the intervention of their shareholders or investors. In our last study, we learned that the type of shareholder that institutions want to turn to depends on the reason why this support is needed (to cover losses or to grow). This survey shows that 20% of the respondents are already confronted by this issue: needs may arise despite recent capital support, but some MFIs are also without a solution in this regard (10%). These cases show that the impact of the crisis will still be felt by institutions already hard hit by this unprecedented period, but also by less robust MFIs. Vigilance on capital need remains necessary as the long-term impact of credit risk could turn the tables on other organisations if the overall situation does not improve, for example with the arrival of new epidemic waves.

[1] The results of the first five surveys are available here : //www.gca-foundation.org/en/covid-19-observatory/, //www.ada-microfinance.org/en/covid-19-crisis/ and //www.inpulse.coop/news-and-media/

[2] Number of responding MFIs per region: ECA 17 MFIs; SSA 25 MFIs; LAC 24 MFIs; SSEA 5 MFIs; MENA: 7 MFIs.

The Foundation publishes its report “Our technical assistance offer”

In order to share the experience accumulated since 2013, the Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation publishes its report “Our technical assistance offer”.

Technical assistance programmes serving our partners

In 2013, the Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation made the strategic decision to launch a technical assistance programme coordination activity in order to strengthen its capacity of impact. Funded by the French Development Agency (AFD), the African Facility is the first assistance programme initiated by the Foundation. It aims to support small, high-potential microfinance institutions with a social commitment by coupling a line of financing with a technical assistance activity.

The Foundation now offers six major technical assistance programmes, in cooperation with major international organisations, to strengthen the network of microfinance institutions and impact businesses in Africa, the Middle East, Europe and Asia. This activity Technical assistance has thus become one of the Foundation’s four lines of business, alongside investment, financing, and investment advisory.

Diversifying and structuring its technical assistance programmes

Since the launch of this activity, the Foundation has mobilised appropriate funding from institutional actors. It also follows clear procedures, based on international best practices and compliance with funders’ criteria on procurement rules.

The breadth of its technical assistance is reflected in the variety of programmes the Foundation coordinate, both general and thematic. With eight years of experience, it now has a proven ability to strengthen its partners.

A contribution to its impact model

In addition to strengthening its partners in their operational consolidation, the Foundation also supports them in addressing the many challenges they face in constantly changing environments and markets. Technical assistance programs help develop strategies for inclusive green finance, digitalisation, financial inclusion of refugees, etc.

The Foundation also plays a role in promoting social impact banking practices. The Solidarity Bankers programme makes a major contribution to this within the Crédit Agricole Group.

Lessons learned and recommendations

In 2020, with the methodological help of Cerise, an independent organisation, the Foundation decided to conduct an in-depth evaluation of its technical assistance. It is now drawing lessons from this model through recommendations concerning the entire process: internatl procedures, intervention methods, involvement of beneficiary organisations, choice of the service provider, reporting, post-mission monitoring.

Through this document, the Foundation report on this work by sharing its experience with all those who contribute to the consolidation of the inclusive finance sector.

Discover the Report

A technical assistance to strengthen inclusive green finance

In 2013, the Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation created the “African Facility” technical assistance programme funded by the Agence française de développement (AFD).

Feedback on the programme with the testimony of Thomas DOVONOU – Head of Credit Department, in charge of the Promotion of New Products at RENACA.

RENACA is a Tier 2 microfinance institution created in 2005 to strengthen significantly the economic base of vulnerable rural, peri-urban and urban self-employed populations. RENACA provides individual and group loans to a predominantly female clientele in six regions of Benin. Within the technical assistance programme of the African Facility, RENACA has received support from the YAPU consulting firm to strengthen its actions in inclusive green finance.

Why was the development of a business plan important for your institution?

This mission was an initial intervention with RENACA-Benin (Réseau National des Caisses Villageoises d’Epargne et de Crédit Autogérées du Bénin) to develop our green agenda and define our organizational objectives. On the one hand, we wanted to benefit from an introductory awareness on the concept of inclusive green finance. On the other hand, an institutional assessment was needed to do a situational analysis of our actions in the field of inclusive green finance in order to identify and take advantage of market opportunities.

As RENACA operates mainly in rural areas, one of our priorities was to receive advice to develop our agricultural credit product offering, in terms of scope, productivity and management of risks linked to climate change. The consulting firm also trained us on the concept of Climate-Smart Agriculture.

What did you expect from the consultant? Did the results meet your expectations?

The YAPU consulting firm carried out an assessment of RENACA on its level of initial implementation of inclusive green finance, based on a review of our documentation, our processes and by interviewing our teams. The firm has truly worked with all of the Network’s players (general management managers, operational staff, elected representatives and clients) to define our challenges and structure our priorities in an action plan. This allowed us to have a framework to strengthen our activities towards a more active and responsible organization from an environmental point of view.

We particularly appreciated the participatory approach of YAPU, as well as the good preparation of the mission and the quality of the documentation provided.

What actions have you implemented following the mission?

We first completed a Green Index and shared the results within the Network. Thus, the teams were informed of our current situation in terms of the level of implementation of inclusive green finance and became aware of our areas of improvement and possible opportunities.

Then, the results of the mission were used to improve the inclusive green finance system through the implementation of some recommendations.

For instance, we drew up a list of activities excluded from funding because they are harmful to the environment and the well-being of customers (production of charcoal, extraction activities leading to the pollution of water bodies, etc.) In addition to this list, a list of behaviors for lasting change expected from our customers was formulated.

We have also developed our offer of agricultural financial products through the establishment of an appropriate system in terms of strategy, actor profile (operational agents and pool of agricultural finance specialists), procedures and policies, tools, financial resources, partnerships, etc.

Finally, RENACA has developed an environmental and social policy, which has been adopted by its Board of Directors. The next step will be to disseminate it to network stakeholders (operational agents, customers, elected officials, etc.).

Ultimately, thanks to YAPU’s intervention, we better understood the opportunities and challenges of inclusive green finance. This mission therefore enabled a real awareness of the Network’s teams, from general management to field agents.