Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation participates in the “High Commissioner’s Dialogue on the 2022 Protection Challenges”
On December 7, Violette Cubier, Technical Assistance Officer at the Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation, participated in the plenary session of the UNHCR-organized event in Geneva, "The High Commissioner's Dialogue on the 2022 Protection Challenges." This was an opportunity to discuss the role of development cooperation in advancing protection, inclusion, and solutions for refugees and stateless people, as well as for host communities.
Participants were able to discuss how to improve development cooperation in displacement contexts and launch concrete, tangible and multi-stakeholder initiatives to address the identified challenges.
For the Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation, this event was an opportunity to present and promote its financial inclusion program for refugees and host communities in Uganda, in cooperation with UNHCR and the Swedish Development Cooperation (SIDA). This program aims to promote access to credit, savings, and other financial and non-financial services for refugees and their host communities.
The program has been hailed as an “exemplary initiative for the sustainable economic inclusion of refugees.”
To learn more about the program, Click here.
Advans Côte d'Ivoire: the institution celebrates its 10th anniversary with a string of awards
Advans Côte d'Ivoire celebrated its 10th anniversary on March 23, 2022, in Abidjan. The ceremony was attended by approximately 80 guests.
Founded in 2012, Advans Côte d'Ivoire, a partner of the Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation, currently operates through a network of 22 branches, employing over 650 people. The institution currently serves over 160,000 clients with outstanding loans of over 65 billion FCFA.
True to the mission that has made it a success, Advans Côte d'Ivoire continues to help small businesses grow by providing sustainable access to simple and adaptable financial products and services. To achieve this, it relies on the use of innovative services, local distribution models, and the digitalization of its product offering.
For its innovative digital payment and savings solution for cocoa producers and cooperatives, Advans Côte d'Ivoire was awarded the 2018 European Microfinance Award for "Financial Inclusion through Technology." Named "Best Financial Institution for Credit Services" for the third consecutive year and "Best Financial Institution for Agricultural Finance Offerings" for the first time, the institution continues to garner awards with the African Consumer Label.
In ten years, Advans Côte d'Ivoire has been able to develop a wide range of products adapted to the realities and expectations of disadvantaged populations.
Phare Ponleu Selpak: Cambodian circus show breaks Guinness world record
In the context of the Covid crisis, the circus, in search of funding, came up with something truly creative to attract attention: putting on a show that could break the Guinness World Record.
Phare Ponleu Selpak, a non-profit Cambodian arts school, set a Guinness World Record by staging a circus show 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 organization founded by Cambodian refugees to help children overcome the trauma of war and to restore the country's culture and education after the Khmer Rouge genocide. The organization currently supports the education of 800 disadvantaged children and trains hundreds more 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 aid dependency by establishing a grassroots animal-free circus and a tourist attraction that funded their rescue programs. This included the creation of Phare Performing Social Enterprise (PPSE), in which the Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation is a shareholder, and which is responsible for producing and distributing the circus performances while employing young performers from disadvantaged backgrounds trained by the NGO.
Faced with Covid-related restrictions that put an end to live performances, and therefore to artists' sources of income, PPSA sought alternative sources of income and came up with something truly creative to attract attention. An idea that drew on the same creativity and resilience that led to the creation of the association and that allowed it to break a world record and thus enter the Guinness Book of Records.
In Moldova, the Foundation strengthens its support for Smart Credit
© Philippe Lissac / Godong
In September, the Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation granted new financing in Eastern Europe, particularly in Moldova, where it is strengthening its support for the microfinance institution. Smart Credit.
The institution was thus granted a new loan in the amount of €500,000 in local currency, over a period of four years. Smart Credit is a microfinance institution whose objective is to help clients improve their living conditions, particularly socially disadvantaged small entrepreneurs. The institution currently has more than 3,000 active borrowers, including 54% women and 71% rural clients, and manages a portfolio of nearly €4 million.
To learn more about our partners, Click here.
Finance for inclusion: focus on impact investing on the occasion of the release of the film "Same Same but Different"
On the occasion of the film's release "Same Same but different", directed by Tommy Pascal and filmed in Cambodia with Phare Performing Social Enterprise (PPSE), a social enterprise supported by the Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation and which employs young artists from disadvantaged backgrounds, Crédit Agricole SA and the Foundation organized a round table at the Grand Rex on the “Finance for 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) offered insightful discussions. The speakers presented the impact investing sector in France, explained what patient investments are, and the risks and challenges of the sector. Punctuated with concrete examples of their activities, the discussions highlighted the importance of finance in achieving fairer and more equitable inclusion of vulnerable populations, both in France and abroad, as well as the importance of time in projects that can only be considered long-term.
“Take the time to support social innovations.” – Florian Peudevin
Time is a key concept in finance. Because it's linked to profitability, performance, and the clarity of their effects. Would moving quickly be a guarantee of success? Not when it comes to impact investing. To provide answers to major challenges, we must innovate and take the time to support these innovations. ", explains Florian Peudevin. Investing in a project with social impact means accepting that it will experience ups and downs and difficulties. We are in a long-term perspective. What we are adjusting is the level of risk we want to position ourselves on. », agrees Mathieu Cornieti. “ We don't desert in case of a problem " concludes Cyrille Langendorff.
Presented by Regis Wargnier, French director, President of PPS France, in the presence of Véronique Faujour, General Delegate of the Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation, PPSE's experience is a concrete example of what impact investing can represent for the inclusion of vulnerable populations, and in particular young people in difficulty. This support is all the more necessary in times of crisis such as that 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 10Agricole Foundation and the Crédit Agricole SA Group was crucial in enabling the company to overcome this milestone and continue to offer us unique shows such as the one from which an excerpt was screened as an introduction to the round table.
Find the extract from the film “Same Same but different” here.
The entire film East available on the Qwest TV platform (by subscription).
Symbiotics publishes its 2021 impact report
Financial services play a vital role in emerging economies and are a key contributor to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). However, one in three adults in developing countries remains unbanked and lacks access to basic financial services to help them manage household finances.
Expanding access to finance among these underserved populations allows them to improve their financial resilience, seize 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 products contribute to poverty reduction (SDG 1: No Poverty) by providing low-income households with mechanisms to better manage their finances. Furthermore, targeting women's financial inclusion contributes to gender equality (SDG 5: Gender Equality), since low-income women represent the largest share of unbanked adults and often lack the resources to control their finances. Other tailored financial services targeting farmers can 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 2021 Impact Report analyzes and presents the social and environmental impact of Symbiotics' investments as of December 2021.
CAURIE in Senegal implements the YAPU software
YAPU is a company founded to support financial institutions and enable more clients to pursue economic empowerment and social development while observing and reducing the negative impact on the environment.
The platform enables financial institutions to seamlessly digitize their processes, strengthen risk management, and improve the terms of value offerings to their customers. Financial institutions can broaden and deepen their market reach and be ready to receive additional investments based on their documented impact.
Recently, the YAPU team, led by Delphin Ngamije, organized a practical training session on the implementation of the YAPU software during a visit to CAURIE Microfinance, a long-standing partner of YAPU and a partner of the Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation in Senegal.
The training focused primarily on the theoretical aspects of using the software and interpreting integrated climate indicators, followed by a two-day field training session. CAURIE teams tested the digital applications for individual loans, as well as for group loans, for agriculture and businesses, with real clients.
The implementation of this software will facilitate the work of credit officers, and consequently, CAURIE's processes and its interaction with customers.
For more information about CAURIE, Click here.
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Source: YAPU website
The Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation is a member of the 4 per 1000 initiative
The 4 per 1000 initiative, launched by France at COP21 in 2015, brings together voluntary stakeholders from the public and private sectors to launch concrete actions "to improve soil health. It carries the vision of healthy, carbon-rich soils on a global scale to combat climate change and end world hunger." The ambition of 4 per 1000 is to engage the world's farmers in 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, particularly land, soil and water, thereby strengthening agricultural activities and the global economy and 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 actions based on science, based on successful experiences.
The Initiative aims to involve stakeholders in developing a global monitoring system to better assess soil carbon stocks and establish appropriate public policies.
For Vincent Brousseau, Director of Impact Financing at the Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation, “ The Foundation's choice to become a member of the international 4 per 1000 initiative in September 2022 reflects our desire to work closely with partners keen to promote the experiences of farming communities to strengthen the resilience of their territories. We fully embrace 4 per 1000's holistic approach to regenerative agriculture as a means of adapting to and combating climate change, but also as a powerful lever for improving food security and the economic prosperity of farmers.. »
More information about theinternational initiative 4 per 1000 here.
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Source: 4 per 1000 Initiative
Circle of Friends of the Foundation: a look back at the meeting with the managers of the OXUS group subsidiaries
OXUS is a socially responsible enterprise created by ACTED in 2005 to manage and develop microcredit activities as a logical extension of ACTED's development programs. OXUS Network seeks to provide its clients in developing countries with tailored and competitive financial services while offering its investors attractive financial returns.
Since its inception, OXUS has been a cornerstone of ACTED's development strategy, providing beneficiaries with access to credit and opportunities to achieve economic and social independence. As such, the OXUS Group's activities are part of a broader framework of human development, economic performance, and social development.
OXUS is now present in Central Asia, specifically in Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Afghanistan. A partner of the Foundation since 2013, OXUS presented its activities at a meeting of the Foundation's Circle of Friends on October 11. The directors of the three subsidiaries presented their structure, their activities, and the context of their work to the participants, with a particularly striking testimony from Salim Khan, Director of OXUS Afghanistan, who spoke of the return of the Taliban to Kabul on August 15, 2021, and the company's resilience in enabling employees and customers to continue leading relatively normal lives. OXUS Afghanistan is the only OXUS subsidiary not currently supported by the Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation.
This meeting was also an opportunity to hear the joint testimony of Andréas Brunner, Solidarity Banker who went on a mission on behalf of the Foundation to Kyrgyzstan in October 2021, and Denis Khomyakov, Managing Director of OXUS Kyrgyzstan, and the positive impact of this technical assistance mission on the internal organization of the institution.
You can now access the recording of this meeting which was held in English, as well as to the presentation of OXUS.
To learn more about the Solidarity Bankers program, Click here.
More information on the Foundation partners here.