New Solidarity Bankers mission in Kosovo

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©GRAMEEN CREDIT AGRICOLE FOUNDATION/GODONG

At the initiative of the Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation and Crédit Agricole SA, Solidarity Banker volunteering missions are being offered to Crédit Agricole Group employees on behalf of organizations supported by the Foundation. A new Solidarity Banker mission is available for the Agency for Finance (AFK) in Kosovo. This institution, founded in 2000, obtained microfinance institution status in 2011.

AFK aims to improve living conditions in Kosovo by providing access to sustainable financial services for small and microenterprises. As of December 2021, AFK had 24 branches located throughout the country and employed 225 staff. The institution serves 20,733 active borrowers (231 women and 501 rural borrowers) and manages a financing portfolio of €40.2 million.

AFK has developed a risk management policy primarily focused on credit risk. Given its growth, the institution now wishes to equip itself with an appropriate risk management system to improve the identification and analysis of risks, particularly operational risks. The Solidarity Banker's mission will be to support AFK in diagnosing current risk management procedures and tools, particularly operational risks.

To discover the detailed mission offer Click here.

How to apply

Send your CV and one or two paragraphs expressing your motivation and expertise to carolina.viguet@credit-agricole-sa.fr

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Created in 2008, under the joint leadership of Crédit Agricole SA's management and Professor Yunus, 2006 Nobel Peace Prize winner and founder of Grameen Bank, the Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation is a multi-sector operator that contributes to the fight against poverty through financial inclusion and social impact entrepreneurship. As an investor, lender, technical assistance coordinator, and fund advisor, the Foundation supports microfinance institutions and social enterprises in nearly 40 countries.

New Solidarity Banker missions in Cambodia and Kenya

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At the initiative of the Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation and Crédit Agricole SA, "Solidarity Bankers" volunteer skills assignments are being offered to Crédit Agricole Group employees on behalf of organizations supported by the Foundation. Two new Solidarity Banker assignments are available for PPSE in Cambodia and ACRE Africa in Kenya.

PPSE is a social enterprise that employs young artists from disadvantaged backgrounds and offers them career opportunities in circus arts by combining the best of Cambodian cultural traditions and contemporary circus. PPSE extends and expands the work of the Phare Ponleu Selpak NGO by offering real career opportunities to professional artists from the Phare School while providing additional financial resources to the NGO to help it develop its social mission.

PPSE now needs to develop and expand its digital community and position its new range of services and activities. The organization aims to explore and maximize the use of social and traditional media, train its staff, and expand its reach as much as possible. The Solidarity Banker's mission will be to support PPSE, particularly in the diagnosis and implementation of a new marketing and communications strategy.

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

Having decided to diversify its activities to offer consulting services, ACRE now needs to expand its clientele and highlight its new range of services and activities. The organization wishes, among other things, to explore and maximize the use of social and traditional media, and to train its staff. The Solidarity Banker will be responsible for supporting ACRE Africa in assessing the organization's marketing and communications strategy and tools in order to propose a new strategy and appropriate tools.

Other missions are also still available: 

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

How to apply

To discover the detailed mission offers:

  • Go to the site CA Solidaires “Finding your mission”
  • Enter “Grameen Foundation” in the search bar. All Solidarity Leave offers will appear!
  • Click on the offer of your choice, you will find all the information necessary for your application.

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

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Created in 2008, under the joint leadership of Crédit Agricole SA's management and Professor Yunus, 2006 Nobel Peace Prize winner and founder of Grameen Bank, the Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation is a multi-sector operator that contributes to the fight against poverty through financial inclusion and social impact entrepreneurship. As an investor, lender, technical assistance coordinator, and fund advisor, the Foundation supports microfinance institutions and social enterprises in nearly 40 countries.

The Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation in 2021

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Eric Campos, Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation

In 2021, the Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation supported 81 microfinance institutions and social enterprises in 37 countries. Amid the Covid-19 crisis, the Foundation supported its partners with financing and technical assistance. A spotlight on an interview with Eric Campos, General Delegate of the Foundation and CSR Director at Crédit Agricole SA.

How did you support microfinance institutions?

Contrary to what we expected, the entire year 2021 was marked by the Covid crisis and its economic effects, as well as the measures taken by governments to protect populations. The Foundation therefore intervened in three ways with partners. First, we maintained a fairly high level of financing, with €45 million loaned to microfinance institutions. We also granted loan deferrals to give institutions breathing space and allow them to cope with the loan deferrals they granted to their beneficiaries. And finally, we increased our capacity and our coordination in terms of technical assistance, since, and this is a record, we coordinated 130 technical assistance missions, mainly to support institutions in terms of risks, counterparty risks, strengthening their risk teams, their organization, and also in terms of cash management.

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

2020 was a Covid year, and institutions coped with and were able to cope with this systemic crisis. 2021 was tougher. They had been somewhat exhausted by the first year of 2020, and they had to continue their efforts and their resilience. And so, indeed, the Foundation was able to support these institutions, but we saw some difficult cases arise for which not only postponements but also restructurings had to be granted.

It's important to say that the entire microfinance sector, including foundations and investment funds, were able to work together to best support the institutions experiencing the greatest difficulties. The sector remains resilient. It's an attractive sector. We can say that it faced this systemic crisis with a resilience that was probably even greater than we expected.

What is the Foundation's agenda for 2022?

2022 will be the year we prepare our medium-term plan, 2022-2025. It will focus on the climate crisis, which is severely impacting the Foundation's areas of operation.

Better supporting rural populations and strengthening their economic resilience in the aftermath of an extremely serious economic crisis; this will be the first area we will work on. And the second is supporting the most vulnerable populations, those who have also suffered from this economic crisis and who need support in accessing financing and developing income-generating activities. These will be the two focuses of our 2022-2025 medium-term plan.

Access the interview here 

New Solidarity Bankers mission in South Africa

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At the initiative of the Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation and Crédit Agricole SA, skills-based volunteering missions labeled "Solidarity Bankers" are offered to Crédit Agricole Group employees on behalf of organizations supported by the Foundation.

A new Solidarity Bankers position is available for the Phakamani Foundation in South Africa. Phakamani is a microfinance institution that empowers poor women to succeed in microenterprise. Its microentrepreneurship program is inspired by the Grameen Bank. Its system of training, group borrowing, and ongoing support provides both empowerment and practical assistance for microenterprise development.

The institution has nearly 35,000 active borrowers, exclusively women located in rural areas, with a portfolio worth €3.12 million. The Solidarity Banker will be responsible for supporting the Phakamani Foundation, particularly in implementing an action plan to improve risk management.

How to apply

To discover the detailed mission offers:

  • Go to the site CA Solidaires “Finding your mission”
  • Enter “Grameen Foundation” in the search bar. All Solidarity Leave offers will appear!
  • Click on the offer of your choice, you will find all the information necessary for your application.

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

___________________________________________________________

Created in 2008, under the joint leadership of Crédit Agricole SA's management and Professor Yunus, 2006 Nobel Peace Prize winner and founder of Grameen Bank, the Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation is a multi-sector operator that contributes to the fight against poverty through financial inclusion and social impact entrepreneurship. 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 No. 1

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Interview with Carolina VIGUET, Director of Communication & Partnerships, FGCA
Produced by: Mireille de Kerleau, Communications Manager, CACEIS

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

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

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

2. What is the Solidarity Bankers program?

Solidarity Bankers is part of this technical assistance offering. It's a skills-based volunteering program launched by the Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation and Crédit Agricole SA in 2018, open to all Crédit Agricole Group employees, entities, and regional banks, for the benefit of organizations funded by the Foundation.

These are two-week pro bono field missions or longer remote missions carried out by one or two Crédit Agricole employees to support an organization funded by the Foundation with a specific need. This may involve developing a business plan for a new project, establishing a marketing plan for the organization's next three years, or strengthening the financial plan of the beneficiary company.

3. Who can be a Solidarity Banker?

All employees of Crédit Agricole and Regional Banks entities in France and internationally. However, there is one essential condition: solid expertise in the subject of the assignment. We have all types of profiles; Directors and Senior profiles, as well as employees with two to three years of experience who are still experts in the subject of the assignment.

4. How does the device work?

I would say there are 4 steps:

STEP 1. DETERMINE THE MISSION AND SELECT THE SOLIDARITY BANKER

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

STEP 2. CONTRACTUALIZATION AND PREPARATION OF THE MISSION

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

STEP 3. FIELD OR REMOTE MISSION

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

STEP 4. FINALIZE DELIVERABLES

  • For example, the Solidarity Banker will finalize the HR plan that was requested or the business plan for the new product to be launched within 3 or 4 weeks after the mission.

5. Does the employee have to take leave to do a Solidarity Bankers mission?

Not necessarily. There are three possible options: either the mission is carried out as a volunteer (during the employee's vacation), or it is done through skills sponsorship (as part of the employment contract), or it is a mixed one, so part of the mission is carried out during vacation and another part as part of the employment contract. This is decided by the Solidarity Banker's employer; there is no obligation on the employer's side, but the reality is that all participating Crédit Agricole entities and Regional Banks have always donated days to sponsorship.

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

It's been three years. The program was launched in 2018. Three years after its launch, the program's success confirms the commitment of employees and the Group's desire to support projects with social impact. The program now includes around thirty missions launched in around fifteen countries for around twenty organizations supported by the Foundation. These represent more than 300 days of missions planned or carried out through skills-based volunteering by around thirty Solidarity Bankers.

In fact, a few positions are still available, launched in 2021, and around ten more will be launched this year. So, to all the potential Solidarity Bankers listening, visit our website or contact me, because some great, high-impact positions await you.

Listen to the podcast here

“Putting finance at the service of refugees” by the ILO

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Every month, the International Labour Organization (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 organization supported by the Gramen Crédit Agricole Foundation.

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

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

The ILO's "Social Finance Brief" describes the evolution of UGAFODE's decision-making and operational processes to become an inclusive actor serving refugees and host communities. UGAFODE is an example of good practice for the microfinance sector and a compelling story of the impact of the Foundation and its partners' work on the ground.

Download the Note here.

€10M partnership in favor of African entrepreneurship between the EIB and the Foundation

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FGCA/Didier Gentilhomme

February 16, 2022

Small entrepreneurs on the African continent will benefit from a €10 million partnership between the European Investment Bank and the Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation.

  • Continued cooperation to strengthen access to microfinance for disadvantaged rural entrepreneurs affected by the COVID-19 pandemic
  • Program to support microfinance institutions in different African countries, with a focus on gender equality
  • African private sector to benefit from local currency financing and support for small microfinance institutions

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

This latest cooperation between the European Investment Bank, the world's largest international public bank, and the Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation, a leading provider of microfinance across Africa, will focus on ensuring that small businesses can access finance, create jobs, and combat poverty.

“Ensuring that entrepreneurs and communities in Africa can access finance is essential to generate new opportunities, accelerate social inclusion, and strengthen economic resilience in the face of the challenges brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic. The EIB is committed to supporting microfinance across Africa, and we are pleased to strengthen our long-standing cooperation with the Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation. Today’s €10 million commitment will directly benefit small businesses across the continent,” said Ambroise Fayolle, Vice-President of the European Investment Bank.

“Providing targeted financing in fragile regions is essential to combat poverty, prevent social exclusion, and generate new opportunities that stimulate economic growth. This new cooperation between the EIB and our Foundation will strengthen entrepreneurs’ access to financing in sectors affected by COVID-19 and in remote and rural communities,” said Éric Campos, Managing Director of the Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation.

The new Pan-African Microfinance Partnership was officially 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 Crédit Agricole Foundation will help strengthen microfinance activity across Africa by providing long-term, local currency financing to local microfinance institutions.

The investment is expected to finance more than 147,000 loans for self-employed individuals and microenterprises, while maintaining up to 36,000 jobs. Given the importance of empowering women and girls across Africa, the program will finance approximately 98,000 loans for women entrepreneurs.

Addressing the challenges that hinder microfinance in Africa

This new initiative will support microfinance institutions smaller than those the EIB can finance directly. These microfinance partners are often unable to benefit from financing from local commercial banks and are unable to expand.

This initiative will contribute to financial and social inclusion and is expected to support entrepreneurs in remote areas, women-run microenterprises, and young people with limited or no access to financial services. These vulnerable and underserved segments are also the most affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Supporting fragile regions in Africa

The Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation will be able to allocate the loan to numerous microfinance institutions in sub-Saharan Africa. The network of partner microfinance institutions covers sixteen countries in the region, including fragile states such as Benin, Togo, Niger, and Malawi.

Building on long-standing cooperation between microfinance partners

The European Investment Bank and the Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation have been working together since 2018 to strengthen microfinance in Africa, working to improve good practices in microfinance and help entrepreneurs improve their professional skills through technical assistance projects.

The European Investment Bank is the largest international public bank and has committed more than €8 billion in new investments in Africa since the start of the pandemic.

The European Investment Bank (EIB) is the European Union's long-term lending institution, owned by its Member States. It provides long-term financing for sound investments to help achieve the EU's policy objectives.
Created in 2008 as a joint initiative of Crédit Agricole and Nobel Peace Prize winner Professor Muhammad Yunus, the Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation finances and supports microfinance institutions and social enterprises in nearly 40 countries with technical assistance.

Plastic Odyssey Lab: Meet plastic recycling entrepreneurs

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Plastic Odyssey collects and develops plastic recycling technologies and solutions to disseminate them as open source to as many people as possible. They are embarked on a laboratory ship that will set off in 2022 for a world tour along the most polluted coasts of the planet. At each stop on its world expedition, the Plastic Odyssey 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.

On the program:

1 – Pitch of the winning projects of the PO Lab

Looking 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
  • My plastic imprint, 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 in 2017 completed a world tour by bicycle to learn about best practices in plastic recycling.
  • Pascale Martel Naquin: Former Director of the association CEFREPADE, which has been supporting skills building and waste recovery actions for over 20 years, especially in Haiti and sub-Saharan Africa.
  • Said Benhamida: Director and co-founder of Mika, a startup that collects and recycles plastic waste along the Moroccan coast.
  • Jean-Baptiste Grassin: Director of Nomad Plastic and Head of Research and Strategy at Plastic Odyssey.

This meeting can be followed on Webex.

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Le Village by CA is a network of startup accelerators supported by Crédit Agricole. It leverages innovation ecosystems to support the transformation of regional businesses. Learn more: //www.levillagebyca.com/

Covid-19: Evolution of the crisis in some of our countries of intervention

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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 in order to better understand its effects on the microfinance institutions it supports and their clients. After Covid-19: the impact of the crisis on microfinance, this new publication compiles data and analyses from certain countries where the Foundation operates.

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

The sources come exclusively from competent entities such as the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, the International Monetary Fund, the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Public Health, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, the World Bank and the World Health Organization.

With this publication, intended for public decision-makers, financiers, 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 publication here (in English).

Digital at the heart of the strategic orientations of microfinance institutions

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ADA, Inpulse, and the Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation partnered in 2020 to monitor and analyze the effects of the Covid-19 crisis on their partner microfinance institutions (MFIs) around the world. This monitoring was carried out periodically in 2020 and 2021 to gain a better understanding of the crisis's evolution internationally. The findings presented in this article follow the latest study conducted in November 2021. With this regular analysis, we hope to contribute, at our level, to the development of strategies and solutions tailored to the needs of our partners, as well as to the dissemination and exchange of information between the various stakeholders in the sector.

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

1. Despite the resumption of operations, growth is limited by weak demand

During the second half of 2021, the Covid-19 context significantly improved for our partner microfinance institutions. Indeed, in November 2021, 64% of them indicated that epidemic containment measures in their countries had eased compared to those experienced in the summer and 70% of the respondents (49 MFIs) no longer faced Covid-19-related constraints in their activities.

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

It is in this changing context that MFIs have been operating for nearly two years now. Although the trend is toward improving conditions, operational performance remains below expectations as the surveys progress: 53% of respondents (37 MFIs) report not having met their disbursement targets since the beginning of the year. This phenomenon is found across all regions, with the exception of the LAC region (where most of the partners are located in Central America).

The low disbursement levels are primarily linked to the difficulties experienced by MFI clients. Among the MFIs that are not achieving the expected growth levels this year, the two most cited reasons (54% and 49% respectively) are the deteriorated risk profile of the clientele and the reluctance of clients to take out new loans. This justification is also confirmed by the fact that 53% of the respondents still have a higher-risk portfolio than before the crisis. This persistent increase in risk and the situation of a portion of MFI clients whose needs are low or even nonexistent, therefore limits the development possibilities of MFIs.

2. Digitalization remains the top priority for microfinance institutions

Despite a gradual yet uneven economic recovery, the proactivity of MFIs in adapting to current and future challenges continues to be evident over the months. From the beginning of the crisis, we noted that the crisis had fueled reflection on strategic issues. At the end of 2021, 47% of MFIs confirmed that important avenues of work for the coming years had emerged with the crisis. Above all, the themes most mentioned at the start of the pandemic (developing agricultural products, adapting offerings, digitalization) remain at the heart of the directions that partner institutions should take.

The implementation of digital solutions (internal and external) emerges as the main area of development. Digitalization is indeed essential to overcome the difficulties of direct contact with borrowers, a subject highlighted from the start of the pandemic. We also note that the attraction to digital is found in all regions but that it is more or less pronounced depending on the size of the MFIs: 69% (9 MFIs) of Tier 1 (3) institutions are planning to launch new digital products and services, while this only concerns 47% (15 MFIs) of Tier 2 and 24% (5 MFIs) of Tier 3.

The other strategic axes mentioned are mentioned to a lesser extent. However, 30% of respondents plan to move more towards the agricultural sector. The responses on this subject do not reveal a marked correlation either in terms of MFI size or location; only the ASSE region shows particular interest (67%). This avenue echoes the testimonies we collected a year and a half ago: this sector then 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 highlight among our partners' responses is client training and awareness on various topics: the use of digital solutions (27%), financial education (27%), health (11%) or environmental protection (11%). While these topics are less popular, they are linked to the MFI development areas mentioned above and highlight the need to support clients so that they adapt to these changes.

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

We note that 76% of the MFIs have already started implementing measures related to these strategic axes and 16% plan to launch actions in this direction in the coming months. Thus, only 7% of the sample presents less obvious prospects on this point. A certain gap 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 while this proportion drops to 77% for Tier 2 and 64% for Tier 3 MFIs.

These differences by MFI size (which we already noted in 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.). While technical assistance (69% of responses) and dedicated financing (66%) are the two components that stand out most for moving forward on these issues, they are much more requested by Tier 2 and 3 MFIs. Similarly, MFIs in the EAC zone are the only ones to show a certain independence on this subject, with a third of respondents in the zone not highlighting any need for support.

Larger MFIs therefore appear more equipped and autonomous after the crisis to meet their future challenges, as they were at the peak of the crisis. At the same time, albeit to a lesser extent, some smaller MFIs also confirm strong orientations for the years to come. Despite their fewer resources, they are nonetheless no less ambitious.

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(1) The results of the first seven surveys are available here: //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 responding MFIs by region: EAC: 17 MFIs; SSA 27 MFIs; LAC: 14 MFIs; SSA 6 MFIs; MEAN: 6 MFIs.
(3) Tier 3 MFIs have outstanding credit of less than USD 5 million, Tier 2 between USD 5 and 50 million and Tier 1 above USD 50 million.
(4) //www.gca-foundation.org/the-covid-19-crisis-the-impacts-vary-according-to-the-size-of-MFIs/
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