
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.

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.

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 !

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
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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.

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.

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.

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.

“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.

€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.
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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.

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.
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(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 23rd to the 27th 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.

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.

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.
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.
- 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).
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.

Phare, The Cambodian Circus is on tour in France!

Phare Performing Social Enterprise (PPSE) is a social enterprise created in 2012 on the initiative of Phare Ponleu Selpak (“The Brightness of the Arts”), a Cambodian NGO, which has been working for more than 20 years for access to quality and artistic education for children in a precarious situation. Today, the NGO welcomes more than 1,000 children and has more than 300 students in its performing arts school located in Battambang. It offers these young artists circus, theater, music and dance lessons through professionalization programs lasting 4 to 6 years.
The Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation has been a shareholder of PPSE since 2013 and provides financial support in the development of its projects including the Phare Cafe, the Phare Boutique and Phare, The Cambodian Circus. PPSE also benefited from technical assistance through the Solidarity Bankers program in 2019 and 2020.
Phare, The Cambodian Circus was created to offer employment opportunities to young students and graduates of Phare Ponleu Selpak (PPSA) Circus programs. 80% of the dividends made are donated to the PPSA association in order to ensure the sustainability of the project. The initiative is a success: Phare artists perform every evening under the Big Top in Siem Reap and their performances have gathered more than 100,000 spectators since the opening in 2013. They have also made numerous tours around the world: in Asia, Australia, the United States but also in Europe. The Crédit Agricole group also had the privilege of welcoming the troupe to its campus in Montrouge in 2015. In 8 years, Phare, The Cambodian Circus has become one of the most innovative social business models in Cambodia.
Do not miss the opportunity to discover their work during their French tour between November and December 2021. “L’Or Blanc”, the title of their show, is a periphrase refering to rice, omnipresent in everyday life and in the Cambodian imagination. It is the central element of the scenography and brings a poetic dimension to the feat of the artists who perform juggling and acrobatics with poetry and energy. Much more than a circus show, Phare performances are unique in the world: they combine dance, theater, live music and circus arts. Breathtaking.
Book your tickets: //pharecircus.org/or-blanc-france-2021/

The Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation represented at the African Microfinance Week 2021
The 5th edition of the African Microfinance Week (SAM), a biennial conference dedicated to the development of financial inclusion in Africa, will take place from October 18 to 22, 2021 in Kigali, Rwanda, on the theme of resilience.
Organized by ADA Microfinance in Luxembourg, the main objective of SAM 2021 is to federate the reflections and commitments of the different categories of actors in the African sector of inclusive finance. Conferences and training sessions are organized throughout the week in order to discuss strategies and actions to be carried out to strengthen the resilience capacities of financial service operators and beneficiary populations and accelerate their progress towards sustainable development objectives.
The SAM conference: “We are not born resilient, we become resilient: strengthening inclusive finance to overcome crises”
This conference will be held over two days and will be structured in plenary sessions.
In this context, Philippe Guichandut, Director of Inclusive Finance Development at the Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation, will speak during two sessions on “MFIs and the way through the Covid-19 crisis in Africa: survey results and lessons” as well as on “The financing of the inclusive finance sector in times of crisis: what role for investors and donors in strengthening the resilience of the sector? “. On this occasion, Philippe Guichandut will share the experience of the Foundation during the Covid-19 crisis and the results of surveys carried out, in partnership with Inpulse and ADA, with their partner microfinance institutions.
Violette Cubier, Technical Assistance program Manager at the Foundation, will speak during an experience sharing session on financial innovations to promote the resilience of refugee populations.
Trainings and workshops
SAM 2021 will also offer around twenty training courses on different themes: agricultural finance, digital finance, inclusive insurance, social performance, etc.
At the initiative of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and the Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation, a training session will be organized on the theme of financial inclusion for refugees and host communities.
Microinsurance training will also be held by the Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation, the International Labor Organization and the Micro Insurance Network.
Eventually, Sébastien Simonot, Senior Investment Manager at the Foundation, will speak during the workshop “Green and inclusive finance: Understanding and tackling client vulnerabilities”. The training will provide participants with an overview of basic client needs assessment frameworks, data collection tools and strategies for integrating these inclusive green finance programs into their organization.
The opportunity to meet its partners
SAM 2021 will also be an opportunity for the Foundation to meet its African partners and in particular the partners involved in the African Facility programme, developed since 2013 in partnership with the Agence Française de Développement (AFD) and which will come to an end as of December 31 of this year. Meetings will be organised ahead of the SAM and will allow all parties involved to take stock of this programme, which has particularly focused on technical assistance and has made it possible to strengthen some twenty microfinance institutions in Sub-Saharan Africa, priority intervention area of the Foundation.
Learn more about the technical assistance programmes of the Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation here.

The Foundation is a signatory to the Client Protection Pathway
The Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation is proud to be a signatory of the Cerise + SPTF Client Protection Pathway. The Client Protection Pathway guides providers in implementing the Client Protection Standards, which are the essential practices for excellence in consumer protection in terms of product design & delivery, prevention of over-Indebtedness, transparency, responsible pricing, fair & respectful treatment of clients, privacy of client data, and mechanisms for complaints resolution.
The Client Protection Pathway is a tool developed by CERISE* and the Social Performance Task Force (SPTF)** to help financial service providers commit, make and share progress and even certify to client protection standards.
Edouard Sers, Head of Risk, Compliance and Impact at the Foundation expresses enthusiasm over the launch of the client protection pathway: “When the Smart Campaign closed last year, I was concerned that the industry might lose its focus on client protection. As a partner of 76 MFIs in Sub Saharan Africa, South East Asia, South Asia, Eastern Europe and Central Asia, the Grameen Credit Agricole Foundation pays great attention to their practices during each due diligence and stands ready to accompany them in their path to excellence in client protection, through financing and technical assistance. I am thrilled that CERISE and the SPTF take up this important role in our industry.”
It is only through collective action that we can ensure the stability of the industry, even more so in these times of climate change and pandemic. The Foundation therefore highly encourages its partners to prioritize client protection and join this major initiative.
Download the joint Declaration
*CERISE is an organization created in 1998 which promotes responsible, inclusive and ethical finance and works with various actors in the sector to co-create free social standard and social assessment tools.
** SPTF is a non-profit organization that seeks to develop and promote standards and good practices for social performance management to make financial services safer for clients.

African Facility: technical assistance in favor of ACFIME

In 2013, the Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation created the “African Facility” technical assistance programme funded by the Agence française de développement (AFD).
This programme launched 9 years ago and ending in December 2021 enabled to carry out 326 technical assistance missions in favor of 26 partners of the Foundation for a total amount of 3,52 mln euros in grants.
Feedback on the programme with the testimony of Gaston Assagwe, ACFIME’s Executive Director.
ACFIME (Agence Communautaire pour le Financement de la Micro Entreprise) is a Tier 3 microfinance institution (loan portfolio < 10 million USD) in Burkina Faso. At the end of December 2020, the institution served 21,504 clients with outstanding loans of € 1.9 million. It offers credit and savings products mostly to women (90%) living in rural areas (90%).
Within the technical assistance programme of the African Facility, the consultant Pierre Houssou supported the institution in the development of a risk map adapted to its challenges and its development strategy.
Why was developing a risk map important for ACFIME?
ACFIME was created in 2007 and developed its activities on a national level with three branches and seven service points. Since the creation, it implemented an internal audit service to ensure control of the institution’s operations and anticipate risks. Within the African Facility programme, the institution was supported by Pierre Houssou in the development of a risk map. Today, the periodic monitoring of the mapping makes it possible to monitor the evolution of the risk and to quickly take measures to fix it.
What did you expect from the consultant? Did the results meet your expectations ?
How to detect a risk, how to analyze it, how to measure its importance in a sustainable and viable way for the institution? Thanks to this mission, the internal audit department was first trained on the concept of risks and the development of a plan to mitigate them. As risks can be found in each position and each procedure or process, everyone’s collaboration was essential to achieve the second objective of the mission: the development of a risk map. The participatory approach used by Pierre Houssou (individual questions and answers, focus group, votes, plenary sessions, etc.) enabled each member of ACFIME to be an actor in this great work of reflection and analysis.
What is your review of this mission and how could it have been improved?
The mission could have been extended but the result is very positive. At the end of the mission a risk management committee was set up within ACFIME to update the map independently. We now have a precise mapping adapted to financial, operational and strategic risks, as well as efficient management tools. The annual internal audit plan is also based on this mapping to develop ACFIME.
How has this mapping helped you better manage risk during the Covid-19 crisis?
Since the implementation of this mapping, the risks identified have been subject to a mitigation plan which enabled to prevent and reduce existing risks. In the context of the Covid-19 crisis, the mapping helped ACFIME to turn to local financial partners, such as the State of Burkina Faso, to cope with the drying up of international funding due to travel restrictions and global health restrictions.

SOLIDARITY BANKERS : TWO “DIGITAL STRATEGY” MISSIONS TO BE FILLED

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 two “digital strategy” missions are to be filled online or on the field :
- Field 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 on ca-solidaires.fr
- Field or online mission in favor of OXUS (Kyrgyzstan)
OXUS Kyrgyzstan (OKG) is a microfinance institution that provides financial services to the working poor and under-banked in Kyrgyzstan. The institution serves 8,000 active borrowers and manages a portfolio of EUR 6.4 million.
The selected Crédit Agricole expert will support OKG in the evaluation of its digitalization processes and in the construction of a new digital strategy. The Solidarity Banker must have significant experience in IT project management. Fluency in English is mandatory and speaking Russian is an asset.
For more information, download the term sheet on ca-solidaires.fr
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

[TESTIMONY] : A SOLIDARITY BANKER IN CAMBODIA

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.
Read the interview with Jean-Baptiste Bounes, SODICA’s Solidarity Banker, who carried out an online mission in favour of Phare Performing Social Enterprise (PPSE) between 2020 and 2021.
The fight against poverty through entrepreneurship
Eric Campos presented the Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation, and more specifically the Solidarity Bankers programme, during a CACIF corporate plenary session in December 2019. I was immediately seduced by the poverty reduction missions through the promotion of entrepreneurship with social impact and inclusive finance in developing countries. I contacted the Foundation to be informed of the various Solidarity Bankers missions to be filled in order to apply to a mission in line with my skills and motivations.
After having several interviews conducted by the Foundation team, I was selected to advise PPSE in Cambodia in its fundraising strategy .
The proposed assignment fully met my expectations: to be able to use my skills for the benefit of a project with a strong social impact in a difficult context linked to Covid-19;; discover a new culture and get out of my professional comfort zone.
The challenge of this mission was to be able to successfully collaborate remotely over a long period while maintaining intensity in the process of fundraising.
A remote mission during a pandemic
Due to restrictions linked to the Covid-19, I participated through my intervention with PPSE to the Foundation’s first online mission of Solidarity Bankers.
Unlike the field missions which often take place over two weeks, my mission was carried out at the rate of one day per week over 15 weeks which was well suited to an operation of fundraising . This allowed me to be present alongside the manager and shareholders over the long term.
A real educational work was done during the initial discussions to ensure that the level of understanding of the various challenges was the same for each attendee .
In addition, in order to maintain close collaboration over time despite the distance, weekly updates were organised,. The upstream definition of the various stages also facilitated the smooth running of the process. This allowed the Foundation to consider new remote missions in a proper way.
Skills volunteering: an experience to be renewed
This experience was very enriching , both on a human and professionally level.
First of all, the real autonomy that was entrusted to me allowed me to ask myself the right questions, to assert myself and to gain confidence in order to complete successfully the missions on a daily basis. This experience undoubtedly marked a turning point in my professional career.
I also had the chance to work alongside a company with a strong social impact and Impact Investing funds, which was really close to my heart as I find this universe fascinating and promising.
This mission has also given me a lot on a human level. I discovered a completely different culture and made inspiring and enriching encounters.
I would particularly like to thank Dara Huot, CEO of PPSE, for his extreme generosity, kindness and trust. The investment in terms of time and workload is certainly significant, but if it had to be done again, I would do it again in a heartbeat.

The African Facility : technical assistance in favor of GRAINE SARL

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 Eléonore Marie Céline Compaore-Gyebre – GRAINE’s Executive Director.
Created in 2006, GRAINE SARL is a Tier 3 microfinance institution (loan portfolio < 10 million USD). At the end of December 2020, the institution offered credit products to almost 17,926 clients, mostly women (75%) living in rural areas (66%), for a loan portfolio of €4,9mln.
Within the technical assistance programme of the African Facility, GRAINE SARL was assisted in its digitalization process. The consultant in charge of the mission, Thomas Carrié, supported the institution in the implementation of a new integrated software for managing information in the cloud, the secure migration of data and user training.
Why was the implementation of a new Information and Management System (MIS) important for GRAINE SARL?
By 2018, we had reached a level of growth that required a more efficient information management software than the one we were using. The consolidation of data and the production of reporting had become unachievable within the required timeframe. In addition, given the scope of the network (6 branches and 29 service points), we wanted to develop innovative financial products to better meet customer needs and improve our profitability. The acquisition of a new integrated software allowed us to interconnect all counters as well as the head office. Thanks to this tool we have a consolidated view of the information collected in the field in real time, data collection is more reliable and secure and we developed new products.
What did you expect from the consultant? Did the results meet your expectations?
Beyond the acquisition of this new software, we needed someone familiar with the microfinance sector and the issues related to digitalization. Thomas Carrié, in tandem with Yempabou Samuel Nidjergou, based in Ouagadougou, supported us very well, from the definition of the needs to the configuration and deployment of the software. Then they allowed us to manage the data migration and user training, while respecting the deadlines! We are very satisfied of the expertise and the interpersonal skills of the consultants.
What is your review of this mission and how could it have been improved?
Before the mission, each window worked in a non-centralized way, and the MIS was cumbersome. Since everything was manual, verification was difficult and the risk of error high. In addition, the monitoring and maintenance of all the servers came at a significant cost. The centralization of data thanks to the new cloud-based MIS enables to monitor the situation of day-to-day operations and to guarantee the security and reliability of the information collected. MIS has thus saved us time, money and security. This gives us complete satisfaction today, even if the updates are sometimes faulty due to blackouts or poor internet connection in the country.
Thanks to MIS, have you improved customer satisfaction or developed new products or services?
The reliability of the information is now optimal, and we have 90% customer satisfaction. The new MIS has enabled us to offer new local services such as the digitalization of the tontine collection (daily collection of savings), the implementation of SMS Banking and the possibility to make loan disbursements or deposits regardless of the point of service. We want to strengthen the digitalization of information collection. To do this, we will equip our agents with digital tablets so that they can record, in the field, all information concerning potential customers.

The Foundation, contributes to the 1st edition of the Impact Finance Barometer
The Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation is a partner of the first edition of the Impact Finance Barometer launched at the Global Forum Zero Exclusion, Zero Carbon, Zero Poverty on September 2, 2021. This publication, coordinated by Convergences, is the result of the collective work of impact finance experts, analysts, investors and microfinance institutions. It confronts different visions of impact investing and financial inclusion in the world.
Under the theme “Financing social and environmental transitions”, this Barometer presents key figures of the sector and the levers for the development of inclusive finance that serves people and the planet. How to redirect funding towards an impact project? How to connect investors and project leaders? Is there a common metric of impact?
This edition also deals with financial inclusion in the face of the Covid-19 crisis and more specifically with the impact of this crisis on microfinance institutions.
Edouard Sers, Head of Risk, Compliance and Impact at the Foundation spoke on this subject during the 3Zero Global Forum:
“The Covid-19 crisis has had a significant impact on microfinance institutions (MFIs) partner of the Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation. This impact however varies depending on the region and countries affected. The two main financial consequences of the crisis are an increased credit risk, which affects profitability (especially in 2020) and therefore, has an impact on equity. At the beginning of the year, 60% of the MFIs surveyed thought they needed new equity. In mid-2021, the latest surveys we conducted show that one in five MFIs are still looking for a way to recapitalize properly. In contrast, there has not been a generalized liquidity crisis and, despite the loss of profitability for many, the sector has shown overall responsibility in maintaining jobs. In order to support its partners, the Foundation continues to develop its funding and technical assistance offer. It also shares on a regular basis the conclusions of its Covid-19 Observatory based on surveys carried out in partnership with ADA and Inpulse to collect the feelings of actors in the field.”
Discover the Barometer here.
Discover the Report of the Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation : “The impact of the Covid-19 crisis on microfinance institutions. Analyses and perspectives.”

The Foundation supports the financial inclusion of refugees

Since 2019, the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida), the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation have joined forces to support refugee populations in Uganda.
The Foundation was selected by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida) and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) for the design and coordination of an innovative programme in order to improve livelihoods, resilience and financial inclusion of refugees and host communities in Uganda.
Hanadi Tutunji, Financial Inclusion Officer at UNHCR reports on this joint four-year financial inclusion programme.
How is financial inclusion a sustainable solution for refugees in Uganda?
Uganda is home to about 1.5 million refugees and asylum-seekers, making it the largest refugee hosting country in Africa, and third in the world. It has one of the most progressive refugee policies in the world, and is the global lead in the implementation of the Comprehensive Refugee Response Framework (CRRF) and Global Compact on Refugees (GCR). Refugees in Uganda live in settlements, which are close to the host communities, and they have access to the same social services such as health, education, water and sanitation, as well as livelihoods. They also enjoy the freedom of movement, right to work, and have been included in the country’s National development Plan III.
Uganda hosts 94 per cent of the refugees in 13 settlements located in South West and Northern part of the country. The remaining six per cent are located in urban areas around Kampala. Despite Uganda’s progressive and inclusive policies, the poverty rate among the refugee population is more than twice that of the host communities. This has a negative impact on their co-existence, and is a protection risk for both communities, especially the women, girls and persons with special needs.
In 2020, the World Food Programme reduced the food ration provided to refugees by 30 per cent, due to a reduction in their resource envelope. The effect it had on the refugees was further exasperated by the onset of COVID-19 and the impact of the countrywide lockdown thereafter. As a result of the lockdown, 13 per cent of refugees (especially those in the urban areas), lost their livelihoods, which further increased food and income insecurity.
Durable solutions are therefore needed to address both the humanitarian and development challenges Uganda faces, especially given the large number of refugees in the country.
In this regard, financial inclusion is important to promote access to resources, increase economic activity, and increase wage and self-employment opportunities. Financial and non-financial services offered to refugees help them meet their needs in a sustainable manner. Therefore, it is important to engage with the private sector and support its efforts to develop and provide tailored financial services to refugees, including access to savings, loans, insurance and remittance services.
Can you explain the specificities of the programme?
The programme aims at enhancing access to credit for refugees and the host communities, so that they can develop income-generating activities. Ultimately, the objective of the programme is to improve the self-reliance of approximately 100,000 households among these populations.
The programme, which draws on a mix of public and private funding, has three components: a lender guarantee fund, debt financing for three microfinance institutions (MFIs) and technical assistance for MFIs and refugees.
UNHCR shares socio-economic data, facilitates access to refugees, trains MFI staff on refugee needs and protection, and oversees refugee participation in financial and business training. The Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation, with financial support from Sida, coordinates the technical assistance component of the programme, which includes providing refugees with non-financial services, such as business training and financial education. In addition, it covers part of the initial set-up costs incurred by the MFIs, to expand their lending operations to refugees.
Thanks to the programme, the beneficiary MFIs have been able to open new branches in the districts of Moyo (Parlorinya settlement), Yumbe (Bidibidi settlement) and Isingiro (Nakivale settlement), where many refugees live. By the end of March 2021, 14,777 loans had been granted by the MFIs, of which, 6,423 (44 per cent) were granted to refugees. In addition, 19,294 people had received training. Since the programme targets both refugees and their host communities, it facilitates links between them thus, promoting their peaceful coexistence.
What are UNHCR’s financial inclusion priorities around the world?
Refugees’ financial needs evolve over time, depending on their displacement phase, ranging from survival cash at the time of arrival, to more comprehensive services such as savings, payments, and credit in a second stage.
Financial inclusion represents a bridge from humanitarian assistance to sustainable business development. UNHCR ensures that refugees, as well as vulnerable people in host communities, have access to affordable and appropriate financial services. It also ensures that, responsible financial service providers deliver these services.
To strengthen financial inclusion, UNHCR will expand its partnerships and encourage partners to provide sustainable services to refugees, as well as support them in their advocacy work, to improve the regulatory framework.

[INTERVIEW] The African Facility: technical assistance in favour of MLF Zambia

In 2013, the Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation created the “African Facility” technical assistance programme funded by the Agence française de développement (AFD).
This programme launched 9 years ago and ending in December 2021 enabled to carry out 326 technical assistance missions in favour of 26 partners of the Foundation for a total amount of 3,52 mln euros in grants.
Feedback on the programme with the testimony of Jack NGOMA – MLF Zambia’s Executive Director
Created in 2008, MLF Zambia is a Tier 3 microfinance institution (loan portfolio < 10 million USD). The institution offers credit products and training to a clientele of almost 23,000 women as of December 2020, in rural areas, for an outstanding loan portfolio of €830,217. Within the technical assistance programme of the African Facility, financed by the French Development Agency and coordinated by the Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation, MLF Zambia was assisted in developing a business plan for the 2021-2025 period. The consultant in charge of the mission, Thomas Lendzian, from Tukumuka Consulting, helped the institution define its strategy and an operational action plan in order to expand to new areas and to find new funding sources.
Why was the development of a business plan important for your institution?
An external perspective was needed to analyse the microfinance market in Zambia in depth, to enable us to position ourselves clearly and to strengthen our competitiveness. In addition, we wanted to effectively communicate our long-term goals to stakeholders, including potential investors. The support of the Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation has been very helpful at every stage of the business plan development.
What did you expect from the consultant? Did the results meet your expectations?
We were looking for a firm with a solid expertise in microfinance and experience in the field that would enable us to improve our business planning process. Thomas Lendzian, from the local consultancy firm Tukumuka Consulting, was the perfect fit and it turned out to be a very good and relevant choice. His knowledge of Zambia, and other countries in Africa, as well as his understanding of the industry trends have been very useful.
The business plan has helped us in gaining a better understanding of the local sector and in accurately defining our growth projections. We are now equipped to compete on the market and have clarified our long-term objectives. The development of this business plan has also enabled us to communicate our organisational objectives more clearly to our staff and other stakeholders, and to reach out to potential investors.
What are the priorities defined in the business plan?
Among the strategic pillars of the five-year business plan, we aim to achieve significant growth, with the goal of serving 80,000 customers by 2025. We also want to increase our operational efficiency through a revised lending methodology using agent networks and smart technology. We will also focus on product diversification to offer flexible credit products tailored to the needs and activities of our clients – especially agriculture. With this new business plan at hand, we also hope to establish strategic partnerships with relevant investors and business partners. Finally, key objectives for MLF Zambia in the years to come will be the strengthening of our social impact, client retention and the improvement of the lives of the women we are serving.

The Foundation provides the Plastic Odyssey LAB with skilled support

Every minute, 19 tons of plastic are dumped into the ocean, less than 10% of the plastic produced is recycled and 80% of marine pollution comes from developing countries’ coastal cities.
Regarding this plastic crisis, Plastic Odyssey teams decided to take action by launching an expedition all around the world on their ambassador ship. Their goal? Build a global network of local plastic recycling initiatives. On board, sorting, recycling and pyrolysis technologies are made available to entrepreneurs to help them recover waste.
At the same time, Plastic Odyssey teams launched their “Plastic Odyssey Lab” (PO LAB) acceleration programme in order to provide recycling entrepreneurs with skilled support. Following a first call for proposals in France, six laureates joined their ambassador ship in July 2021.
On the agenda:
- Technical support from Plastic Odyssey engineers. It will allow laureates to test their manufacturing processes using on-board recycling machines
- Entrepreneurial support provided by the Crédit Agricole Group through the Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation and the Crédit Agricole regional Banks.
Benefiting from its expertise in the promotion of impact entrepreneurship, the Foundation has specifically designed training modules for PO LAB laureates, all of them start-ups:
« We have first analysed the projects and needs of the laureates, most of them well in advance of their entrepreneurial adventure. We also helped them draw-up an impact-oriented business plan or, in the case of the most advanced, to specify possible technical and financial partnerships in the impact sector. We had to analyse the needs that the PO LAB could meet during their incubation. Once their needs identified, we looked for the best experts of the Crédit Agricole regional Banks taking into account where the laureates came from. During the PO LAB, laureates benefited from individual sessions with each expert of the regional Banks and Village by CA on topics such as marketing, HR and local financing. In addition, group sessions were held with support from the Foundation on the financial structure and strategy of an impact company and the specificity of fundraising for impact start-ups. » – Céline Hyon-Naudin, Senior Investment Manager, Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation.
Once the PO LAB is over, the Foundation will pursue its entrepreneurial support with the laureates by organising a new training session in Marseille this autumn:
« Individual sessions with the Foundation are planned after the PO LAB on specific topics in order to give some time to the laureates to integrate their technical test into their entrepreneurial project. We are currently working on these modules and the following topics could, for instance, be addressed: which business model to choose (NGO, ESUS, SAS)? What product strategy to adopt to best meet identified social and environmental needs? How to organise logistical flows (waste supply, stock management, distribution of finished products)? » – Céline Hyon-Naudin.
The ship is currently moored in Dunkirk and Plastic Odyssey teams plan to launch their Mediterranean expedition in late fall 2021. Other sessions of the PO LAB are planned in the countries of the Mediterranean basin. The network of the Crédit Agricole Group is also mobilised in Egypt and Morocco to support this acceleration programme. A good example of the collective commitment of the Crédit Agricole Group in line with its Societal Project.
Further information about the support of Crédit Agricole to Plastic Odyssey.

Newsletter #39 : The recovery of activities in the microfinance sector
The Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation publishes its Newsletter #39, which highlights the great resilience shown by its partner institutions to best support vulnerable populations.
The Foundation has been interested in the effects of the Covid-19 crisis on its partner microfinance institutions (MFIs) and conducted a series of surveys for over a year in collaboration with ADA and Inpulse. The results of these studies are summarized in the report “The impact of the crisis on microfinance institutions. Analyses and Perspectives.” that you will discover in this Newsletter.
There is no doubt that the pandemic has had a negative impact on the MFIs activities. However, we are witnessing a gradual recovery of activities in the sector, as KOMIDA can attest. Major actor of microfinance in Indonesia and partner of the Foundation since 2004, KOMIDA has succeeded in pursuing its expansion in rural areas with the opening of 10 additional branches in 2021. The institution continues to support its clients by emphasizing the granting of social-oriented microcredits.
In the section “Views from the field”, we present UGAFODE Microfinance Limited, a Ugandan MFI at the forefront of financial inclusion for refugees. Thanks to the support of the Foundation, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), and the Swedish International Development Agency (Sida), UGAFODE opened in March 2020 a branch office in the Nakivale Refugee Settlement in Uganda. The initial results are very encouraging and the ambition is to expand the project to other regions.
Finally, you will discover the testimony of Jean-Baptiste Bounes, Mergers and Acquisitions Manager at SODICA, who carried out the first Solidarity Bankers mission online in favour of Phare Performing Social Enterprise (PPSE) in Cambodia.
Missions on the field and online are currently to be filled.
(*) 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.

Solidarity Bankers : two online missions are to be filled in favor of FATEN and OXUS Kyrgyzstan

Solidarity Bankers is a skills volunteering program launched by the Foundation and Crédit Agricole S.A. in 2018. The program 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 two online missions are available. The Solidarity Banker will work on this mission at the rate of one day per week during 15 weeks. However, these duration modalities can be modified according to the preferences of the Solidarity Banker, the beneficiary organization and the employer.
- “Financial Management” mission for FATEN (Palestine)
FATEN is a microfinance institution created in 1995 by the NGO Save The Children. Its mission is to serve the financial services needs of low and middle-income Palestinian entrepreneurs and individuals. The Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation has been supporting FATEN since 2014 through various senior loans but also through technical assistance in the framework of Solidarity Bankers by CA.
The selected Crédit Agricole expert will support FATEN in updating financial procedures, policies and tools. The Solidarity Banker must know international financial reporting standards and in particular, the latest changes to IFRS 16 and IFRS 9. Fluency in English is mandatory and a good knowledge of Arabic is a plus.
For more information, download the term sheet on ca-solidaires.fr
- “Digital Strategy” mission for OXUS (Kyrgyzstan)
OXUS Kyrgyzstan (OKG) is a microfinance institution that provides financial services to the working poor and under-banked in Kyrgyzstan. The institution serves 8,000 active borrowers and manages a portfolio of EUR 6.4 million.
The selected Crédit Agricole expert will support OKG in the evaluation of its digitalization processes and in the construction of a new digital strategy. The Solidarity Banker must have significant experience in IT project management. Fluency in English is mandatory and speaking Russian is an asset.
For more information, download the term sheet on ca-solidaires.fr
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

Solidarity Bankers : two field missions are to be filled in Georgia and Moldova
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 two missions are available on the field :
- « 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 selected Crédit Agricole expert will be responsible for evaluating the organisation’s marketing strategy and actions, as well as developing a marketing plan for the end of 2021/2022. The Solidarity Banker must have a solid experience in marketing and a good command of English.
For more information, download the term sheet on ca-solidaires.fr
- « Digital Strategy » mission for Smart Credit (Moldava)
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 on ca-solidaires.fr
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 : delhomme@credit-agricole-sa.fr
- Violette CUBIER, Technical Assistance Manager : cubier@credit-agricole-sa.fr

The Foundation publishes its report “The impact of the crisis on microfinance institutions”
The Covid-19 pandemic affected all economies impacting fragile economies and the most vulnerable populations in particular.
The Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation began to investigate the unprecedented effects of this global crisis on microfinance institutions (MFIs). An initial survey was launched in March 2020 to understand how our MFI partners were adapting to the repercussions of the pandemic that had already had an impact on their activities.
In the following months, the Foundation collaborated with two other major players in inclusive finance, ADA and Inpulse, to extend the scope of this study to more than 100 MFIs in 4 continents: Africa, South America, Asia and Europe. Overall, 6 surveys were conducted since the inaugural questionnaire in March.
You will discover through this report the results of these studies divided into three main parts:
Adapting rapidly to operational constraints
Surveys conducted throughout 2020 revealed three major difficulties: the impossibility of meeting clients in person, difficulties in collecting repayments and complications in disbursing loans.
In an effort to address these difficulties, MFIs acted in a proactive and appropriate manner, showing the great resilience capacity of those organisations. However, all FMIs haven’t been impacted in the same way. This document describes those constraints and the measures that have been implemented.
A significant and sustained financial impact
The operational constraints encountered have inevitably had significant financial repercussions. We observe two major consequences for almost all MFIs: an increase in the portfolio at risk (PAR) due to lower repayments, and a reduction in outstanding loans due to lower disbursements.
Those two consequences fluctuated throughout the year depending on local contexts and other financial difficulties may have arisen in some cases. The analysis of performance indicators, detailed in this document, enables us to see the lasting effect of the crisis.
Prospects for the future
In the face of the crisis, most MFIs have shown resilience. Among the levers envisaged to return to financial stability: increasing the volume of their portfolio and the number of clients, and opening up to new products and services, and even to new markets, in 2021.
You will discover throughout the report other measures MFIs explored to adapt to the crisis, which are reassuring for the future of the sector.
Despite the often positive indicators, we remain vigilant in the face of the current volatile environment. For this reason, we have maintained our approach of regular surveys in 2021, on a quarterly basis.

The Foundation grants seven new loans in Eastern Europe and Central Asia
Since January 2021, the Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation has pursued its financing in Eastern Europe and Central Asia and has thus granted seven new loans to its partners.
In Kosovo, the Foundation granted a new loan to the microfinance institution AFK for an amount of €1.5 million over a three-year period. The Kosovo Finance Agency (AFK) is a microfinance institution that aims to improve living conditions in Kosovo by providing access to sustainable financial services to micro and small businesses. AFK aims to promote the development of rural areas as well as women entrepreneurs and minorities. The institution serves 19,300 active borrowers (22% of them women and 51% of them living in rural areas) and manages a portfolio of 36 million euros.
In Moldova, the Foundation granted a new loan to the microfinance institution Microinvest for an amount of €1.4 million over a three-year period. Microinvest provides microcredit and business start-up assistance to small entrepreneurs in many regions of the Republic of Moldova. 70% of its loan portfolio corresponds to loans to private entrepreneurs living in rural areas. The institution has nearly 37,000 clients, 66% of whom live in rural areas and 41% of whom are women.
In Montenegro, the Foundation granted a loan to the microfinance institution Monte Crédit for an amount of one million euros, over a three-year period. Founded in 2005, Monte Credit is a microfinance institution whose mission is to empower rural families to create income and jobs, freeing up economic potential so that communities thrive. The institution has more than 4,000 clients, 54% of whom are women and 51% of whom live in rural areas.
In Kyrgyzstan, the Foundation granted a new loan to the microfinance institution OXUS for an amount in local currency equivalent to €800,000. OXUS Kyrgyzstan is a microfinance institution created in 2006 by OXUS Group and ACTED. It is a responsible company committed to providing financial services to the working poor and the under-banked in Kyrgyzstan. To date, the institution has nearly 8,000 clients, 48% of whom are women and 62% of whom are clients in rural areas.
In Kazakhstan, the Foundation granted a new loan to the Asian Credit Fund (ACF) microfinance institution for an amount in local currency equivalent to one million euros. ACF is a microfinance institution created in 1997 by the American NGO Mercy Corps. ACF’s financial services are designed to promote the development of rural households, the growth of small businesses and home ownership. ACF adheres to a specialised community lending model that offers tailor-made financial solutions, business advice and technical assistance to its clients. To date, the institution has 27,000 clients, 70% of whom are women and 93% of whom are rural areas clients.
Finally, in Tajikistan, the Foundation granted a new loan of an amount in local currency equivalent to €1.2 million to the microfinance institution HUMO. HUMO is a microfinance institution that aims to support vulnerable and underserved populations living in rural areas through financial and advisory services for small businesses. The institution has nearly 73,000 clients, 37% of whom are women and 75% of whom live in rural areas. Also in Tajikistan, the Foundation granted a new loan to the microfinance institution OXUS Tajikistan for an amount in local currency equivalent to one million euros over a three-year period. OXUS Tajikistan mainly targets microentrepreneurs and farmers in rural areas. Its social mission is clear and aims to improve the economic and social conditions of the low-income population who are not served by the banking sector. To date, the institution has over 14,000 clients, 36% of whom are women and 79% of whom live in rural areas.
For more information, click here.

The AFD and the Foundation, a historical and promissing partnership
Rémy Rioux, CEO, Groupe Agence française de développement
[French Development Agency]
A historical partner, the Agence française de développement (AFD) [French Development Agency] has been supporting the Foundation’s activities for over 10 years. Its CEO, Rémy Rioux, shares with us his vision on the impact of the economic and health crisis generated by the Covid-19 pandemic on the African continent and his assessment of the partnership with the Foundation.
— What were the main impacts of the pandemic on the African continent in your opinion and how did the AFD respond to this crisis? What were your key areas of response?
R R: Africa experienced an unprecedented shock in 2020, which, I would like to stress, was totally external to the continent. The continent appeared quite resilient in terms of health, but less so on the economic front. An unprecedented recession, averaging 2.6%, affected more than forty countries simultaneously. Beyond the cyclical impact, the crisis above all raises concerns about a deep weakening of economies and societies.
The Agence française de développement Group (AFD) mobilized very quickly to support its partners. In terms of health, with a €1.2 billion “Common Health initiative”, half of which in Africa, for some fifty projects and nearly €130 million in donations; and on the economic level, with the “Choose Africa” programme to support the entrepreneurial sector and then its strengthening with a Resilience component, bringing the programme to €3.2 billion committed by 2022. Finally, in the wake of the «Finance in Common» Summit, we support African public development banks (a hundred or so of which throughout the continent), to turn them into sustainable growth relays.
— How do you assess the historic partnership with the Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation?
R R: The AFD Group has been providing the Foundation with portfolio and individual guarantees for more than 10 years and has financed the African Facility, which enables us to support small microfinance institutions for the benefit of disadvantaged populations, particularly in rural areas. The partnership with the Foundation has since 2020 been handled by Proparco, our subsidiary dedicated to the private sector. Beyond the financial partnership, we appreciate the quality of the relationship between our two institutions, which is marked by trust and transparency. The importance of supporting the microfinance sector has been reinforced by the Covid-19 crisis and working with the Foundation constitutes a solid lever for strengthening the sector.
— Can a large institution like yours and an agile player like the Foundation still invent new ways of acting and if so in what priority areas?
R R: The complementary nature of our two institutions and their response methods makes the partnership strong and relevant to several priority areas, namely: support for the development of microinsurance, particularly agricultural microinsurance; assistance to microfinance institutions in improving social performance management; development of the digital offer in the microfinance sector; and green microfinance. The context of the crisis has reinforced the relevance of these areas of response.

The Covid-19 crisis and gender inequalities

Miren Bengoa, Director, member of Financial, Risks and Impact Committee,
Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation & International Action Director, SOS Group
Director of the Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation since 2020, Miren Bengoa has been, since January 2021, the new International Action Director of the SOS Group. Since 2011, she was at the head of Fondation CHANEL, which supports projects improving the economic and social situation of women. She shares her view on the impact of the Covid-19 crisis on gender equality and the responses to address it.
— What is the impact of Covid-19 on the status of women?
MB: One of the immediate consequences of the Covid-19 crisis is the rise in inequalities between women and men. We have seen during this pandemic an increase in violence against women and girls and a decline in girls’ learning as dropout rates and child marriage increase. Tens of millions more women have fallen into extreme poverty as they lose their jobs at a faster rate than men. Moreover, they suffer from difficulties in accessing new technologies and lack of digital skills.
— In a few words, what is the panorama of gender inequality in the world today?
MB: Current projections indicate that gender equality will not be achieved for another 130 years. In 2020, women represented on average (on a global scale) 4.4% of business leaders, 16.9% of Board members, 25% of parliamentarians and 13% of peace negotiators. Only 22 countries are currently headed by a female head of State or government (UN Women, 2020). We need better representation of women that reflects the diversity and abilities of women and girls.
— How can female entrepreneurship be an answer to the crisis?
MB: Women entrepreneurs have been at the forefront and strongly affected by the decline in economic activity. They are nonetheless also the bearers of innovative solutions and should be supported as much as possible by funders and public authorities. Being strongly involved in responding to community needs, they have been able to adapt their activities to the constraints of the pandemic. This has not been easy: they have sometimes been the first to give up a income generating activity so as to give priority to their families.
— Promoting women empowerment is one of the missions of the Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation. What should be the priorities to boost this aspiration?
MB: Since its creation, promoting women empowerment has been at the heart of the Foundation’s action: among the 7 million clients of microfinance institutions supported, 73% are women beneficiaries of microcredits to create or develop income-generating activities. Maintaining funding, flexibility in rollovers and frequent analysis of the needs of these institutions are and will be key to enable them to regain a capacity for action in favour of female entrepreneurship.

The Foundation provides four new financings in sub-Saharan Africa

In recent months, the Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation has pursued its financing in sub-Saharan Africa with four new loans granted, two of which to new partners.
In Togo, the Foundation granted a new loan to the microfinance institution Assilassimé for an amount in local currency equivalent to € 2.2 million. Assilassimé’s mission is to provide sustainable access to social microfinance services adapted for people experiencing exclusion or extreme poverty, with limited access to the traditional microfinance system. The institution seeks first and foremost to enable them to carry out income-generating activities and improve their living conditions. To date, Assilassimé has over 19,000 clients, 91% of whom are women.
In Zambia, the Foundation granted a new loan to the microfinance institution AMZ for an amount in local currency equivalent to € 1 million. AMZ aims to serve customers who have previously been excluded from the formal financial market, mainly because of their poverty or their place of residence. The products offered are designed to meet their financial needs. The institution has over 80,000 active borrowers, 92% of whom live in rural areas and 56% of whom are women.
In Rwanda, the Foundation granted a first loan to the microfinance institution ASA Microfinance Rwanda for an amount in local currency equivalent to € 500,000. ASA Microfinance Rwanda Plc (ASA Rwanda) is an institution created in 2016 by ASA International. Its mission is to contribute to poverty reduction through economic empowerment by ensuring access to financial services to the disadvantaged community of Rwanda. The institution grants loans according to group and individual methodologies. They mainly finance women who represent more than 95% of its clientele, and mainly operates in rural areas.
Finally, in Kenya, the Foundation also granted a first loan for an amount in local currency equivalent to € 766,000 to the microfinance institution YEHU. YEHU is a microfinance institution whose mission is to fight poverty by empowering poor rural entrepreneurs in Kenya to help them lift themselves out of poverty through better accessibility to sustainable financial services. This includes enabling them to save while giving them access to microloans, which can be used to start or grow their small business. Yehu also offers business training, microinsurance products and other services to improve the lives of its members. To date the institution has 28 000 clients, 96% of whom are women. 76% of its clients live in rural areas.
To date, the Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation has 89 partners in 39 countries and manages a portfolio of €86 million, 46% of which is located in so-called fragile countries.
For more information, click here.

The Foundation continues to support its partners in Asia

During the first quarter of 2021, the Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation completed three new financings in Asia, in particular in Indonesia.
In Indonesia, the Foundation granted a new loan to the microfinance institution KOMIDA for an amount in local currency equivalent to €2.2 million. KOMIDA is a microfinance institution created in 2004 as a foundation to offer financial assistance in the form of savings and loan services as well as non-financial services such as health or family financial management training. The institution, which works exclusively with women, currently serves nearly 720,000 clients.
Also in Indonesia, the Foundation granted a new loan to the microfinance institution MBK for an amount in local currency equivalent to € 5 million. “Mitra Bisnis Keluarga” (MBK) is a microfinance institution regulated by the Indonesian Financial Services Authority (FSA) and licensed as a non-bank finance company. Using the Grameen Bank methodology, MBK provides working capital to low-income women in Java to give them access to formal and profitable financial services (financial inclusion), reduce their vulnerability and improve their lives. To date, the institution serves more than one million clients, exclusively women, 75% of whom below the poverty line.
In Myanmar, the Foundation granted a new loan to Proximity Finance for an amount in local currency equivalent to € 1.4 million. Proximity is a microfinance institution created in Myanmar in 2010 that designs and delivers affordable and income-generating products for rural families. The institution strives to improve the livelihoods of rural Myanmar people by providing innovative financial services tailored to their needs, and uses the dynamism of businesses to create social value. To date Proximity has nearly 200,000 active borrowers, 69% of whom are women and 98% of whom live in rural areas.
To date, the Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation has 89 partners in 39 countries and manages a portfolio of €86 million, 46% of which is located in so-called fragile countries.
For more information, click here.

Lazika Capital, partner of the Foundation, supports Georgian entrepreneurs
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 agricultural sector represents 52% of its portfolio.
In 2020, in response to the Covid-19 crisis, Lazika Capital provided significant benefits to its clients directly affected by the health and economic crisis. During this period, the Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation, alongside other lenders, supported Lazika Capital to limit a decline in its liquidity and ensure that the institution could continue to finance its clients. Although the health situation has improved in 2021, the institution remains actively involved in various government programmes to reduce the negative impact of the pandemic and accelerate economic recovery.
Priority to digitalisation
Lazika Capital was the first microfinance institution in Georgia to be allowed, by the National Bank, to offer remote services.
To support entrepreneurs, especially in the agricultural sector, Lazika Capital offers its clients technological improvements to make their products and services more diversified and flexible.
Indeed, the institution uses digital tablets for better application management in the field. This digital offering was particularly useful during the lockdown period, as clients could apply for loans, be informed of their approval and make repayments without visiting a branch.
The positive results achieved in 2020 prove that Lazika Capital is a resilient institution, able to face challenges while continuing to be a successful, reliable and responsible partner in the microfinance sector. The Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation, on its side, pursues its support to the institution with which it has been working since 2017, in order to continue supporting Georgian entrepreneurship, despite the challenges in this uncertain period.
More information on Lazika here.

Solidarity Bankers: six missions to be filled with the Foundation’s partners

Two online and four field Solidarity Bankers’ missions are currently available on behalf of the Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation.
Solidarity Bankers is a skills volunteering programme launched by the Foundation and Crédit Agricole S.A. in 2018 and aimed at all Crédit Agricole Group employees. 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.
The missions can take place during the Solidarity Banker’s working time and/or during holidays (volunteering).
Currently, six missions are available, online or in the field:
ONLINE MISSIONS
The experts selected for the online missions will work remotely and will devote the equivalent of one day per week, for 15 weeks, to the mission.
The two online missions are to be filled as soon as possible.
- “Digital strategy” mission for OXUS (Kyrgyzstan)
OXUS Kyrgyzstan (OKG) is a microfinance institution that provides financial services to the working poor and under-banked in Kyrgyzstan. The institution serves 8,000 active borrowers and manages a portfolio of EUR 6.4 million.
A Solidarity Banker mission is planned from July 2021 to support OKG in the evaluation of its digitalisation processes and in the construction of a new digital strategy. The expert sought is a Crédit Agricole employee with significant experience in IT project management. Fluency in English is essential.
The mission description is available here.
- “Financial Management” mission in favour of FATEN (Palestine)
FATEN is a microfinance institution in Palestine. The institution has more than 26,000 clients and manages a portfolio of EUR 108 million.
The selected Crédit Agricole expert will support FATEN in updating financial procedures, policies and tools. The Solidarity Banker must be fluent in English and have knowledge of international financial reporting standards and in particular of the latest changes to IFRS 16 and IFRS 9. Fluency or very good knowledge of Arabic is a plus. At a minimum, fluency in English will be required.
The mission description is available here.
FIELD MISSIONS
The four field missions are to be filled as soon as possible, depending on the current health situation.
- “Logistical support/purchasing” mission in favour of Oshun (Senegal)
Oshun is a social enterprise that offers inclusive solutions, especially in the form of solar-powered water kiosks, allowing the most vulnerable populations access to clean water. Oshun Senegal is completing a process of administrative and HR structuring and wishes to strengthen its support functions, primarily logistics and purchasing.
The selected Crédit Agricole expert will support Oshun in setting up procedures to simplify and secure logistics, procurement and supply management, and strengthen the staff involved. The mission will last 10 days, first remotely from France and then on the ground in Senegal if health conditions allow. The Solidarity Banker must have solid experience in logistics and procurement management and, ideally, experience in training and coaching in the field of procurement.
The mission description is available here.
- « LBC-FT » mission for SEF (South Africa)
SEF is a microfinance institution that provides loans through a network of 98 branches in South Africa. The institution has 225,317 active borrowers and manages a portfolio of more than EUR 45 million.
The selected Crédit Agricole expert is responsible for supporting the Quality and Compliance Department and the Training Department in developing relevant training materials on AML/CFT issues for employees. The Solidarity Banker must have at least 5 years of experience in compliance. The mission will last two weeks, including 10 days in the field.
The mission description is available here.
- « Marketing » mission for Lazika Capital (Georgia)
Lazika Capital is a Tier 2 microfinance institution in Georgia. The organisation operates through 18 branches in western Georgia.
The selected Crédit Agricole expert will be responsible for evaluating the organisation’s marketing strategy and actions, as well as developing a marketing plan for mid-2021/2020. The Solidarity Banker must have a solid experience in marketing. A good mastery of English is required. The mission will last 20 days, including 10 days in the field.
The mission statement is available here.
- « Digital Strategy » mission for Smart Credit (Moldova)
Smart Credit is a microfinance institution that provides 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.
The mission description is available here.
How to apply?
To discover the details of the missions:
- Go to the CA Solidaires website: tab “Get involved” then “Solidarity leave“.
- Click on the offer of your choice. You will find all the necessary information for your application.
For more information, you can contact: cecile.delhomme@credit-agricole-sa.fr

Microinvest supports investments in the modernisation of Moldovan agriculture
Interview with Dumitru Svinarenco, Chief Executive Officer of Microinvest (Republic of Moldova) about investments in Moldovan agriculture in main facilities of Agri loans.
1. Could you present Microinvest in a few words?
Microinvest is a non-bank credit organization with mixed capital. We managed to prove our major role in the Moldovan financial market by supporting local businesses, agriculture and individuals and directly contributing to the development of the country’s economy.
According to the size of the portfolio, we rank 6th among the banking system, while maintaining the leading position on non-bank credit market in the country. We are different from other financial companies thanks to the customized solutions and important benefits in the lending process that we offer to each client, including agricultural entrepreneurs. We are the only NBFI in Moldova to hold the international quality certificate – SMART, which proves that we are a responsible and trustworthy lender.
2. Agriculture is one of the basic pillars for the Moldovan economy and it is also a priority sector for Microinvest. How did the 2020 drought and Covid-19 affect your clients and your organization?
Every year, the agricultural sector is developing and modernizing thanks to successful entrepreneurs and responsible investments. 30% of our overall LP and more than 40% of our business LP is dedicated to the agri field, to the support of agricultural businesses and farms, which need financial investments for quality agriculture.
The year 2020 had a major impact on the Moldovan agricultural segment, which were directly confronted with the Covid-19 crisis, but also with the unprecedented drought, which led to a season with minimal harvests.
3. What has been your response to support the agricultural sector to cope with these crises?
Microinvest was among the first organizations to cancel the penalties at the beginning of the pandemic, both for business owners and individuals. Throughout this period, our experts have assessed the situation of each entrepreneur. We have been open to come up with solutions for restructuring and extending the terms of loans, without charging fees.
As the pandemic had just started, we continued to lend to farmers so that they could begin the agricultural season as planned. Despite the difficulties, some of our clients have managed to develop successful households and gather great results from the investments made.
4. Microinvest is funded by the Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation (GCAF) since 2020. How has the Foundation supported your organization during this pandemic?
Microinvest started the interactions with GCAF in 2019 and signed the first loan agreement in May 2020, at the peak of the highest lockdown restrictions imposed by most countries. This first loan from GCAF was an impulse for other lenders, proving that even new lenders believed in our financial stability and in our adequate reaction to crisis. The second loan has already been disbursed in March 2021.
The Foundation maintained transparent communication with us, listened to our needs and supported the search for suitable solutions. We consider GCAF as a reliable partner, therefore we plan to develop and strengthen our cooperation in the future.
5. Which will be your strategic priorities for the years to come? What place have you given to digitalization?
Digitization occupies a special place in our communication and development strategy. We follow a balanced formula: combining digital automation with personal discussions with customers, visits and direct interactions. Entrepreneurs appreciate the expertise and the value of an individual approach which lead to tailer-made financial solutions. At the same time, we tend to go for the massive digitization of retail lines, simplifying the lending process, and thus saving our customer time.
We are confident that agriculture in Moldova is one of the strategic segments for our country. We support individuals and legal entities in their plans for growth and business transformation. In 2021, we came up with a special offer for business clients – unsecured credits up to MDL 1,700,000, so that they can successfully achieve their goals. Both we and the farmers have high expectations for the new agricultural season. A good year will give additional strength to the agricultural sector, but also additional desire to invest in the modernization of agricultural practices, by purchasing new high-performance equipment.

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. 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 CEO, of MicroLoan Foundation who looks back on this programme.
“What is your assessment of the African Facility?”
Elizabeth: The African Facility has just been one amazing journey for the organization. When you actually look at our loan book, when you look at our social objectives, when you look at our digitalisation processes, you can see the progress we made. When we started the very first time in Dakar, we were very manual in term of our processes but we had a lot of lessons and learnings, a lot of harnessing in terms of what are we doing, what are our social objectives, how do we reach out.
Randall: The assistance lasted for approximately 8 months and involved various aspects of digitalisation. For example, we were able to implement certain platforms that allowed our staff to work more comfortably from home and reduced the congestion at the office. We implemented a communication platform that allows more collaboration outside of the office. We were also able to put in place a cloud-base accounting platform, which was better than the previous one that was located on a legacy server at the office.
Elizabeth: As far as our business development is concerned, the Facility has really helped us. One of the most important things in microfinance is being able to see and evaluate how many lives you are touching, what is the kind of disbursement that you are doing and that actually amounts to inclusion. At the beginning of the programme, we had around 18 000 clients, today we have 42 000 clients and that is a result of the processes that we have put in place in the framework of the African Facility. When you look at our staffing, we also create employment within the rural population, as we have increased our staff, passing from 21 offices at the beginning of the Facility to 40 offices today. This growth shows the impact of the programme and our partnership with the Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation.
Randall: The solutions that we implemented with the support of the African Facility really helped us to minimize the disruptions resulting of Covid-19. Without those solutions, we would have had to make very hard decisions around not only staffing but also how we serve our clients. We are grateful to be part of the programme that certainly helped the institution through the pandemic.

COVID-19 : The Foundation’s governance during the health crisis
Spotlight on the interview with Sylvie Lemmet, Chairman of the Finance, Risks and Impact Committee, Jérôme Brunel, Chairman of the Compliance and Internal Control Committee, and Bernard Lepot, Chairman of the Investment Committee.
Looking back on the outbreak of the crisis, could you tell us how you perceived it at the time?
Bernard Lepot: We all understood as early as March that we were in unknown territory for an indefinite period of time, with systemic consequences that were difficult to grasp. All continents were affected, including Africa and Asia, where we have most of our activities. The risk of serious difficulties for our partners was likely, with possible large provisions for the Foundation. Despite this lack of visibility, the Board had to define the Foundation’s position quickly, which we summarise as follows: support for our existing partners and consultation with other international lenders.
Sylvie Lemmet: Last March, we were completely in the dark. We felt that the crisis was going to hit developing countries hard and that we were going to face potential bankruptcies and losses for the Foundation. We were worried for our partners.
Jérôme Brunel: I feared that the impact of the pandemic, which I thought would affect developing or less developed emerging countries more strongly (though this has not been confirmed) would weaken the solidity of the Foundation’s counterparties, leading to a substantial amount of provisions. This has not materialised up to now thanks to the resilience of the organisations supported and the coordination and joint actions of the various stakeholders in the inclusive finance sector.
What has been the role of the Committee you chair in this context?
JB: The Compliance and Internal Control Committee has played its role by adapting the internal control system to the increase in Covid-19 risks, organising training on debt restructuring methods, adapting the provisioning policy and collecting more information on the end clients of our counterparties. But to be honest, it was the Finance, Risks and Impact Committee that had the primary role in mobilising the Foundation’s governance to deal with the consequences of the pandemic.
SL: The Finance, Risks and Impact (FRI) Committee already includes the Chair of the Compliance and Internal Control Committee among its members. Last year, we immediately felt the need to make the link with the Investment Committee, and its Chair also sat on the FRI Committee. The development of governance with this ad hoc committee has been extremely positive. It enabled us to build together, and with the Foundation’s Management Committee, a good understanding of the overall situation (the impact on the portfolio, liquidity and margin) and an intervention doctrine, which we developed as the crisis progressed. The objective is to provide the necessary oxygen to our partners while monitoring the risk of default.
BL: Once the roadmap was established, the Investment Committee continued to meet every month, but by videoconferencing, with a reduced number of new projects of course, but with close monitoring of the maturity extensions granted to microfinance institutions that requested them and, more generally, enhanced risk monitoring. The Board also decided to set up an ad hoc committee consisting of the three chairmen of the specialized committees to examine and discuss possible adjustments to the Foundation’s strategy. This body met several times to exchange views with the teams and to provide input to the Board before decisions were made.
What lessons have you learned from this experience one year later, and what prospects do you see for the Foundation in 2021?
SL: One year on, I am above all reassured by the quality of the men and women who make up the Foundation’s executive team and who have been able to respond to an unprecedented situation with great flexibility, professionalism and commitment. We were able to control the financial risks without abandoning our partners in difficulty, and to test the resilience of the organisations we supported, which reassures us as to their quality and as well as the resistance of the microfinance sector to shocks. This is a point that needs to be explored in order to gain a better understanding of the mechanisms that have been implemented locally and the real social impact behind the good financial performance. We all hope for a return to a less chaotic situation and the resumption of activities in 2021. We will have to learn the lessons of remote instructions and juggle with an activity that seems to be picking up though travel remains limited. The pandemic is not yet behind us, but I hope it will remain under control in the countries in which we operate.
JB: The health crisis has shown, first, the solidity of the commitments undertaken by the Foundation, i.e. the judicious choice of its counterparts. Secondly, the quality of the response of the team and its Managing Director to adapt to this unprecedented context, helped by the mobilisation of its Board and its specialised committees. Finally, the Foundation’s commitment to continue its lending activity despite this «hostile» environment and to support microfinance institutions through an international initiative to harmonise the policies of other lenders and a precise dialogue with each of the borrowers.
BL: One year on, it is worth underscoring the remarkable mobilisation and adaptation of the Foundation’s teams, with great collaboration between the various functions. We should also note the great resilience of our portfolio to date, which has perhaps exceeded our expectations. Good information/involvement on the part of the Board has enabled it to express its full support and solidarity with the Foundation’s strategy and actions. Things are still very uncertain for 2021, with perhaps a better visibility in the 4th quarter, but again nothing is certain. Let’s hope that 2021 will be a year of transition that will enable us to resume our development activities in 2022.
Download the 2020 Integrated Report here.

In 2020, the Foundation strengthened its technical assistance activity
By Violette Cubier, TA Manager, Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation
We continued to develop our third business line in 2020, namely technical assistance for our partners. Our technical assistance missions have contributed to the institutional strengthening and resilience of our partners in this time of crisis.
The Foundation supports its partners through various technical assistance programmes. This support covers a variety of issues such as operations and human resources management, governance, financial management, strategic planning, digitalisation of operations and products, launch of new services, risk management and social and environmental performance management.
The Foundation mobilised to provide close support to its partners throughout 2020. The technical assistance missions were adapted to respond to the priorities and emergencies that the partners had to face (liquidity management and portfolio quality, business continuity plans), but also to support them in their business recovery, their strategic reflections and the transitions necessary to face the crisis (digitalisation, strengthening of activities in rural areas). We also set up joint actions with other actors such as SIDI and the Fefisol fund, with whom we have organised training for some fifty organisations in Africa.
The year 2020 was also marked by a strong development of our technical assistance activities, with an increase in existing programmes and the launch of new programmes. The latter enabled the Foundation to extend the geographical areas of operation in technical assistance and to address more actively key issues such as the development of rural economies, adaptation to climate change or the financial inclusion of refugees.
The coordination of technical assistance activities is now a major focus of the Foundation’s operation for contributing to the institutional strengthening of its partners and supporting them in their economic, ecological and digital transitions, thereby increasing their impact on the ground.
More information: //www.gca-foundation.org/en/technical-assistance
Download the 2020 Integrated Report here

Persistent credit risk : a threat to the solvency 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 around the world. This monitoring was carried out periodically throughout 2020 in order to gain a better vision of the development of the crisis at the international level. We are extending this work this year on a quarterly basis. The conclusions set out in this article follow the first quarter of 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 in the sector.
In a nutshell
The results presented in the following pages come from the sixth survey (1) of the joint ADA, Inpulse and Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation series. The responses from our partner microfinance institutions were collected in the second half of April 2021. The 87 institutions that responded are located in 47 countries in Eastern Europe and Central Asia (EECA-25%), Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA-29%), Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC-25%), South and Southeast Asia (SSEA-13%) and the Middle East and North Africa (MENA-8%) (2).
Whereas the general improvement in the local contexts relating to COVID-19 enables microfinance institutions to conduct their activities better, our latest survey shows that MFIs nevertheless had a lot of difficulties in reaching their development goals in the first quarter of 2021. The reasons cited have mainly to do with the difficulties encountered by the customers of the MFIs. Such customers are reluctant to commit to new loans, and if they do, it is for smaller amounts than in the past. At the same time, their risk profile has deteriorated due to the crisis and the MFIs will find it more difficult to finance them.
This general trend of increasing risk has led to a decline in the quality of the portfolio of the MFIs. In 2020, it has ultimately been reflected in the profit and loss accounts of institutions with an increase in provisioning expenses. This is likely to be the case again this year, with additional reserves but also loan write-offs.
In fact, the operations of the MFIs have been reduced or slowed down, generally with a decrease in the level of their equity capital. In point of fact, one in two MFIs, irrespective of size, indicates a need for capital in 2021. Two trends emerge: the MFIs are counting on their current shareholders to cover the losses linked to the crisis. Conversely, international investors are expected to support their development as of this year. The answers provided by our partners therefore underscore the need for recapitalization this year, which will involve all the players in the sector.
1. Disbursement levels are still low notwithstanding the reduction in constraints
Whereas we have seen a gradual but definite reduction in operational constraints for MFIs since the summer of 2020, this phenomenon continues in the first quarter of 2021. 50% of MFIs in all indicate that the measures in place in their countries are less constraining in April compared to the end of 2020. This is particularly pronounced in Sub-Saharan Africa (64% of respondents in the region) and Latin America and the Caribbean (59%). This is to a lesser extent true for MFIs in Europe and Central Asia, where the situation is either improving or stable. Finally, the situation is opposite in South and South-East Asia, with 45% of respondents in the region reporting a more difficult context, with the Cambodian and Burmese situations weighing on results.
Almost half of the respondents overall report that they no longer face any operational constraints in conducting their activities. This is reflected in the resumption of activity by the MFIs: 52% of those in sub-Saharan Africa can work as before the crisis. The vast majority of MFIs in Latin America are gradually resuming their activities since the first difficulties encountered. The situation in Europe and Central Asia is again divided between gradual or almost complete recovery. Conversely, the deteriorated context for MFIs in the SSEA region is reflected in activities that are either still constrained or are again affected by new measures to contain the epidemic.
Despite these continued positive signals on the level of activity of our partners, the expected level of loan disbursement for the quarter is apparently still difficult to achieve. For example, 55% of respondents report that they did not meet their loan disbursement targets in the first quarter of 2021. Only 10% of respondents exceeded their expectations, while 35% managed to meet their targets. The responses do not appear to pertain solely to business recovery: for example, 80% of MFIs in Sub-Saharan Africa did not meet their disbursement targets in the first quarter, while half report a return to near pre-crisis levels of activity.
When the MFIs did not meet their growth targets at the beginning of the year, three reasons stand out to explain this phenomenon. Firstly, the fact that customers are still reluctant to take out new loans (58% of this group), especially in a still rather uncertain context. Secondly, this is explained by the deteriorating risk profile of customers (50%), who are no longer eligible for loans or are eligible for smaller amounts (38%).
The latter two arguments are also mentioned by MFIs that have reached their targets without exceeding them. Nevertheless, this dynamic is partly offset by the fact that institutions have adjusted to the crisis and have put in place products adapted (digital, targeted sectors, etc.) to the current contexts in order to meet demand (47%).
Finally, the trend is quite different for MFIs that have exceeded their disbursement targets: the main factor is the strong demand received (78%), while the adjustment of the offer (33%) and the increase in the amounts requested (22%) support this trend.
2. A persistent high credit risk continues to have a significant impact on institutions’ profitability
In parallel to these loan disbursement issues, credit risk remains the major challenge for 64% of our partner MFIs, as we have noted since the beginning of our survey series. While late repayments by customers may still be the result of ongoing moratoria (20% of respondents, particularly in South and Southeast Asia and Latin America and the Caribbean), the majority of moratoria exits have resulted in a shift from the “moratorium” portfolio to the “at risk” portfolio, either as unpaid loans or as restructured loans. In total, 61% of the respondents indicate that fewer than 90% of their customers are repaying their loans, and 25% are concerned by repayment rates below 70%.
Another major difficulty is the decline in profitability of MFIs since the beginning of the COVID-19 crisis. At the end of Q1 2021, 55% of our partners raise this point. More specifically, we find that a share of the respondents managed to maintain some profitability in 2020, thanks to certain measures (33% – shown in green in the graph below). We then find a group of institutions (49% – shown in orange) for which an impact on profitability has been felt, but without endangering the institution. Finally, a last group stands out (18% – shown in red), in a less favourable position since the losses incurred in 2020 have direct consequences on the institutions’ own funds. For some of these institutions, this even implies that the company’s capital falls below the minimum levels required by the regulator or financiers.
The provisioning of the portfolio at risk turns out to be the main factor impacting on profitability in fact (61%). For some institutions (26%), this may moreover have led to a breach of contract with their funders. At the same time, there are still few massive loan write-offs, as only 13% of respondents have already resorted to debt cancellation to a greater extent than in previous years.
The impact of credit risk on the profitability of the MFIs is nonetheless expected to continue in the coming months. Loan write-offs in high proportions, above the usual standards, should concern 25% of our partners surveyed. At the same time, 24% expect that the provisioning of the PAR, notably through the exit of the moratorium, will continue to have a strong impact on their financial results. Finally, it should be noted that the ageing of the current portfolio at risk could also lead to additional provisioning expenses.
3. Strained equity capital leads to a search for investors
The decline in profitability, which could consequently continue in the near future without any improvement in credit risk, must be analysed for the short and long term. In the short term, controlling the portfolio at risk is a major challenge to avoid a (further) deterioration of profitability. This then has a direct impact on the operations of the MFIs. According to our partners, this observation has led the majority of the MFIs to revise their growth projections downwards (55%) for the coming years. It is also apparent that risk management involves paying particular attention to the type of activity of clients (31% have suspended disbursements to certain sectors – often tourism, international trade, etc.) and to eligibility criteria (29%). This increased caution reflects the current emphasis on risk management.
The other angle of reflection for the longer-term is the solvency of microfinance institutions in the face of declining revenues or losses. A majority of institutions today (61%) have not taken any action regarding their capital since the beginning of the crisis. Where this has been the case, existing shareholders have provided support to the MFIs, while subordinated debt (Tier 2 equity capital) has also been put in place, to a lesser extent.
A very high proportion of these institutions (48%) nonetheless report an equity requirement in 2021. This sizeable proportion shows the extent of support needed within the sector to ensure its development. There is no real archetype of MFI that emphasizes this expectation of capital support in 2021: regardless of the size of the MFI, about half of each Tier category expresses capital needs.
To meet these capital expectations, The types of shareholders that microfinance institutions wish to turn to in order to meet these capital expectations depend on the reason why this support is needed. For example, for institutions that mention a need for equity support in 2021, we find that when an MFI needs help to cover losses, it overwhelmingly turns to its existing shareholders (83% of cases, 10/12). Conversely, when MFIs are looking for support to continue to grow, they will more often turn to international investors (56% of cases, 14/25), beyond the potential contribution of existing shareholders. Finally, it is worth noting that subordinated debt may be favoured over capital injection, as this option is mentioned by 5 institutions.
All of our partners’ responses therefore suggest that the impact of the crisis, through credit risk, logically creates equity needs for a large proportion of entities, as they face either financial losses or a limitation in their ability to recover. While 41% of respondents say they will focus on improving the quality of their portfolio this year, our partners remind us of the essential role that international and existing investors will have to play in maintaining a satisfactory level of capitalisation that is conducive to their development.
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(1) The results of the first five 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 responding IMFs per region: EECA 22; SSA 25; LAC 22; SSEA 11; MENA: 7.
(3) Tier 1 means that the MFI manages a portfolio of over $50 million. Tier 2 applies to portfolios of $5 to $50 million, and Tier 3 concerns portfolios of less than $5 million.

Solidarity Bankers mission in favor of Oshun Senegal
A new logistical support/purchasing mission in favor of Oshun Senegal is to be filled. The mission will last 10 days, including 4 remote and 6 field days in France and Senegal from June 2021, first remotely from France and then on the ground in Senegal if health conditions allow it.
Solidarity Bankers is a skills volunteering programme launched by the Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation and Crédit Agricole S.A., open to all Crédit Agricole Group employees. The objective is twofold: on the one hand, to provide technical assistance to microfinance institutions and social impact enterprises financed by the Foundation, and on the other hand, to value the skills of Group employees who want to invest themselves in projects with strong social impact. The missions can be conducted during the working time of the Solidarity Banker (sponsorship by the employer of the Solidarity Banker) AND / OR during the holidays (volunteering).
Founded in March 2018, Oshun is a social enterprise that offers inclusive solutions, particularly by way of solar-powered water kiosks, allowing the most sensitive populations an access to clean water while fostering the establishment of a local community and virtuous ecosystem. Oshun Senegal is completing a process of administrative and HR structuring and wishes to strengthen its support functions, especially in logistics and purchasing.
The selected Crédit Agricole expert will support Oshun from June 2021 in setting up procedures to simplify and secure logistics, purchasing and supply management and to strengthen the staff concerned. The Solidarity Banker must have a solid experience in logistics and purchasing management and, ideally, a training and coaching experience in the purchasing field.
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How to apply?
To see the detailed offers of the missions:
- Go to the CA Solidaires website “Finding your mission“
- Enter in the search bar: “Grameen Foundation”. All the Solidarity Bankers offers will appear!
- Click on the offer of your choice. You will find all the information you need for your application.
More information: cecile.delhomme@credit-agricole-sa.fr

Cross views: 2020, a year marked by the Covid-19 crisis
Jean-Marie Sander, Chairman of the Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation until March 2021 and
Raphaël Appert, Chairman, Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation, as of March 2021 and Vice-Chairman of Crédit Agricole SA and
Fédération Nationale du Crédit Agricole [National Federation of Crédit Agricole]
Just over 30 years ago, Michel Serres shared with us the need for a «Natural Contract» similar to the «Social Contract» which called for a reconciliation between man, nature and the living. 2020 was a terrible year for fragile economies.
The sound health of the Foundation, which has adapted to the economic effects of this crisis throughout the year, is not a mirror image of the dramas that have played out and are still playing out in the territories of our partners, where social shock absorbers are almost non-existent. Faced with the pandemic and its impact on daily life, family solidarity was often the rare relief very low-income populations could rely on.
Although its anthropocentric origin has yet to be demonstrated, this health crisis beckons us to become aware that we are part of nature, reminds us of our humility in the face of the natural order, and entrusts us with the task of not only developing but also of maintaining humanity.
The economic effects of the pandemic have affected the whole world but more particularly vulnerable populations: according to World Bank figures, 150 million people could be pushed rapidly into extreme poverty. For our part, we will avoid complacency about a probable ability to regain a semblance of economic growth, which we all know will not reach the most fragile populations quickly and evenly.
In this economic recovery, the Foundation will mobilise all its efforts in 2021, as there is still much to be done to try and change the mechanism that creates inequalities in the face of tragedy. We shall to that end have to rely on our professionalism, our determination and the values that guide our daily action.
It was with this ambition that we created the Foundation with Professor Yunus in 2008. It is still with this same ambition that we will continue to commit ourselves in the months to come.

The Foundation publishes its 2020 Integrated Report
The Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation publishes its 2020 Integrated Report which traces the highlights and key figures of this year marked by the health and economic crisis linked to Covid-19. Thanks to close monitoring and collaboration with its partners and other players in the inclusive finance sector, the Foundation ended the year with solid results.
As of December 31, 2020, the Foundation followed an outstanding portfolio to €81.2 million in favour of 75 microfinance institutions and 12 social enterprises in 39 countries. Women entrepreneurship and the development of rural economies remain at the heart of the Foundation’s action: 73% of the 7.3 million beneficiaries of the institutions supported are women and 85% live in rural areas.
Since the beginning of the crisis, the Foundation has carried out surveys of the organisations supported to understand the impact of the crisis and better meet their needs[1]. The Foundation also initiated a global coordination with other actors around the key principles to protect microfinance institutions and their clients in the face of the crisis. To date, 30 donors, investors and platforms have signed the engagement of the Coalition.
Thanks to this permanent dialogue with its partners and peers, the Foundation has implemented several measures adapted to support the sector. It has thus granted rollovers to 29 partners, mainly microfinance institutions, for a total amount of €9.4 million. In 2020, the Foundation also supported the organisations through 93 technical assistance missions[2], on priority topics such as business continuity plans but also on issues such as digitisation which is essential for the resumption of their activities.
The Foundation was able to count on the support of its funders to strengthen its action in 2020. It obtained funding from Proparco, the European Investment Bank (EIB) and Crédit Agricole CIB to establish a Covid-19 envelope and support the economic recovery of its partners.
In 2020, the Foundation also worked alongside the Crédit Agricole Group. Via a new cooperation scheme with Crédit Agricole Romania, new funding granted thought the FIR –A CA’s microfinance fund–, and a skills volunteering programme called Solidarity Bankers, the Foundation and Crédit Agricole have stepped up their actions for financial inclusion of the most vulnerable populations. A mission that will remain a priority during 2021 which represents a year of recovery.
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[1] The results of the surveys and other resources are published in the Foundation’s Covid-19 Observatory: //www.gca-foundation.org/en/covid-19-observatory/
[2] More information on the Foundation’s technical assistance offer: //www.gca-foundation.org/en/technical-assistance/

Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation’s role to respond to the crisis

Soukeyna Ndiaye Bâ has been a Director of the Foundation’s Board since its creation. Engaged in the promotion of women entrepreneurs for more than 20 years, she is also Executive Director of INAFI (International Network of Alternative Financial Institutions) a global network of organisations that support microfinance programmes. Abdul Hai Khan is a Foundation’s Director and the Managing Director of Grameen Trust. He is also Board member of diferent microfinance and social business organisations in Australia, Bangladesh, China, France, India, Kosovo, Italy, USA and Yemen.
1/ Directors of the Foundation, you are also both international experts and microfinance practitioners. Can you share with us your analysis of the crisis and more particularly on the territories that you know well?
Soukeyna Ndiaye Bâ: In Africa, the current toll is close to 100,000 deaths and more than 3.7 million people infected, but these figures do not reflect the reality in the continent because there is no mass screening due to a lack of resources. Because of restrictions and border closures to contain the pandemic, the economic crisis has not spared the African continent. In this context, small-scale entrepreneurs, smallholder farmers and informal sector workers are directly afected. On the front line: women, both in rural and urban areas, who are very active in the informal sector. In Senegal, for example, about 94% of women entrepreneurs operate in the informal sector. In rural areas, in addition to the gravity of the economic situation, the already alarming health precariousness and dificulty in accessing healthcare may worsen.
Abdul Hai Khan: Current death toll in Asia is approximately 417,000, while the number of infected cases stands at more than 26 million. Schools in East Asia and the Pacific have been completely closed for more than 25 million children for almost an entire year. Covid-19 has slowed growth in East Asia and the Pacific (EAP) as it has significantly reduced economic activity, including tourism and trade. Growth in the AEP region, excluding China, is forecast to slow to 1.3% in 2020 from 4.7% in 2019. Millions of households have been afected by the loss of jobs and income (including remittances), while they still have to cover basic expenses or service debt. Consequently, the percentage of poor people has increased.
2/ How do microfinance and social business mitigate the efects of the economic crisis?
AHK: By improving access to essential services, microfinance institutions and social businesses strengthen the resilience of low-income populations, including small-scale entrepreneurs from the formal and informal sectors and smallholder farmers. They are therefore essential to protect the most vulnerable populations, severely afected by the efects of the economic and health crisis during the Covid-19 pandemic. To cope with this pandemic, many microfinance institutions have innovated and increased their support to their clients. For example, they have restructured loans to better support the most afected clients and accelerated their digital transformation, by introducing or improving cashless transactions through mobile banking channels and by creating virtual branches.
3/ What is the outlook for the years to come?
AHK: The magnitude of the damage that Covid-19 pandemic has brought in the world is huge. However, it ofers us a unique opportunity to improve, or even redefine, our economic structures by relaying on social and environmental consciousness. We should not call it a ‘recovery’ programme but a ‘reconstruction’ programme. In this comprehensive reconstruction plan, social entrepreneurship can play an essential role, as it can be a lever to transform unemployed people into entrepreneurs. Financial inclusion can help economic recovery go hand in hand with social development.
SB: The world is threatened with recession and food and social crisis. Building the «after Covid» world must therefore be multi-sectoral and focused on innovation. We must learn from the problems encountered during this crisis: better assess and anticipate risks, strengthen our socio-economic models and rethink our public policies to better protect the most vulnerable populations. Women entrepreneurs will have a key role to play in boosting the economy. Supporting female entrepreneurship will be a lever for women empowerment and the development of rural and urban economies. Digital will be a major tool to encourage entrepreneurship, modernise, develop and innovate.

The Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation signs the Climate Manifesto
Following the official launch of the French Coalition of Foundations for the Climate on November 18, the Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation signed, alongside 80 other organisations, the Manifesto of the new French Coalition of Foundations for the Climate (CFFC).
Launched by the Centre Français des Fondations and its partners, the Climate Coalition brings together foundations and endowment funds with a common goal: act together in the fight against climate change. The Coalition will promote the good practices of signatories, produce work on engagement of the philanthropic sector and mobilise human and financial resources to support initiatives to address the climate crisis.
The Foundation and its action in favour of the resilience of rural economies
Through funding to microfinance institutions and investments in enterprises located in rural areas, with a strong social and environmental impact, the Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation is positioning itself as an actor that promotes the resilience of rural economies in the face of climate change.
With a portfolio of € 87 million as of March 2021, the Foundation mainly supports organisations that contribute to rural development in Africa, Asia and Europe. Thus, out of the 7.3 million beneficiaries of funded microfinance institutions, 85% live in rural areas. In addition, the Foundation supports, through technical assistance, enterprises that promote more sustainable agricultural practices.
With the signing of the Manifesto but also the membership of the French Centre for Funds and Foundations (CFF), the Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation reaffirms the inclusion of the climate issue in its practices and strategy, and calls for other actors of the inclusive finance sector to commit to this global issue.

Online Solidarity Bankers missions to be filled
Three online Solidarity Bankers missions are currently to be filled. Solidarity Bankers is a skills volunteering programme launched by the Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation and Crédit Agricole S.A., open to all Crédit Agricole Group employees. The objective is twofold: on the one hand, to provide technical assistance to microfinance institutions and social impact enterprises financed by the Foundation, and on the other hand, to value the skills of Group employees who want to invest themselves in projects with strong social impact.
The missions can be conducted during the working time of the Solidarity Banker (sponsorship by the employer of the Solidarity Banker) AND / OR during the holidays (volunteering). For the 3 missions below, the Solidarity Bankers will devote a total of 15 working days to the mission. Each selected expert will work remotely and devote the equivalent of one day per week, for 15 weeks, to the mission.
“Digital Strategy” missions in favour of OXUS (Kyrgyzstan)
OXUS Kyrgyzstan (OKG) is a microfinance institution that provides financial services to working poor and underbanked people in Kyrgyzstan. The institution serves 8,000 active borrowers (48% of whom are women and 62% live in rural areas) and manages a portfolio of €6.4 million. The average outstanding loan is €798.
A Solidarity Banker mission is planned for July 2021 to support OKG in the evaluation of its digitalisation processes and the drafting of a new digital strategy. The expert sought is a Crédit Agricole employee with experience in IT project management, fluent in English (knowledge of Russian is a plus).
“Financial management” mission in favour of FATEN (Palestine)
FATEN is a microfinance institution based in Palestine. The institution serves 26,244 active borrowers (34% of whom are women and 68% live in rural areas) and manages a portfolio of €108 million.
The selected Crédit Agricole expert will support FATEN in updating financial procedures, policies and tools. The Solidarity Banker must be fluent in English and have knowledge of international standards relating to financial reporting and in particular, the latest changes to IFRS 16 and IFRS 9. The mission is to be filled as soon as possible.
“Digital Strategy” mission in favour of Smart Credit (Moldova)
Smart Credit is a microfinance institution that provides financial services to socially disadvantaged people and small entrepreneurs in Moldova. The institution has over 3,000 active borrowers (54% of whom are women and 69% are clients in rural areas) and manages a portfolio of €4.4 million.
The Solidarity Banker will help build the digital strategy of Smart Credit. The expert is an employee of the Crédit Agricole group who is fluent in English and with experience in IT project management. The mission is to be filled as soon as possible.
How to apply?
To see the detailed offers of the missions:
- Go to the CA Solidaires website “Finding your mission“
- Enter in the search bar: “Grameen Foundation”. All the Solidarity Leave offers will appear!
- Click on the offer of your choice. You will find all the information you need for your application.
More information: carolina.viguet@credit-agricole-sa.fr

KOSSAM and the digital payment for farmers in Senegal
Supported by the Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation, CA Franche Comté and Amundi, Kossam SDE is a subsidiary of Laiterie du Berger that aims to structure and strengthen the dairy industry in Senegal. In February 2020, Kossam SDE successfully launched the dematerialisation of the “payroll” for more than 850 farmers contributing to the improvement of their living and working conditions. Spotlight on the interview for Portail FinDev of Jonathan Michaud (former Solidarity Banker of CA Franche Comté) Director for the past 3 years of Kossam SDE) and Mamadou Fall, his Deputy Director, who shed light on this transformation.
1. What used to be a typical payroll day before the transition to digital payroll?
Jonathan Michaud & Mamadou Fall: Until February 2020, all farmers were paid in cash during one or two specific paydays. Farmers used to travel to the factory in Richard Toll to collect the money due to them. Firstly, the cash payment was inconvenient for the farmers. They had to arrive early in the morning and sometimes wait all day in high temperatures. In addition, farmers were forced to come to Richard Toll on a specific day to get paid, without being able to make it fit in with their other travel. It was also laborious for Kossam SDE, as the teams had to handle cash for two days with some pressure linked to the waiting time of the farmers, which can lead to errors.
In November 2019, the Kossam SDE team decided to digitalise and the first digital payroll took place in February 2020.
2. What are the concrete benefits of digitalisation for farmers?
JM & MF: We have identified 5 benefits for farmers:
- Time saving. Today, a farmer no longer has to wait hours to receive the payment.
- Security. Everyone knew which day the farmers received their pay, which could potentially create a context of insecurity with risks of theft.
- Flexibility. Now all farmers receive their money on the same date, but collect it when they want.
- Cost. The majority of farmers do not live in Richard Toll and travelling there has a cost. They can now optimise the cost of their journey by deciding the day they will collect their money.
- Traceability. Each farmer is identified in our database with his/her telephone number and identity card. We can therefore be sure that it is the farmer who is receiving the money, as we know which telephone number the funds are being sent to.
3. What solution have you put in place with Wizall Money to pay farmers?
JM & MF: The vast majority of our farmers do not have a smartphone. They have a basic phone that can only receive and send calls and SMS. We therefore opted for a code sent directly to the farmers’ phones. With this code and their ID, farmers go to the Wizall Money kiosk of their choice to withdraw their money. The beneficiaries (farmers) pay the costs associated with this service.
The introduction of this solution has clearly removed a considerable number of constraints for farmers, including time and organisation. In addition, we feared that farmers would be reluctant to pay for their money. However, the question of cost was not mentioned. On the contrary, it costs them much less than paying for transport to Richard Toll on a specific day of the month. We have not had any complaints in this regard.
4. More than a year after the digitisation was implemented, where do you stand? What is the next step?
JM & MF: The digitisation of the payroll was implemented just before the Covid-19 hit Senegal in March 2020, where drastic measures were quickly taken: curfews, forbidden gatherings, etc. Without digitisation, farmers would not have been able to move and would not have been paid.
Today, we are moving on to the second and final stage of payroll transformation. Indeed, there are 2 disadvantages to the SMS codes that our farmers receive on their phones: you need to have your own phone, which is not the case for all our farmers, and you also need a network. The main problem was that some people never received the code, so we had to keep paying them in cash.
To deal with this situation, we have provided all our farmers with an individual NFC card. The payment will be sent to this card in an electronic purse. Farmers can then go to a Wizall Money kiosk, hand over their card, enter their PIN and withdraw all or part of their money. There are no more network constraints and no more obligation to withdraw all the money paid in. This major innovation allows us to enter into new uses and services that are a form of micro-savings and passive savings.
From now on, we will be working on various subjects that digitalisation will enable us to tackle more effectively and with greater peace of mind: access to health insurance, development of savings and financial education.
Full interview in French on FinDev
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(1) The Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation and Crédit Agricole Franche Comté, shareholders of Laiterie du Berger, supported the creation of Kossam SDE as part of a technical assistance mission Solidarity Bankers, a skills volunteering programme of the Crédit Agricole Group. An agricultural engineer from the Regional Bank, who led the mission in 2018, left for 3 years to coordinate the launch of Kossam SDE. He is Jonathan Michaud, today General Manager of Kossam SDE.

Solidarity Bankers missions to be filled in Georgia, Kyrgyzstan and South Africa
Launched in June 2018 at the initiative of the Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation and Crédit Agricole SA, Solidarity Bankers is a skills volunteering programme aimed at all Crédit Agricole Group employees in favour of microfinance institutions and social impact businesses supported by the Foundation. Three new missions are to be filled in 2021 in Georgia, Kyrgyzstan and South Africa.
“Marketing Strategy” mission in Georgia
Lazika Capital, one of the leading microfinance institutions in Georgia. Established in 2000, Lazika provides financial services to low-income people, smallholder farmers and microentrepreneurs. The organisation operates through 18 branches, mainly in rural areas of Georgia (70% of active borrowers are rural).
The Solidarity Bankers mission aims to support Lazika in the development of a marketing plan for mid-2021-2022. If the health context allows it, the mission will be carried out in June or July 2021 in Georgia. If not, the mission will be postponed.
“Social and environmental performance” mission in Kyrgyzstan
Salym is a microfinance institution that provides affordable loans and deposits to support income-generating activities of low-income populations in Kyrgyzstan. The organisation currently has 23 branches across Kyrgyzstan and serves over 18,000 active borrowers, 52% of whom are women and 70% of whom live in rural areas.
A two-week Solidarity Bankers mission is planned to support Salym in managing its social and environmental performance. If the health context allows it, the mission will be carried out in September or October 2021 in Kyrgyzstan. If not, the mission can be carried out online.
“AML-CFT” mission in South Africa
SEF is a microfinance institution established in 1992 that provides financial and non-financial services to poor people in South Africa. The institution has 225,317 active borrowers (100% of women in living rural areas).
A Solidarity Bankers mission is to be filled to support SEF in the framing and training of its key employees on the risks associated with money laundering and the financing of terrorism. The field mission will take place in South Africa over a two-weeks period, if the sanitary conditions linked to Covid-19 allow it.
Two online missions are still available
A first “digital / IT” mission is available to support Smart Credit, a microfinance institution funded by the Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation in Moldova. The mission of the Solidarity Banker will be to help build the digital strategy of Smart Credit. A second “financial management” mission is to be filled in favour of FATEN, a microfinance institution located in Palestine. The Crédit Agricole expert will support FATEN in updating financial procedures, policies and tools. These missions will be carried out remotely at the rate of one day per week, for 15 weeks.
How to apply?
To access the detailed offers of the missions:
- Go to the CA Solidaires website “Find a project“
- Enter in the search bar: “Grameen Foundation”. All the Solidarity Bankers’ offers will appear!
- Click on the offer of your choice. You will find all the information you need to apply.
Further information: carolina.viguet@credit-agricole-sa.fr

OSHUN steps up its action to promote access to water in Senegal and Burkina Faso
More than 2 billion people around the world lack access to safely-managed drinking water services (*). In Sub-Saharan Africa, 40% of the population does not have access to water, mainly in rural areas and 135 million people, mainly women and girls, travel more than 30 minutes per day to have access to drinking water.
It is in that context that OSHUN, created at the end of 2017 and a partner of the Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation since 2018, deploys an innovative water access solution in rural areas. Through an economic model based on local entrepreneurship, OSHUN provides accessible quality water services at water kiosks, running on solar energy. These kiosks are managed by local entrepreneurs working as franchisees and integrate a digital component that optimizes their good management. This service, which is expected to develop widely in West Africa, has started in rural and peri-urban areas of Senegal and Burkina Faso.
Today, in addition to the kiosks, OSHUN is also working on installing water treatment systems in schools and health centres funded by public, private and solidarity partners. In collaboration with the NGO Marseille Provence Afrique Coopération, OSHUN has installed, since 2018, 120 water treatment systems in schools and health centers in Senegal. To date, this project serves around 40,000 beneficiaries with access to free drinking water. In addition to the installation and maintenance of equipment, OSHUN, in conjunction with community relays, sets up public awareness activities to help change behaviours. In the same spirit, the German Cooperation Agency for development (GIZ) has just ordered a turnkey project to OSHUN for the installation of 30 devices in health posts located in areas without electricity in Senegal.
In Burkina Faso, OSHUN is strengthening its action alongside the Société du Canal de Provence (SCP) as prime contractors in the rehabilitation of water pumps and the installation of water kiosks in 27 villages in the municipality of Bobo Dioulasso (second largest city in the country). Thus, the populations will be able to have access in the same place to raw water for domestic use and treated water for consumption. This project, which is to be completed in April 2021, will reach nearly 70,000 beneficiaries.
More information on OSHUN here.
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(*) Nations Unies

The Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation acts for financial inclusion in India

With about 190 million adults without a bank account, India has –after China– the second-largest unbanked population in the world (World Bank). The microfinance sector has become a key instrument to fight financial exclusion in the country by providing financial and non-financial services to people excluded from the banking system. The sector has shown spectacular development: it reaches 60 million borrowers, for a total portfolio of 27 billion euros.
To support the development of microfinance in India, Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation has granted a loan of 3 million euros over 3 years to Pahal Financial Services Private Limited, an Ahmedabad (Gujarat) based microfinance institution. Since its creation in 2011, Pahal has served nearly 750,000 customers, mainly women borrowers, across 167 branches with total assets under management of 81 million euros. Today, Pahal is one of the fastest growing microfinance institutions in India thanks to innovative and diverse product offering for low-income people.
“With this new partnership, the Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation strengthens its action in favour of financial inclusion and women empowerment in India. This funding is our first direct exposure in India, using the External Commercial Borrowing channel recently opened by the Reserve Bank of India. The company has shown in many occasions its resilience and we trust that Pahal, its clients and the whole industry are recovering fast from this crisis”, said Caroline Brandt, Senior Investment Manager at the Foundation.
“Grameen Credit Agricole Foundation’s debt line is a validation of Pahal’s business model and displays the resilience of the microfinance sector in India”, said Kartik Mehta, Co-Founder and Managing Director. “We at Pahal are determined to be a part of financial inclusion agenda for the vulnerable sections of the society. This money will be used to onlend to the women borrowers of Pahal”, added Purvi Bhavsar, Co-Founder and Managing Director.
The Foundation’s financial support comes at a time when the microfinance sector is emerging out of the Covid-19 crisis. After lockdown relaxation, the anticipated microcredit demands are expected to trigger swift recovery of the sector. Pahal, in partnership with the Foundation, will support its borrowers to help them restart their businesses.

SINAPI Aba and its work for women entrepreneurship in Ghana
Launched by the Canadian government in 2017, the FINEDEV (Financial Inclusion for Enterprise Development) programme promotes business development through financial inclusion in Ghana. The programme is implemented by Sinapi Aba Savings and Loans, a non-bank financial institution supported by the Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation.
FINEDEV aims to improve access to finance, financial education and entrepreneurial training for small and medium enterprises (SMEs), women and vulnerable groups in Ghana. For Sinapi, the focus is on women entrepreneurship as 70% of its clients are women.
Networking and entrepreneurship training
The programme is based on two strands of action. The first is networking through events and training for women entrepreneurs. Through these meetings, participants have the opportunity to share their experience, learn about entrepreneurship and connect with other local women entrepreneurs. Since the beginning of the programme, Sinapi has organised 310 networking events and 447 trainings for more than 30 000 participants.
A second strand is the “Women Mentorship” programme. It brings together women entrepreneurs who have already received business training from Sinapi Aba, with less experienced women. Each “mentor” woman advises and supports other women entrepreneurs in building their businesses. The programme has already brought together 156 participants, including 52 mentor women and 104 coached entrepreneurs.
With FINEDEV, Sinapi is strengthening its action in favour of women’s financial inclusion in an innovative and sustainable way. Initially planned for a period of 4 years, FINEDEV has been extended for another year and is expected to end in 2022. After the official end of the project, Sinapi Aba plans to continue supporting its clients’ projects by maintaining its mentoring and networking activities for women.

[Covid-19] The Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation in 2020
Eric Campos, Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation
In 2020, the Foundation supported 80 microfinance institutions and social enterprises in 39 countries around the world. With the Covid-19 pandemic, the Foundation established a permanent dialogue with all the partner organisations and adapted its financial and technical support. The Foundation also coordinated with other key players of the inclusive finance sectors to develop commun solutions and better protect the microfinance institutions and their clients. Spotlight on an interview to Eric Campos, Managing Director of the Foundation, and some key figures of the activity in 2020.
The Covid-19 crisis has affected the microfinance sector around the world
Eric Campos: 2020 has been a very challenging year for the partners of the Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation, microfinance institutions and social environmental impact enterprises. Very trying because the final beneficiaries, who are very dependent on sectors such as trade, agriculture and craft, had to deal with lockdown measures and therefore had the greatest difficulty in developing their income generating activities.
The Foundation has adapted itself to better support entrepreneurs in the field
EC: The Foundation’s teams focused on all actions that could allow these institutions, these enterprises to save time and adapt to the economic effects of this crisis. At the international level, we coordinated an agreement with international funders to avoid a liquidity crisis in the microfinance sector. At the Foundation level, we have granted a number of rollovers, we have supported institutions and enterprises by organising technical assistance missions to enable them to improve on risk management and on treasury management. We have been present throughout this year, alongside our long-standing partner institutions of the Foundation.
What prospects for 2021?
EC: In 2021, we are still in a crisis context. We are seeing some small signs of economic recovery in about a third of the countries in which the Foundation operates. In 2021, the Foundation will strengthen its technical assistance programme. We will continue to finance our partners, to support them, and we are cautious but confident in the economic recovery that we are already starting to see. Our commitment: help our partners get through this global crisis.

One Year On: What a Year of Surveys Tell Us About Covid-19 and microfinance
Maxime Borgogno, Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation
Spotlight on the interview of Maxime Borgogno for FinDev. Maxime is Investment Manager for the Asia and Central Europe region at Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation.
Since the beginning of the pandemic, Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation has been monitoring how the microfinance sector is responding to the crisis caused by Covid-19. One year later, what have you learned?
Maxime Borgogno : While the immediate consequences microfinance institutions (MFIs) faced were an increase in portfolio at risk and a reduction in their portfolio, the operational crisis did not lead to a total failure of the sector as feared at the beginning. In fact, we have seen many MFIs proactively adapting to the new context: they took adequate management measures while maintaining a responsible approach with their clients. Only a small proportion of surveyed institutions had to lay off staff during the crisis, and the ones in the most affected countries have successfully transitioned to remote systems. Most MFIs implemented loan restructuring to relieve affected clients. Some, especially in Southeast Asia, provided customers with emergency kits (food, sanitary equipment, etc.). They even explored new opportunities such as digital channels for loan repayment to adapt to the situation.
In general, MFIs remain optimistic about the future, based on a good understanding of current challenges and the experience built in 2020. While the crisis is not over and there are still challenges ahead, the sector has the capacity to meet them.
What are some of the key challenges that lie ahead? Why do you think the sector has the capacity to overcome them?
MB: The situation remains unpredictable and depends on the country. A MFI may come to face significant operational constraints very quickly, which will limit its activity. The latest data shows that nearly 75% of MFIs are facing a higher risk portfolio than before the crisis. Therefore, they will have to find a balance between carefully managing this risk while continuing to disburse new loans to their clients. It is now clear that the Covid-19 crisis has disrupted certain sectors, companies’ structures and ways of doing business. MFIs will need to account for these major changes in their strategy for the coming years.
Over the past year, we have seen MFIs remain fully committed to their social mission. They have proven their resilience and capacity to adapt during an unprecedented crisis. With poverty levels increasing due to the crisis, the mission of microfinance is more relevant than ever.
How did you monitor the situation over the past year?
MB: We launched the first monthly survey in March 2020 with 75 MFIs we support. The objective was to gather first impressions on the situation as well as the potential impact on their activities and their clients. In June 2020, we joined forces with ADA and Inpulse to expand the reach of the survey to more than 100 MFIs, including in Latin America and the Caribbean, where the Foundation does not have a presence. Since September, we have moved towards a quarterly format to avoid overloading the institutions in a period of resumption of their activities. The next survey will be in March.
The survey results, as well as other articles related to the Covid-19 crisis, are available on The Covid-19 Observatory, a space created by the Foundation at the onset of the pandemic.
Microfinance institutions often don’t have the capacity to respond to surveys, especially when they have a major crisis to deal with. What helped you to continue gathering data among them?
MB: From the very beginning, we chose not to ask MFIs detailed financial information, but rather to gather their impressions and observations on the impact of the crisis. We deliberately kept the number of questions low and made sure they were as clear as possible. We also avoided requesting the same information they send us in their regular monthly reports.
We insist on a high level of communication with our partners, so we share the results of the surveys with them as soon as they are available and remain open to their feedback in this process. Comments from our respondents have helped us to adapt the wording of the questions and the content of the questionnaire. We believe that their involvement in the process is a key motivator for our partner MFIs to continue participating in the survey.
How do you see this crisis shaping the future of microfinance? Are you worried about the future of the sector?
MB: 2020 was a historic year that demonstrated the resilience of the microfinance sector. MFIs innovated and strengthened their services to protect their clients. At the same time, lenders and other stakeholders coordinated among themselves to adopt the most suitable measures to support MFIs. The last survey we conducted on the impact of the Covid-19 crisis reveals that most institutions expect their activity to grow in 2021, in terms of both portfolio volume and number of clients.
However, many of the most affected institutions will need support from their shareholders and lenders. As credit risk gradually translates into losses in 2021, the responsiveness of investors will be fundamental and is a forthcoming topic for the Foundation’s Covid-19 Observatory.
The crisis is not yet behind us, but we are encouraged for the future of the sector. Digital transformation, coordination between stakeholders and innovation will be essential to strengthen the resilience and impact of microfinance.
Source: FinDev

SSNUP programme finances its first agricultural project in Senegal

To support small-scale farmers, the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation and the Luxembourg Directorate for Development Cooperation and Humanitarian Action, under the coordination of ADA, have launched the SSNUP (Smallholder Safety Net Upscaling Programme). With a budget of €55 million over 10 years, the programme aims to sustainably strengthen the safety nets of smallholder farmers in Africa, Latin America and Asia by stimulating the development of agricultural value chains.
The programme draws on the technical assistance knowledge and expertise of impact investment funds already active in this area. The Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation is one of the impact investors in charge of the SSNUP implementation. It will provide its expertise in technical assistance to the organisations it supports – microfinance institutions and social enterprises– in order to design and develop financial and non-financial solutions for agricultural risks mitigation and transfer of the different value chain actors.
An impact agricultural project in Senegal
The first organisation supported by the Foundation within the programme is SFA (Sénégalaise des Filières Alimentaires), a social enterprise that works for the development of an inclusive rice value chain in Senegal. Created in 2013, SFA produces white rice from paddy cultivated by small producers in the Senegal River Valley. It provides them with technical support through training on best agricultural practices and facilitates their access to the market and to financing by putting them in relation with local lenders.
Despite the technical support provided by SFA, the small-scale producers’ yields remained below their potential. This is mainly because farmers are still reluctant to implement the agricultural practices promoted by SFA without experiencing their positive effects first.
The SSNUP will strengthen this technical support for producers through a technical assistant mission with a budget of €11,000. This 6-month project aims to create 20 demonstration fields in SFA’s operation areas, in which best agricultural practices will be implemented. These reference fields will allow training some sixty producers on the best practices to optimise their production and to demonstrate to all producers in the area the positive impacts of these practices on agricultural yields and production quality. Exchange sessions and training led by the trained producers will enable them to share their learning with over 2,000 small-scale producers.
The expected results of this project are based on 3 pillars: capacity building of the trained farmers; increasing production and its quality for the trained farmers; increasing the income of the trained farmers and their households. This high impact project will contribute directly to the rice value chain development and food security in Senegal.

Survey on the financial inclusion of people with disabilities in Cambodia
In Cambodia, at least 10% of the population have some form of disability, and are often victims of social and economic exclusion and stigma. Strengthening their ability to use financial services can contribute to breaking the cycle between disability and poverty. In this context, a study was carried out by Chamroeun Microfinance Plc and Good return to better understand the needs and obstacles faced by people with disabilities in accessing financial services.
The results of the study show the link between disability and exclusion and the still untapped opportunities to break this cycle. Indeed, while only 30% of the 513 respondents have used financial services, over 50% are considering a future loan, mainly for entrepreneurial activities, and 90% see the benefits in attending financial education training.
This study will help structure the “Education & Access: Responsible Service for People with Disabilities” project under the Australia-Cambodia Cooperation for Equitable Sustainable Services (ACCESS) Programme which aims to improve access for people with disabilities to responsible finance.
Supported by the Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation since 2010, Chamroeun Microfinance Plc is a Cambodian microfinance institution that provides financial services to the poorest populations and also offers them training and support services. It now serves nearly 43,000 clients, 81% of whom are women and 65% of whom live in rural areas.
Access the study here

The impact of Credit Agricole’s FIR Fund in 2020
FIR (the Fund for Inclusive Finance in Rural Areas) is a Crédit Agricole impact fund which promotes financial inclusion in developing countries by financing rural microfinance institutions. As at 31 December 2020, FIR registered subscriptions from 21 Regional Banks , Amundi and CA Assurances for a total of €9.75 million, supporting 5 microfinance institutions that serve nearly 80,000 low-income people in Africa, Asia and Europe.
In 2020, due to the Covid-19 crisis, a close follow-up was carried out with the organisations financed by the FIR in order to adjust the support to each organisation. Among the measures, an international coalition was created, at the initiative of the Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation -FIR’s advisor-, to protect microfinance institutions and their clients against the consequences of the crisis.
Around thirty investors and key players of the sector, including CA Indosuez Wealth (Asset Management) -FIR’s manager-, have committed themselves to this coalition and are coordinating the granting of maturity extensions, technical assistance and information sharing in order to avoid a liquidity crisis in the sector and strengthen the resilience of microfinance institutions in this complex period.
The full report is available here (in French)
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(*) Crédit Agricole Assurance, Amundi et 21 Caisses régionales (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 et Touraine Poitou).

New Solidarity Bankers missions available to Crédit Agricole employees
Launched in 2018 by the Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation and Crédit Agricole S.A, Solidarity Bankers is a skills volunteering programme open to Crédit Agricole Group employees in favour of microfinance institutions and social impact enterprises supported by the Foundation. Two new online missions are to be filled in favour of microfinance institutions in Moldova and Palestine.
TYPES OF SOLIDARITY BANKERS MISSIONS
There are two types of missions: missions abroad and online missions. They can take place during the employee’s working time (sponsored by the employer of the Solidarity Banker) AND / OR during vacation (volunteering).
Between 2018 and 2020, 20 missions were launched, of which 13 were carried out and seven are in progress, both as skills-based sponsorship and volunteering missions. This is a great success, which demonstrates the commitment of employees and the Group to support projects with a social impact.
TWO MISSIONS TO BE FILLED
A first “digital / IT” mission is available to support Smart Credit, a microfinance institution funded by the Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation in Moldova. The mission of the Solidarity Banker will be to help build the digital strategy of Smart Credit. The selected Crédit Agricole expert will work remotely and devote the equivalent of one day per week, for 15 weeks, to the mission. Smart Credit provides financial services to socially disadvantaged people and small entrepreneurs in Moldova. The institution has over 3,000 active borrowers (54% of women and 69% of clients living in rural areas) and manages a portfolio of €4.4 million.
A second “financial management” mission is to be filled in favour of FATEN, a microfinance institution located in Palestine. The Crédit Agricole expert will support FATEN in updating financial procedures, policies and tools. He / She will work remotely one day a week, for 15 weeks. FATEN provides financial services to low-income Palestinian entrepreneurs and individuals. In December 2020, the institution served 26,244 active borrowers (34% of women and 68% of rural clients) and managed a portfolio of €108 million.
HOW TO APPLY?
Submit your application on the CA Solidaires website here.
Contact
Carolina VIGUET
Head of Communication & Partnerships
carolina.viguet@credit-agricole-sa.fr

Newsletter #38: The resilience of microfinance in the face of the Covid-19 crisis

The Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation publishes its Newsletter #38, which highlights the impact of Covid-19 and the actions undertaken by the Foundation and the organisations supported to face it. 2020 marked the world with an unprecedented crisis, but what will also remain at the end of this historic year is the resilience of the inclusive finance sector.
Signs of this resilience are presented in the results of the 5th survey carried out since the beginning of the pandemic by the Foundation, ADA and Inpulse among funded microfinance institutions to know the impact of the crisis on their activities and to better support them. A very large majority of the institutions supported expect their activity to growth in 2021, in terms of portfolio volume and number of clients.
The Foundation has also launched an International Coalition to act in concert with other players of the sector and better assist the supported organisations, both financially and through technical assistance missions in this period of crisis. In this issue of the Newsletter, you will discover the testimony of OXUS Kyrgyzstan, a microfinance institution that has benefited from additional support from the Foundation within the framework of the Coalition.
We also share with you the testimony of Daniel Hoarau, IT Manager of Crédit Agricole La Réunion, who went to Bosnia-Herzegovina to support a microfinance institution as part of a Solidarity Bankers mission, a skills volunteering programme open to all employees of the Crédit Agricole Group in favour of organisations financed by the Foundation.

Ugafode and the financial inclusion for refugees
Supported by the Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation since 2015, UGAFODE Microfinance Limited is a microfinance institution that offers inclusive financial and non-financial services to low income, but economically active populations in Uganda. UGAFODE is one of the three organisations supported by a programme launched by the Foundation, The Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida) and the UN Refugee Agency to support the financial inclusion of refugees. Thanks to the financial and technical support, UGAFODE opened a branch in Nakivale Refugee Settlement in Uganda. Spotlight on an interview to Shafi Nambobi, CEO of UGAFODE.
1. In a few words, what is UGAFODE Microfinance Limited?
UGAFODE Microfinance Limited began in 1994 as an NGO focused on group credit for women and has since transformed into a Microfinance deposit-taking institution regulated by Bank of Uganda. The institution specifically targets low income but economically active population in the country through 7 urban and 12 rural branches, serving over 110,000 savings customers and 8,000 loan clients. We offer a variety of financial services, which include savings, loans and money transfer services with a loan portfolio of €12.1 million and savings volume of €6 million.
2. UGAFODE received an innovative support from the Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation, the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida) and the UN Refugee Agency in 2019, when it was selected as beneficiary of a programme to support financial inclusion for refugees. Can you explain the initiative and the support UGAFODE received?
Most of the refugees have been discriminated against and denied credit facilities from financial institutions as they are viewed to be too risky, despite being engaged in agriculture plus retail trade and commerce. In March 2020, UGAFODE was the first financial services institution to set up a physical branch in a refugee settlement in Uganda thanks to the programme. Nakivale refugee settlement is the 8th largest in the world hosting over 134,000 refugees from 13 countries. The total project budget is €536,780 with €396,882 coming from Sida and €139,810 contributed by UGAFODE in three years. Furthermore, the Foundation also granted a new loan of €540,000 in July 2020, of which 50% will be used in the framework of the refugees programme, to lend to refugees and host populations.
3. What are the first outcomes of the project?
Clearly, the project has passed the proof-of-concept stage. Since the opening of the Nakivale’s branch, 505 loans totalling to €383,596 have been disbursed between 2nd March 2020 and 31st December 2020, mainly to support small and medium enterprises and agriculture individual loans. It is important to note that all this has been achieved under Covid-19 crisis. The Portfolio At Risk (PAR) is at 1.65% for 1 day and 0% for 30 days, which is remarkable and appreciated. Moreover, we have reach over 5,000 refugees with financial literacy messages and 2,534 clients have opened savings with a total of €65,112. A total of 5,301 refugees have received €776,345 through money transfer services from friends and relatives at the Nakivale branch in the nine months since the branch was opened. We currently employ 21 staff with 8 refugees at Nakivale plus 4 in the Call Centre in Kampala to manage customer complaints in the major refugee languages.
4. How did Covid-19 pandemic affect the project? What measures have been taken to face the crisis?
The project implementation and opening of the branch happened at the beginning of the Covid-19 crisis. Fortunately, as government rendered financial services as essential, the Nakivale branch was able to offer needed services to the settlement clients on a very positive note. UGAFODE has been able to adjust its policies and procedures to serve refugees within the regulation guidelines. We recruited refugee staff at the Call Centre to provide guidance and information to the clients. We also built a branch extension to provide sufficient space to ensure safety of both staff and customers. Furthermore, we granted rescheduling options to the clients with loans to support them in this period of crisis. The Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation and KIVA supported us to face the crisis. The Foundation granted us flexible budget lines within core lines to cater for crisis’ uncertainties. The Branch operates under strict COVID 19 SOPs (Standard Operating Procedures) instituted by the Ministry of Health and Government. We will also be able to buy 3 more motorcycles to enable the branch staff reach out to more clients, easily and faster.
5. What are now the priorities of the project?
There are three priorities :
- Scale up financial literacy trainings to raise awareness of at least 8,800 refugees and 8,000 host communities in year 2 and 15,500 refugees and 14,000 host communities in the last year of the project.
- Conduct a customer survey to facilitate informed decisions and develop products tailored to refugees.
- Roll out the project model to other settlements. After Nakivale, the project is going to be replicated to other refugee settlements at the earliest. Initial feasibility studies have been conducted for Kyaka, Kyangwali and Rwamwanja refugee settlements.

OXUS Kyrgyzstan and its six commandments for the Covid-19 crisis
Interview with Denis Khomyakov, CEO, OXUS Kyrgyzstan
Since the beginning of the Covid-19 crisis, the Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation has worked on several initiatives to better support the microfinance sector. OXUS Kyrgyzstan is one of the microfinance institutions that has benefited from the Foundation’s response to the crisis. Five questions to Denis Khomyakov, CEO of OXUS Kyrgyzstan (OKG)
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The Covid-19 crisis has strongly influenced Kyrgyzstan’s economy and your organisation. What measures have you adopted to cope with it?
The crisis has hit the economy and the health system of Kyrgyzstan hard. With border closures and lockdowns, industry and agriculture declined, and transport services collapsed. Although new activities emerged (such as delivery services), Covid-19 affected the country’s economy and by extension our clients and business.
In this context, we were well prepared at OKG. As early as February, we first protected our staff with home-based work or short time working at 2/3 of the salary; which involved the digitalisation of our activities. In May, we adopted both remote and on-site work, thanks to the required anti-Covid measures foreseen in the Covid-19 Business Continuity Plan (BCP), which quickly became operational.
We always made sure to communicate well. To achieve this, we first set up a Covid-19 Committee consisting of members from different departments and myself to structure communication and define operational measures. Several actions were taken: we organised communication with agencies and clients, established loan restructuring and client support, and decided to negotiate with lenders to obtain a grace period on repayments. We also had regular exchanges with various stakeholders: the governance that guided and advised us, the lenders who have done coordinated actions to ensure the continuity of our activities, and the National Bank that provided us with clarifications on the restructuring and exemptions possibilities.
What was the Foundation’s support to strengthen OKG’s response?
The Covid-19 surveys carried out by the Foundation were well organised and always took place at the right time. The Covid-19 Observatory launched by the Foundation, where the results of the surveys and other useful articles are published, has been valuable to us in assessing our situation and position in the region. The Foundation also led OKG’s group of lenders to implement the coordinated restructuring measures and extensions; at the Foundation’s instigation, with regular monitoring by Julie Serret, a Foundation’s Investment Manager, we acted immediately to prepare for the worst-case scenario and agreed terms with the lenders all together.
Which were the main measures implemented by this group of lenders?
The group of lenders decided to extend all payments payable between May and December 2020 for 12 months. The lenders also simplified reporting by collecting information through a common document, which gave us more time to focus on other issues. They also provided us with tools to create a BCP, to restart the business while protecting staff. As a result, we did not really worry about the liquidity situation. We were able to pay our staff salaries and benefits immediately.
What lessons do you draw from this period for the evolution of microfinance?
Here are my six commandments:
- Anticipate. Every business should have a BCP for these kind of events. Having an IT disaster recovery plan is very useful – it helped us a lot in reacting to the crisis and keeping the system running.
- Take care of the staff; inform them of the situation and the measures decided.
- Make decisions. Do not be too late but think twice.
- Inform investors and lenders of the situation and provide forecasts (detailed, even if you do not know how things will develop) for the coming months.
- Contact your Board of Directors often. Its composition and experience will enable you to get through any type of crisis.
- Be digital. Digital channels are valuable for communicating with clients and staff. Covid-19 has pushed us to think and to be more digital.
What are the prospects for OKG in 2021?
The company continues its development and growth. We plan to open two new branches in rural areas and to serve low-income clients. We plan to introduce tablets to speed up loan disbursement, but also to collect less paper and be more environmentally friendly. We also aim at developing green loans to help combat air pollution and intensive energy use in Kyrgyzstan.
Other initiatives such as our work on customer loyalty and the project to support women entrepreneurs initiated in early 2020 have been slowed down by the health crisis. We will take them up again. We will remain a reliable company for our clients, with a zero-exclusion approach!

The will of microfinance institutions to maintain their activities during Covid-19 crisis
ADA, Inpulse and the Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation have collaborated to monitor and analyse the effects of the Covid-19 crisis for their partner microfinance institutions worldwide. This monitoring was carried out regularly throughout the year 2020 in order to have a better vision of the situation’s evolution. Through this regular and in-depth analysis, we hope to contribute, at our level, to the construction of strategies and solutions tailored to the needs of our partners, as well as to the diffusion and exchange of information between the different players in the sector.
In summary
The results reported in this article come from the fifth survey jointly (1) conducted by ADA, Inpulse and the Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation. Responses were collected in the second half of December from 74 microfinance institutions (MFIs) located in 42 countries in Eastern Europe and Central Asia (EAC-28%), Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA-26%), Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC-23%), South Asia (14%), and the Middle East and North Africa (MENA-9%) (2).
At the same time, the major constraint that remained was the difficulty in collecting loan repayments, which implied increasing the portfolio at risk. This last point is still valid at year-end, and three quarters of respondents still report an increase in RAP. In added to this is the deterioration of the epidemiological situation in the world in the fall of 2020, as evidenced by the responses gathered in December 2020. The epidemic containment measures taken according to local contexts may once again have consequences on the activities of MFIs and their clients, and a return to normalcy is not yet on the agenda.
However, these new complications and their implications are not new. Thus, they have limited impact on MFIs’ risk indicators. The stability of the increase in PAR, as well as in recovery levels, does not reflect a further major deterioration in MFIs’ financial situation. This relative balance also corresponds to the MFIs’ state of mind as they approach 2021. Despite an unstable context and all the obstacles it entails, the vast majority of our partners expect their activity to grow in the new year, in terms of both portfolio volume and the number of clients. This confidence, which was already evident in the surveys conducted over the summer, is a further sign of the resilience of these institutions.
1. MFIs are always operating in unstable and difficult conditions.
Our last survey, conducted in October, showed a great improvement in the operating environment for MFIs and a gradual recovery in activity in all regions of the world. However, in a large number of countries, even those that appeared to be managing the virus’ spread well, new, more restrictive measures to contain the epidemic were taken in the last quarter of 2020 in response to the new increase in cases. This deterioration is particularly confirmed by our partners in Europe and Asia, where MFIs in South and Central America, Southern Africa and North Africa are reporting an improvement in the situation.
Comparing the responses of our 38 partners who participated in the October and December (3) surveys in the following paragraphs confirm the observation of a return of certain difficulties for MFIs, and are in line with the general results obtained at the end of the year.
First, the virus continues to rapidly spread in some parts of the world, and MFIs are not exempt from it. Thus, we can note an increase in the proportion of MFIs reporting that clients and staff have been infected with Covid-19. This can be seen in the drop from 47% to 32% (17 to 12 MFIs) of MFIs whose clients and staff are not reached by Covid-19. In October, this category included two thirds of the MFIs in Sub-Saharan Africa (10/15) and the vast majority of those in South Asia (5/6). In December, the share of MFIs in Sub-Saharan Africa was almost stable (9/15), while those in Asia dropped to 50% (3/6). Finally, the category “more than 20% of staff were infected” rose from 0% to 13% (5 MFIs) over the period, with the vast majority in the Europe and Central Asia region (4 MFIs).
In terms of operational constraints, results are relatively stable between the two periods. The list of MFIs indicating that they no longer face operational constraints remains more or less the same (39%), and is concentrated in Central Asia and West Africa. It should be added that collecting loan repayments (42% of the sample) and disbursing new loans (32%) remain the two main difficulties encountered by MFIs.
Difficulty getting in touch with clients, both in branches and in the field, was considered a consequence of the crisis for only 16% (6 MFIs) of this sample in October, and this figure increased in December (24%, 9 MFIs). In detail, it should be noted that the location of MFIs that highlight this constraint has evolved over
the last two months. Thus, they were particularly located in Latin America and the Caribbean and East Africa in October. In December, this point was raised by MFIs in Southeast Asia (3/6), Eastern Europe (2/5) and West Africa (2/8). At the general level of the survey, 30% of the MFIs indicated that they were once again limited in their activities, despite a gradual recovery.
2. Therefore, customers remain exposed
As the MFIs testify through these surveys, the uncertain and particularly unstable context also weighs heavily on MFI clients. Logically, the difficulty in collecting reimbursements for MFIs, for example, is closely linked to the difficulties encountered by the clients themselves. The activity of a large part of them has still not restarted or remains slowed down by the crisis context: our last survey highlighted in particular the tourism and trade sectors as the most affected sectors (4). In December 2020, the proportion of MFIs indicating that more than 90% of their clients have restarted their activity remains in the minority (23%, 17 MFIs). However, 46% (34 MFIs) of MFIs indicate that clients who have resumed their activity represent between 70% and 90% of their portfolio. Only 11% (8 MFIs) of respondents indicated that less than 50% of their clients are able to work again. There are, however, some regional disparities in these results: in South Asia, Europe and Central Asia, and Sub-Saharan Africa, at least 80% of respondents report that more than 70% of clients have returned to work. In the MENA and Latin America and the Caribbean regions, this share decreases to 43% and 41% respectively.
Our partners’ responses also make it possible to continue profiling the customers most affected by the crisis. First of all, it should be noted that a large proportion of the MFIs surveyed rule out the possibility that there is a category of clients that is more affected than the others, whether in terms of gender, location (urban or rural) or age. In detail, 42% (31 MFIs) of respondents believe that all of their clients are impacted identically, and 51% (38 MFIs) indicate that there is no significant difference in repayments based on these criteria. Overall, the idea that there is a difference in exposure to the impact of the crisis according to age is also dismissed. While some MFIs say they see differences according to age categories (-30, 30-50, 50+), none of them stand out.
Among the MFIs that perceive a difference in the impact of the crisis on their clients (36 MFIs), one criterion stands out for the most part: 76% (27 MFIs) believe that the most impacted populations are urban populations. The same proportion claims that this difference is reflected in loan repayments. These responses confirm our previous results for the most affected sectors, which are definitely urban. The fact that the criterion of rurality is hardly mentioned goes in the same direction, and echoes the agricultural sector, revealed during the surveys by our partners as a sector less affected by the crisis linked to Covid-19 than the others, and towards which a certain number of MFIs imagined they wanted to move. Finally, a last characteristic is mentioned by MFIs reporting disparities in the impact of the crisis: 36% (13 MFIs) perceive that women are more affected than men and therefore by default may have more difficulty repaying their loans. It should be noted that a portion of the respondents serve only women clients, which logically makes them the most affected population in the sector.
3. Now well-identified challenges for MFIs
MFIs are now aware of activity levels that are still at half-mast or of the measures implemented by the local authorities to contain Covid-19. In addition, to which they are adapting. Thus, the financial difficulties mentioned by the MFIs are very stable from October to December 2020 and do not highlight any new trends. Two of the four most cited difficulties remain linked to the MFIs’ declining profitability, due to the increase in provisioning expenses (45% of the respondents, 33 MFIs) and the non-collection of interest (55%, 41 MFIs). These two points are closely linked to the most striking difficulty of the crisis for MFIs during this period: the increase in portfolio at risk (74%, 55 MFIs).
In December 2020, 74% (55 MFIs) of respondents indicated that more than 70% of clients were repaying their loans, and 37% reported client repayment levels above 90%. On the other hand, only 9% report that less than 50% of clients are able to repay their loans, which is in line with clients’ recovery levels. These levels are reflected in the level of portfolio at risk of MFIs: in December 2020, 47% of respondents (35 MFIs) indicated that PAR 30 had increased without doubling, 16% that it had doubled, and 12% that it had more than doubled.
Nevertheless, this risk configuration seems to have broadly stabilized in the last quarter of 2020, despite the additional constraints presented above (see Fig. 7). In the common sample for the October and December surveys, we still find a quarter of MFIs that are not affected by this increase in portfolio at risk. At the same time, there are no MFIs added to the list of MFIs whose PAR 30 has more than doubled. Transfers from one category to another over the October-December period are for the vast majority between a stable PAR and a PAR that increases without doubling. This indicates that the deteriorations in the local contexts previously presented would therefore not affect all clients, thus having only a moderate impact on the MFIs’ risk indicators.
This stability coincides with the MFIs’ new objectives at the beginning of the new year. The crisis has disrupted their operations, and has inevitably had an impact on their projections. Thus, 58% of MFIs report having updated their business plans and growth objectives for the coming months and years. On the strength of these crisis gains and a better understanding of the context, the vast majority of MFIs still plan to continue to develop in 2021. Thus, 80% of those surveyed expect their portfolio volume to increase this year, while 15% expect it to stagnate and 5% expect it to decline. In addition, this portfolio increase should also be followed by an increase in the number of clients for 75% of the MFIs expecting growth in the new year. A new hopeful signal, therefore, but also a sign of ambition on the part of institutions determined to continue moving forward in 2021.
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(1) The first four surveys of ADA’s partners, Inpulse and the Grameen Agricole Foundation are available here : //www.gca-foundation.org/observatoire-covid-19/, //www.ada-microfinance.org/fr/crise-du-covid-19 and //www.in¬pulse.coop/news-and-media/
(2) The number of responding MFIs by region is the following: SSA 19 MFIs; LAC 17 MFIs; EAC 21 MFIs, South Asia 10 MFIs; MENA: 7 MFIs
(3) The sample size is 38 MFIs: 6 in South Asia, 10 in Eastern Europe and Central Asia, 6 in Latin America and the Caribbean, 1 in MENA, and 15 in Sub-Saharan Africa.
(4) //www.gca-foundation.org/espace-medias/#covid-19-une-reprise-des-imf-progressive-au-rythme-de-celle-de-leurs-clients; //www.ada-microfinance.org/fr/crise-du-covid-19/fiche-crise-covid-19/2020/11/4e-vague-enquetes

Travel diary of a Solidarity Banker in Bosnia-Herzegovina
By Daniel Hoarau, IT Manager, Crédit Agricole de la Réunion
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 Daniel Hoarau, Solidarity Banker of Crédit Agricole Reunion, who left for Bosnia in 2020 to support Partner Microfinance Foundation (Partner MKF).
A dream of discoveries
Once upon a time, an employee of the CA Regional Bank of Reunion Island dreamed of committing to a solidarity project and discovering other cultures and companies. An employee and friend told him about the Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation and its Solidarity Bankers programme. This is the beginning of my story as a Solidarity Banker. I applied and was selected to support Partner MKF, a microfinance institution in Bosnia, in structuring its IT system.
Partner is a local microcredit organisation that offers banking products and services to people excluded from the traditional banking system. Today, Partner has more than 40,000 clients, 46% of whom are women and 86% live in rural areas. It is an organisation funded by the Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation since 2019.
The mission preparation was marked by regular exchanges with the teams of Partner and the Foundation. I was also able to study several documents and evaluate the existing IT infrastructure as well as the first evolution plans considered by the institution. I was ready for my mission in the field.
Departure for Bosnia
The departure is announced, after several adjournments due to the Covid-19, thanks to the determination of the Foundation and the logistic teams of Crédit Agricole SA. Covid-19 test planning obliges, the flight plan is set up: Saint-Denis, Paris, Vienna, Sarajevo, Tuzla: a 24 hour trip, departure on 31/10 at 25°C, arrival on November 1st in Tuzla at only 10°C.
First contact on arrival: Salih, the driver, or when two English beginners meet. Arrived safely, the light: Ivana, the interpreter in charge of guiding me, thanks to her all becomes simple and fluid. She will be the marker of the whole mission.
The next day, I discovered Partner: the teams and the welcome are wonderful; they all give me confidence and allow breaking the ice both literally and figuratively. The mission is short and we have to be efficient. Multiple interviews with different department managers (information system, human resources, compliance and credit) are followed by an audit of the technical installations, an analysis of user needs and the preliminary scoping of the project. Over the days, the light shines and the recommendations appear. The last step is a review meeting with Partner’s management: analyses are presented and the IT structure evolution plan is validated.
Bosnians have a very different work routine: it starts at 8 am, breakfast break at 10 am, no lunch break between 12 and 2 pm and work ends at 5 pm. This leaves the opportunity for many convivial moments organised by Partner. Dinners, moments of discovery of the Bosnian culture, customs, and even the ascension of a local mountain gave even more meaning to my mission!
Back to Reunion Island
After another 24-hour adventure for the return flight, I arrived to Reunion Island. I have finalised my 34-page report, which aims at lighting up Partner’s decisions for the framing of its system and infrastructure.
I come back enriched by this experience with teams committed to the company’s values: Responsibility, Fairness and Honesty. Values shared by Crédit Agricole Reunion, Crédit Agricole SA and the Foundation that have made this experience possible.
“When you want to build a ship, do not begin by gathering wood, cutting boards, and distributing work, but awaken within the heart of man the desire for the vast and endless sea”, Antoine de Saint-Exupéry.
I wish to thank all the people from Crédit Agricole Reunion, who contributed to make this mission possible; Jasmin Smigalovic, Selma Jahic and all the Partner teams, without forgetting Ivana Bilić the interpreter, for their welcome; Caroline Brand and Carolina Viguet from the Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation for their support in the mission; and Aurélie Cacciotti from Crédit Agricole SA for the logistical support.

The Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation consolidates its partnerships in Europe

During the last quarter of 2020, the Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation continued its financing with its European partners, thereby consolidating its position in a region that represents 18% of its outstanding portfolio.
In Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Mikra microfinance institution was granted a new loan of €1.2 million over a three-year period. Financed by the Foundation since 2019, Mikra’s mission is to provide financial services to the poorest but economically active populations. The institution promotes equality for Bosnian women by financing and supporting entrepreneurship projects. To date, Mikra serves over 15,000 active clients, 68% of whom are women and 58% of whom live in rural areas.
In Moldova, Smart Credit 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 €3.5 million.
Finally, the Foundation granted a new loan, the second since 2018, to ADVANS Holding for an amount of €800,000. ADVANS, whose headquarters are located in Luxembourg, is an international group whose mission is to build a network of microfinance institutions in developing and emerging countries. The Group provides financial and non-financial services to low-income people in nine countries, mainly in Sub-Saharan Africa. Through its network, ADVANS serves nearly 800,000 customers and manages a portfolio of approximately €780 million.
For more information, please click here.

The Foundation pursues its financing in Kyrgyzstan

In the last quarter of 2020, the Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation granted a new loan to the Salym microfinance institution in Kyrgyzstan. Created in 2007, Salym aims to support income-generating activities to improve the standard of living of disadvantages populations. The Foundation granted the institution a new loan of an amount in local currency equivalent to €1.3 million.
The institution, which currently has around 14,000 active clients, 57% of whom are women and 76% of whom live in rural areas, mainly supports people with limited incomes from rural areas or the urban fringes. Different products are offered to customers: home loans, consumer loans, agricultural loans and business loans.
With this loan, the Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation has now 18 partners in the Europe / Central Asia area, which represents 28% of its outstanding loans. At the end of December 2020, the Foundation was working in 39 countries, with 85 partners, microfinance institutions and social impact businesses, and managed assets of €81.2 million.
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Created in 2008, under the joint leadership of Crédit Agricole SA and Professor Yunus, 2006 Nobel Peace Prize winner and founder of Grameen Bank, the Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation is a cross-business actor which contributes to the fight against poverty through financial inclusion and social impact entrepreneurship. Investor, lender, technical assistance coordinator and Fund advisor, the Foundation supports microfinance institutions and social enterprises in 39 countries.
For more information on the organisations supported by the Foundation, click here.

The Foundation grants new financing in Sub-Saharan Africa

During the last half of 2020, the Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation granted three new fundings in sub-Saharan Africa, in particular in Benin and Malawi, which add to the two loans granted in Zambia to MLF Zambia and EFC Zambia.
In Benin, the Foundation granted a new loan to the ACFB microfinance institution for an amount in local currency equivalent to €305,000. ACFB, partner of the Foundation since 2017, offers a wide range of financial and non-financial services adapted to the needs of marginalised populations excluded from traditional financial systems. ACFB is a benchmark institution for the promotion of women’s empowerment and the development of microenterprises. To date, the institution has over 32,000 active clients, 88% of whom are women and 95% of whom live in rural areas.
Also in Benin, the Foundation granted a new loan to the microfinance institution COMUBA for an amount in local currency equivalent to €500,000. COMUBA was created in 2000 and offers financial and non-financial services notably through group loans. Partner of the Foundation since 2015, the institution has around 32,000 active clients, 90% of whom are women.
Likewise, the Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation granted a new loan to the microfinance institution MLF Malawi, for an amount in local currency equivalent to €284,000. Created in 2002, MLF has nearly 30,000 active clients, exclusively women 70% of whom live in rural areas. The institution offers a wide range of products to support agriculture and small business development.
These new financings were granted within the framework of the African Facility programme launched in 2013 in partnership with the French Development Agency (AFD) and bring the total number of partners in Sub-Saharan Africa to 40, which represents 39% of the Foundation’s portfolio as of December 2020.
For more information, please click here.

The Foundation grants a loan to a new partner in Zambia

The Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation is pursuing its investments in East Africa with a first loan in local currency equivalent to €1.5 million granted to the microfinance institution Entrepreneurs Financial Center (EFC) in Zambia, over a three-year period.
EFC is a microfinance institution founded with the intent to provide working capital solutions for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs), with a focus on product innovation tailored to meet client’s needs. The institution, which also takes deposits, serves around 3,000 borrowers, 42% of whom are women and 6% of whom live in rural areas.
With this loan, the Foundation now has an outstanding amount of €32 million in the sub-Saharan African region, or 39% of the outstanding amount monitored by the Foundation.
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Created in 2008, under the joint leadership of Crédit Agricole SA and Professor Yunus, 2006 Nobel Peace Prize winner and founder of Grameen Bank, the Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation is a cross-business actor which contributes to the fight against poverty through financial inclusion and social impact entrepreneurship. Investor, lender, technical assistance coordinator and Fund advisor, the Foundation supports microfinance institutions and social enterprises in 39 countries.
For more information on the organisations supported by the Foundation, click here.

[INTERVIEW] The Foundation’s actions to face the Covid-19 crisis
Hélène Keraudren Baube & Edouard Sers, Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation
To overcome the effects of this unprecedented health and economic crisis, the Foundation has had to innovate, adapt and coordinate with other key players in the sector of inclusive finance and social impact entrepreneurship. Transversal work that involves the whole Foundation team. To find out more, spotlight on the testimonials of two Foundation experts, Hélène Keraudren-Baube, Administrative and Financial Director, and Edouard Sers, Risk, Compliance and Social Performance Director.
1.How has the Covid-19 crisis impacted the internal organisation of the Foundation and that of supported organisations?
Hélène: We used telework overnight, but since it was already a possible modality at the Foundation, the transition was very fluid. In addition to providing the equipment for teleworking, we have also adapted the schedules to take into account the context of confinement with children at home. We have had a very special year, with no field mission for the team based in France since February, as usually investment officers all go on field missions several times a year. The Foundation’s Board of Directors conducted regular updates to monitor the situation and determine the best measures to support the teams and organisations funded. In addition, we spoke on a more regular basis with our governance to keep them informed of developments in the situation and activity.
2. What responses did the Foundation give to deal with it?
Edouard: The Foundation’s first response was to establish a rapid and permanent dialogue with the organisations it supports to understand the effects of the crisis, the measures implemented and their needs. The investment manager teams have remained in very close contact with all the organisations we support, and we have conducted regular surveys with them to understand the impacts of the crisis in the various countries of intervention. In addition, we launched the Covid-19 Observatory in which we regularly publish articles in order to share our analyses and inform stakeholders of developments in the situation. At the same time, we led an international coordination of lenders and inclusive finance players to act in close cooperation, to protect microfinance institutions and their clients and prevent any liquidity shock that would have destabilised the sector.
Hélène: We have adapted our monitoring and analysis tools and our requests for information, particularly with regard to business continuity plans and short-term cash flow plans. On the financial front, we have granted deadline extensions to around 30 Foundation partner organisations, mainly microfinance institutions. These extensions, from 6 to 12 months according to the different cases, took the form of amendments to loan contracts, and revised deadlines. This volume of postponement requests is completely unprecedented and has “stressed” our liquidity. We have refined our projection and monitoring tools to track the financial impact for the Foundation.
3. Regarding the international coalition, what are the first results?
Edouard: Six months after the signing of the Commitment, along with all the signatories, we drafted a joint publication presenting the status of implementation of 10 principles of the Commitment. Among the conclusions of the publication, we can highlight the strong coordination between international funders to agree in terms of extension of deadlines, avoiding a liquidity crisis in the microfinance sector. We have also made progress in the area of technical assistance, including webinars and joint field surveys with end customers. Finally, we have encouraged the coordinated collection of information on staff management and client monitoring of microfinance institutions and are promoting initiatives to strengthen the protection of clients and staff. In 2021, we will pursue our efforts to support the gradual recovery of microfinance institutions supported with technical assistance, appropriate financing and regular exchanges between the various players in the sector.
4. In relation to the Foundation’s donors, what common actions have been taken?
Hélène: We very quickly kept our funders informed of developments, with detailed presentations. Since the strat of the crisis, we understood that the main impact in 2020, for the Foundation, would be on our liquidity management. The requests for extensions from our partners weigh on the Foundation’s cash flow, and we wanted to preserve our ability to support our partners and avoid a liquidity crisis at all costs. To do so, we have asked for extensions of delays from our funders, and envisaged new “special Covid-19” financing lines to support the resumption of the activity of the microfinance institutions that we support.
5. Finally, what are the prospects for 2021? What will the Foundation’s priorities be?
Hélène: After a year 2020 marked by an operating result supported by the growth of the portfolio in previous years and substantial savings in 2020, particularly on travel costs, the year 2021 will be severely impacted by the contraction of the loan portfolio of the Foundation, following the crisis. The Foundation’s activity should continue its gradual and cautious recovery that began in recent months.We believe that the first semester will still be strongly constrained by the pandemic and its consequences, and hope to be able to resume our trips in the field, as close as possible to our partners, beggining from the second half of ther year. It will probably take another year for the Foundation to return to the level of activity it had before the crisis.
Edouard: A large part of the organisations supported have been able to cope with the crisis and are eligible for the funding offered by the Foundation according to standard risk criteria. On the other hand, a significant portion of them still carry a significant risk inherited from 2020 in their balance sheets. It is crucial that we continue to strengthen our support system to offer solutions adapted to the different levels of risk, combining new financing, technical assistance, deadline extension or, more exceptionally, debt restructuring.
At the sector level, lenders coordinated in 2020 in order to avoid a liquidity crisis and we will continue on this path in 2021. This year will also be crucial for investors to support microfinance institutions in accordance with their shareholder responsibility. Finally, we will continue to promote initiatives to protect the clients and staff of microfinance institutions in these times of crisis. For example, we actively participate in the Social Performance Task Force (SPTF) working group to define new certification criteria relating to customer protection in the sector. A permanent dialogue with our partners and coordinated actions will be key factors for the success of our commitments.

Microfinance In India: The Story of Resilience
By Devesh Sachdev, CEO, Fusion

The microfinance model of providing small collateral free loans to the ‘bottom of pyramid’ clients hitherto overlooked by the formal sector, has established itself as an effective & sustainable model for financial inclusion. Financial inclusion has rightfully been the key focus area for policy makers in the last few decades given the sheer size of our population that remained unserved and underserved. It needs no complex analysis to know that if India as a country has to improve its per capita income and graduate people above the poverty line – then access to finance has to be the key.
Despite policy push through the mainstream banking system, few factors acted as impediments to this critical national objective of financial inclusion. First and foremost being the fact that our formal Banking system largely designed its policies and reach (be it brick and mortar or digital) to cater to the urban/semi-urban population with established track record/income and collateral that fit into their defined Risk/Reward matrix as an Asset Class. Secondly, the ‘cost of delivery’ for bite size transactions in BOP market became a dampener for the Banks. Lack of financial literacy also acted as a constraint.
The microfinance model of providing small collateral free loans to the ‘bottom of pyramid’ clients hitherto overlooked by the formal sector, has established itself as an effective & sustainable model for financial inclusion. It was conceptualized to transparently deliver financial services and products at the doorstep of these very customers in a very simple to understand manner. The concept of Joint Liability leveraging social capital combined with doorstep delivery has helped microfinance gain trust & acceptability.
The Microfinance ‘journey’ of the last decade has run on two broad themes. On one side, it has weathered serious setbacks like the one of 2010 Andhra crisis, 2016 Demonetization crisis, the NBFC liquidity and credibility crisis and is currently battling the Covid-19 global pandemic. All these events created a perception in the minds of stakeholders that microfinance per se is a risky asset class because unfortunately for the sector – it has been impacted by such unforeseen events once every 3-4 years.
However, there is another side to the sector which is its brighter side:
- Today, the sector serves around 6 crore unique customers with a combined portfolio size of Rs 2,31,000 Crore across 620 districts in 28 states and 8 UTs. This makes it the 2nd largest sector after Mortgages. However, what has been even more commendable is that the sector has grown @30% CAGR in the last 3 years vs the overall Retail Sector’s 17% CAGR
- Another highlight of the Microfinance sector has been delivering financial products and services via a prudent amalgamation of ‘Touch and Tech’ at the lowest cost amongst all its global peers. The sector leverages advances in technology to constantly deliver greater transparency, data security and privacy and affordability for its rural customers at their doorstep.
- With both reach and operational effectiveness, Microfinance today is a sustainable business model, calibrated to leverage its network to deliver other goods and services to the rural masses contributing to India’s phenomenal growth story
- The sector also generates significant employment opportunities not only by hiring from the hinterland but also enabling its customers provide employment opportunities to others via financial support extended.
The sector has demonstrated remarkable resilience across the last decade and this has been made possible due to some key contributory factors:
- The ‘inherent’ need for such a model in aspirational India where a large unserved /underserved population still needs to be brought onto the financial bandwagon, ensured that Microfinance remained a ‘preferred’ vehicle for both the policy planners and the practitioners across the years
- The phenomenal support and conducive policy framework provided by the RBI which has been a catalyst in furthering Microfinance’s mission of financial inclusion. The sector has been accorded a special category under the larger NBFC category of RBI – lending it a distinct identity and strong credibility by having country’s first RBI recognised Self-Regulatory Organisation.
- The functioning of MFIN (the sector association) as an SRO since 2010 has enabled the sector to build its growth on strong pillars. Key pillars of MFIN’s work have been customer protection, industry code of conduct and policy advocacy, all of which contribute towards building of a Responsible Finance ecosystem.
- Microfinance being a high touch model, it has ensured highest degree of customer centricity and familiarity. Response time in crisis situations is much quicker and the resolutions proposed are very focused. This aspect helped the sector tide over the challenges brought about by Demonetization in 2016 but more recently this model has proven its resilience and sustainability in the ongoing Covid 19 crisis. The frontline soldiers ensured that the wheels of financing kept moving when the customers needed them the most during pre and post lockdown periods. Operating platforms were quickly modified to work on remote basis delivering loan services digitally Field processes were altered to incorporate all health and hygiene guidelines.
The strong bond with customers stood the test of time and brought about a high degree of mutual understanding and cooperation. Most of the financial pundits were proven wrong when the microfinance portfolio delivered better than expected portfolio metrics post Covid and RBI mandated moratorium period.
Today, the Microfinance Sector is partnering with the government to roll out various social schemes be it Shishu loans under Mudra or Pradhan Mantri Svanidhi scheme. The importance of the sector has been recognised by PM in his United Nations General Assembly speech by terming it as instrumental in furthering women entrepreneurship.
As they say “It’s not the number of punches that you land that make you a winner, it’s the fact that you still get up strong after taking a lot of punches and emerge a winner” and this is an apt description of a ‘Resilient’ Microfinance Sector in India thus far ……but the journey has just begun!!
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Source: BW Businessworld

Microfinance: a tool for a more inclusive economy
Interview with Eric Campos, CEO, Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation
Probably because it is a very effective lever in the fight against poverty, microfinance is a central topic for rethinking the global economy. The health crisis and its effects on the poorest populations have only reinforced this urgent need for financial inclusion. Spotlight on an interview of Paperjam Luxembourg to Eric Campos, CEO of the Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation.
Why is microfinance a subject of interest for you?
Today 1.7 billion people, the majority of whom live in rural areas, lack access to funding and the financial sector has a key role to play in addressing this global challenge. The Foundation is one of the Crédit Agricole Group’s levers to promote financial inclusion and the development of rural economies in emerging countries. This was the ambition Crédit Agricole established when it launched the Foundation 12 years ago, along with Professor Yunus, 2006 Nobel Peace Prize laureate: to contribute to the fight against poverty by promoting microfinance and social impact entrepreneurship around the world. The Foundation is a committed player in poor countries in line with the “Raison d’être” of CA Group: “Working every day in the interest of our customers and society”.
Our mission takes on even more significance in the current context. The Covid-19 pandemic particularly hits the most vulnerable populations and microfinance is a lever to strengthen their resilience during the crisis. In this context, we had to adapt our methods of intervention and to innovate. We have set up very regular monitoring with funded institutions to understand the effects of the crisis and their needs. We have also implemented many rollovers to allow these institutions to support their own clients and to accept, themselves, rollovers of microloans. Since March, we have also coordinated an international movement of donors, investors and inclusive finance actors to commit to preventing a liquidity crisis in the sector and providing coordinated responses to cope with the economic effects of the crisis.
Can you present the Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation and its objectives?
The Foundation is a cross-business player: investor, lender, technical assistance coordinator and fund advisor, the Foundation finances and supports microfinance institutions, enterprises and projects that promote inclusive finance and the development of rural economies around the world.
The Foundation now accompanies and supports 86 partners (74 microfinance institutions and 12 social impact enterprises) in 40 countries with nearly 100 million outstanding loans. The Foundation seeks to promote women empowerment through the economy, 88% of final beneficiaries are women, and primarily targets rural populations: among the 7.3 million clients supported by the institutions the Foundation finances, 84% live in rural areas.
How does the Foundation work with the CA Group today?
The Foundation has set up several partnerships with the Regional Banks and Crédit Agricole entities. We have established cooperation plans with the International Retail Banking in Romania, Egypt, India and Morocco, which allows Group entities to finance microfinance institutions in local currency with the guarantee of the Foundation. We have launched with CA Indosuez Wealth (Asset Management) and CACEIS Bank Luxembourg Branch, the Fund for Inclusive Finance in Rural Areas (FIR), the first microfinance fund of Crédit Agricole to which 21 Regional banks, Crédit Agricole Assurances and Amundi have already subscribed. Finally, since June 2018, along with Crédit Agricole SA we set up “Solidarity Bankers”, a skills-based volunteering programme through which we propose technical assistance missions to CA Group employees on behalf of organisations financed by the Foundation.
Furthermore, in response to the Covid-19 crisis, the Foundation has worked with Crédit Agricole SA, Crédit Agricole CIB, Crédit Agricole Wealth (Asset Management) and other key players in inclusive finance on a Common pledge to protect microfinance institutions and their clients. The commitment, which gathers 30 signatories, is based on a set of principles intended to protect the microfinance sector and their clients from the economic effects of the health crisis. Thanks to this coordinated action, liquidity defaults have been avoided and we have supported partner organisations through technical assistance missions.
What subjects will be addressed in the years to come within the Foundation?
Climate change, demographic growth, food security, digital transformation … there are many challenges at the centre of our concerns. It is urgent to act, to innovate with new means of action, to strengthen cooperation. This belief is at the heart of the Foundation’s actions and of its 2019-2022 Strategic plan. Its objectives are: consolidate the sustainability of organisations that provide essential services with appropriate funding and technical assistance; strengthen the resilience of rural economies by supporting social impact enterprise; and promote inclusive finance within the banking sector, in particular through the partnerships set up with the Crédit Agricole Group.
In response to the Covid-19 crisis, the Foundation will continue to support, alongside its institutional, private and solidarity partners, microfinance institutions and social enterprises with targeted funding and technical assistance to strengthen their resilience in this unprecedented crisis. We will continue to monitor the effects of the health crisis and take action to strengthen the resilience of microfinance and impact entrepreneurship, in concert with other stakeholders.
Source : Paparjan.lu

Taking the floor: Advocacy for a more inclusive and sustainable economy
For 12 years, the Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation has positioned itself as a player committed to the fight against poverty by promoting financial inclusion and social impact entrepreneurship. With more than 200 million euros in funding and over 100 organisations supported in some forty countries since inception, the Foundation has been able to build a solid history in the field of inclusive finance, particularly microfinance, financial engineering, financing of family agriculture and support for social entrepreneurship.
To promote good practices and contribute to the advocacy of the sector, the Foundation shares its experience through various publications, organises events and exchanges with other key players in the field of inclusive finance. This is why the Foundation has decided to share its main leading articles published since 2018 in this new publication “Taking the floor: Advocacy for a more inclusive and sustainable economy”.
For this first edition, this document is organised around four chapters with topics that marked our sector:
- The first chapter contains general reflections on the need to shape a more inclusive economy.
- The second one shares our various experiences on the development of rural areas, in particular, by supporting impact entrepreneurship.
- The third chapter presents more specifically the work of the Foundation on the programme for the financial inclusion of refugees launched with the UN Refugee Agency and the Swedish Cooperation.
- The last chapter focuses on the impact of the global economic crisis generated by the Covid-19 pandemic on microfinance institutions and their clients and the action of the Foundation to coordinate a concerted approach by donors, investors and others microfinance players to support the sector.
The “Raison d’Être” of Crédit Agricole is Working every day in the interest of our customers and society. With this publication, the Foundation fully plays its advocacy role to support microfinance, impact entrepreneurship and to shed light, alongside other key stakeholders, on good practices for a more inclusive, responsible and sustainable economy.

AFD Group reiterates its support for microfinance by renewing a €10M guarantee to the Foundation
A guarantee of € 10 million has just been granted by the Agence Française de Développement (AFD) Group, represented by its subsidiary Proparco, to the Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation. This funding will allow the Foundation to pursue its support to microfinance institutions in Sub-Saharan Africa. Proparco has also granted a new € 5 million loan to the Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation, which will allow it to consolidate its support to its microfinance institutions partners in the exceptional context of the crisis linked to Covid-19.
A historic partnership to support microfinance
The partnership between AFD Group and the Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation is long standing. One of the emblematic joint projects is the African Facility programme (1) launched in 2013. It allows the Foundation to offer funding and technical assistance suited to small and medium-sized rural microfinance institutions in Sub-Saharan Africa.
AFD also supports the Foundation in the loans it grants to its partner microfinance institutions, through a portfolio guarantee mechanism, the ARIZ guarantee, which covers up to 50% of the loans granted. This mechanism has just been renewed for the sixth time, providing coverage for loans that the Foundation will grant to microfinance institutions in Sub-Saharan Africa over the next two years. Together, AFD and the Foundation have adapted the eligibility criteria, in particular to be able to include less mature microfinance institutions with a very social vocation.
A special Covid-19 funding envelope of € 5M
The health and economic crisis generated by Covid-19 particularly affects the poorest populations. According to the World Bank, the crisis could push 150 million people into extreme poverty by 2021 (2). This issue is at the heart of the action of the Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation, which, for 12 years now, has contributed to the fight against poverty through financial inclusion and entrepreneurship. The Foundation finances and supports microfinance institutions that serve populations excluded from the traditional banking system, mainly women (88%) and rural populations (84%), in around 40 countries.
“AFD Group is a major partner of the Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation. It has been with us for many years and allows us to increase our impact, mainly in rural areas of emerging countries. In the context of Covid-19, the Foundation’s mission takes on a very particular significance. We work to enable vulnerable populations to lift themselves out of poverty by providing them access to financial services through socially performing microfinance institutions. The health crisis has strained local economies. Alongside AFD Group, we innovate, adapt and provide reinforced support to these institutions to strengthen their resilience and their capacity to face the economic effects of this global crisis”, says Eric Campos, Managing Director of the Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation and Head of CSR at Crédit Agricole SA.
“After 10 years of cooperation at the service of financial inclusion, Proparco and the AFD Group are delighted to once again support the Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation at the heart of this year 2020, which has seen the microfinance institutions supported by the Foundation strongly affected by crisis. A leading player in access to funding particularly for vulnerable populations in rural areas, the Foundation plays a major role in supporting its partner institutions and their clients during this difficult period. The renewal of the portfolio guarantee envelope granted by AFD Group to the Foundation, as well as the financing lines granted in 2020, aim to strengthen the Foundation in its social mission in favour of financial inclusion”, affirms Guillaume Barberousse, Head of Banking and Financial Markets Division at Proparco.
These new mechanisms will strengthen the collective action of AFD Group and the Foundation to promote the resilience of microfinance institutions and their clients in the face of this unprecedented crisis.
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(1) //www.gca-foundation.org/en/technical-assistance/african-facility/
(2) Acces World Bank’s presse release here

ZEP-RE and ACRE Africa: a partnership to reinforce agricultural insurance in Africa
ZEP-RE, an African leading reinsurance company will acquire a 56% controlling stake in ACRE Africa (Agriculture and Climate Risk Enterprise Ltd.), a social impact company supported by the Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation since 2014. CA Indosuez Wealth (Asset Management), the Management company of the Grameen Crédit Agricole Fund that holds an equity stake in ACRE Africa, validated the equity operation.
ACRE Africa provides crop insurance services to smallholders, and consulting services to development organisations and insurance regulators associations in Kenya, Tanzania and Rwanda. This agreement paves the way to expand agricultural insurance in favour of smallholder farmers in Africa as it will reinforce ACRE Africa’s wide range of products and technology platforms for agriculture and microinsurance. “Our goal is to expand insurance coverage and improve financial inclusion throughout Sub-Saharan Africa. The safety nets we are building will make a large number of disadvantaged smallholders more confident in farming», declared George Kuria, CEO of ACRE Africa, at the signing ceremony.
ZEP-RE (PTA Reinsurance Company) is a regional organisation that promotes development and integration within the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) through insurance and reinsurance business trade. It is based in Kenya, with regional and country offices in Zimbabwe, Ivory Coast, Uganda, Zambia, Ethiopia, Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
As shareholder of ACRE Africa, the Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation is excited about the cooperation between ZEP-RE and ACRE Africa. “The COVID-19 pandemic emphasizes the importance of microinsurance in helping low-income rural people build resilience. ZEP-RE’s expertise and its alignment with ACRE Africa’s mission of advocating smallholder farmers will open a new chapter for ACRE Africa to enter new markets, to increase its social influence and to help strengthen the rural microinsurance industry”, affirmed Eric Campos, CEO of the Foundation.
Another important partnership was announced in parallel. With the financial support of Chainlink Community, ACRE Africa and Etherisc (designer of online insurance platforms) will develop a platform for 250,000 smallholder farmers to insure them against climate change risks in Kenya. The outlook for ACRE Africa and the smallholder agricultural insurance in Africa is encouraging.
More information on ACRE Africa

COVID-19: a gradual recovery of MFIs in sync with their clients’ recovery
ADA, Inpulse and the Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation have joined forces to monitor and analyze the effects of the Covid-19 crisis on their partner microfinance institutions around the world. This monitoring is done on a regular basis and will be carried out throughout 2020 in order to obtain better insights of developments. We hope this regular and in-depth analysis will contribute to building strategies and solutions adapted to the needs of our partners, and also to the dissemination and sharing of information among the various players in the industry.
In Summary
The results presented in this article are drawn from the fourth survey [1] in a joint series by ADA and the Grameen Credit Agricole Foundation, Inpulse having chosen to join the initiative one time out of two. Responses were collected between October 1st and October 20th from 73 microfinance institutions (MFIs) in 38 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA-37%), Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC-25%), Eastern Europe and Central Asia (ECA-18%), Asia (15%) and Middle East North Africa (MENA-4%) [2].
Given that previous surveys had revealed that the main financial difficulty for MFIs was the increase in their Portfolio at Risk (PAR), the new survey took a closer look at how MFI clients and their businesses were doing as this is what MFIs mainly depend on. Above all, the results of this survey confirm the gradual resumption of MFI activity, along with a reduction in most of the operational constraints initially encountered. The major remaining constraint has to do with loan recovery which explains the increase in PAR as the main financial difficulty for MFIs.
This difficulty in loan recovery may be due to external constraints, such as mobility or moratoria imposed by authorities, or to difficulties encountered by the clients themselves whose activities have not yet restarted or are slowed down by the impact of the crisis. Indeed, even if the peak of the health crisis has passed and it has affected to a lesser extent regions such as sub-Saharan Africa or South-East Asia, thus allowing a number of business sectors to restart, it is all too soon to expect a return to normal. Especially, the restrictive measures and the overall economic situation have negatively impacted — and still do — activities in a certain number of industries, thus restricting the sources of income of the populations. Consequently, this affects MFIs and their financial situation which is why it seems crucial to monitor closely how the crisis is experienced by their clients in order to be responsive in adapting to their needs by offering solutions allowing everyone — clients and MFIs alike — to survive this crisis.
1. THE RECOVERY OF MFIS IS STILL CONSTRAINED BY THE DIFFICULTY IN COLLECTING LOANS
The responses collected during the month of October show that most MFIs are gradually resuming their activities (Fig. 1). Only those of some MFIs in Myanmar remain very limited by the constraints represented by containment measures currently in place in the country, as are the activities of a minority of MFIs in sub-Saharan Africa (one MFI in Mali and one in Malawi). In Europe and Central Asia, the share of MFIs having achieved their normal activity level is most significant.
One of the constraints being encountered by MFIs that previous surveys have revealed was that part of their staff and client base were affected by Covid-19. Hence, we focused on the prevalence of the Covid-19 disease among staff and clients. Fig. 2 and 3).
The situation is mixed in this respect: The Sub-Saharan Africa region appears as the least affected with just a small proportion of MFIs reporting that their staff (15%) or their clients (22%) are affected. Moreover, this proportion remains very small (between 0.1 and 5%) with 70% of the region’s MFIs reporting that neither their clients nor their staff have been affected by the virus. On the other hand, the Latin America and the Caribbean region is the most affected, followed by Europe and Central Asia with a larger share of MFIs concerned by the virus (just 11% of MFIs in the LAC region reporting that neither their staff or clients were affected), and it shows a larger prevalence rate for some of those MFIs [3]. Nevertheless, even if the health situation is more problematic in those regions, it still remains for the time being a relatively minor constraint for MFIs.
Moreover, on a global scale a relatively important proportion of MFIs report that they do not encounter any constraints. (Fig.4), mainly in the Europe and Central Asia regions (62%), while those facing some constraints are fewer with every survey, thus showing a gradual recovery.
The major remaining constraint (32% of MFIs in the sample) is about the difficulty in collecting loan repayments. This implies an increase in the portfolio at risk which is the main financial difficulty encountered by MFIs everywhere. It is reported as such by 77% of MFIs while other difficulties show a diminishing pattern in every survey.
This difficulty or impossibility of collecting loan repayments can be explained by mobility constraints, mainly in countries or internal regions where containment measures are still in place, but also by the implementation of moratoriums – be they initiated by authorities or by the MFIs themselves if the clients needed them. Indeed, these moratoriums concerned the majority (84%) of MFIs surveyed in the sample (Fig. 5), and they are still in place for almost a half of MFI clients (48%) in total. Asia is the region where this situation is more frequent (83% of MFIs included in the sample).
Among clients having benefited from a moratorium, those repaying normally their loans once it ended are a minority (Fig. 6). The majority of MFIs (86% of the sample) report that some or all of the clients needed a new moratorium, or even ended up in the portfolio at risk with 39% of MFIs in the sample affected by the latter situation. In Europe and Central Asia, and in Sub-Saharan Africa, more than half of MFIs report a move to their portfolio at risk of part of their clients having benefited from moratoria.
Nevertheless, globally speaking, the majority of MFIs in every region report that at least 70% of clients repay their loans. (Fig. 7). In South and Central Asia and Europe, more than 80% of respondents show repayment levels above 70%. On the other hand, the situation is not as good in Latin America and Caribbean and Sub-Saharan Africa regions: 34% and 45% of MFIs respectively with less than 70% of clients repaying their loans, and 17% and 15% where this proportion is less than 50%.
2. THE RECOVERY OF MFI CLIENTS IS FACING CONSTRAINTS
These repayment levels, being both volatile and lower than the pre-crisis normal, can be explained partially by the fact that not all customers are still able to resume their activities: Once again, excepting the Europe and Central Asia regions, only a minority of MFIs report that 90% or more of their clients have resumed their activity. However, for a majority of MFIs in the sample (54% in total), between 50 and 90% of clients have resumed their activity. The overall trend therefore points towards gradual recovery.
However, even if customers do resume their activities, some sectors are more affected by the crisis than others. The business activity most often mentioned as being most affected is tourism in regions other than sub-Saharan Africa, where it is retail (reported by 48% of MFIs in the region). The services sector is second in most regions except in Asia where the production and crafts sector is more affected. On the other hand, agriculture is reported only once. Overall, the agriculture sector appears to have been less affected than others by the Covid-19 crisis, as our previous work already showed, where a number of MFIs stated that they wanted to focus more on agriculture as it was less affected by the crisis.
When looking at the constraints faced by customers, by sector, it appears that these constraints are specific to each of them (Fig. 10). Regarding the tourism industry, it is the decrease in the number of clients of entrepreneurs working in it that is the main source of difficulty, followed closely by the loss of employment, mentioned by 60% of MFIs who identified tourism as the most affected sector. On the other hand, in other sectors, the loss of jobs by clients does not appear to be among the main constraints identified. The decrease in the number of customers remains one of the major constraints, for the retail sector as well as for services or production and crafts. The same result is found in other surveys directly targeting MFI customers, such as those using the tool developed by SPTF where the reduction in demand is identified as the main reason for the decline in revenues [4]. Finally, the lack of business opportunities is the first constraint for the retail sector (reported by 72% of MFIs identifying this sector as being the most affected), while the difficulty in producing or offering products is typical of the production and crafts sector.
By focusing on the specific constraints faced by their clients depending on their industry, but probably too on other factors, MFIs would thus be able to better anticipate their financial situation in the short term, and respond appropriately to the needs of their different customer segments: This would allow them all to better navigate this crisis. This responsiveness seems to have already been adopted by some MFIs, given that, and beyond the priority given to the repayment of credits or their restructuring, some of them have introduced not only new channels of digital communication and distribution, but also new credit policies or new products (Fig. 11).
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[1] The results of the first three surveys of ADA partners, Inpulse and the Grameen Agricole Foundation are available here: //www.ada-microfinance.org/fr/crise-du-covid-19 and //www.gca-foundation.org/en/covid-19-observatory/
[2] The number of MFIs responding by region is as follows: SSA: 27 MFIs; LAKE: 18 MFIs; EAC: 13 MFIs, Asia: 12 MFIs; MENA: 3 MFIs. In spite of the small number of MFIs participating in the MENA region, we considered useful to share the inputs of MFIs that took the time to respond to these surveys. However, we urge caution in interpreting the results in this region, which might have limited representativity.
[3] As the MENA region is represented by only 3 MFIs in the sample surveyed, the high numbers in this region should be considered with caution.
[4] The results of these surveys are available here: //app.60decibels.com/covid-19/financial-inclusion#explore

Kafo Jiginew, resilient in the face of the Covid-19 crisis in Mali

The Covid-19 crisis has impacted the activity of Kafo Jiginew, a microfinance institution funded by the Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation since 2018. Firstly due to the slowdown in international economic activity which impacted the growth of savings, but also in relation to the demand for loans which has also decreased. This panorama was presented by David Dao, Director of Kafo Jiginew, during an interview given on the occasion of the presentation of donations worth 25 million FCFA to the widows and orphans of the Malian soldiers who are part of the membership. of the institution.
The Covid-19 has also affected the Malian cotton sector, largely financed by the institution, which has seen its demand drop on the international market. Credit demands from cotton producers have decreased, which for the institution represents a significant drop in financial income. Another consequence is the increased risk of non-repayment of loans which could weigh on Kafo’s financial profitability in 2020. David Dao, however, expects a positive result for 2020 and asserts that the situation will not weigh on the existence of the institution that is strong.
Kafo Jiginew remains the leader in the microfinance field in Mali with at least 40% of the market share, 430,000 clients and a portfolio worth FCFA 68 billion. Since 2014, the institution has entered a phase of profitability which still continues. In 2015, Kafo Jiginew also initiated a global rating operation with MFR – Microfinanza Rating, an international audit firm that assesses and scores its financial and social performance. These good practices ensure transparency towards international funders such as the Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation, which will continue to support its partners to face the current crisis.
Source: Bamada.net

The Foundation publishes its Impact Newsletter
The Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation publishes its Impact Special Newsletter which presents the evolution of the figures for the Foundation’s direct and indirect impacts and an “Impact Focus” with the first results of the international coalition, initiated in May 2020 by the Foundation, to protect microfinance institutions and their clients in the context of the Covid-19 crisis. These results attest to real cooperation and coherence of action between the 30 signatory organisations of the pledge. Due to the prompt action taken, liquidity defaults have so far been avoided and technical assistance, coordinated and focused on essential actions, has made it possible to support institutions during all these period.
We also present the joint interview of the Directors of Crédit Agricole Normandie-Seine and Center-France, two Regional banks that have invested in the Inclusive Finance in Rural Areas Fund (FIR), the first microfinance fund of Crédit Agricole which reinforces the action and the Group’s impact in favour of financial inclusion.
You will discover the key figures of Solidarity Bankers, the Crédit Agricole Group’s voluntary skills programme implemented in favour of organisations funded by the Foundation, as well as a travel diary from a Solidarity Banker of Crédit Agricole SA who conducted a mission in Senegal for the benefit of SFA, a social enterprise supported by the Foundation.
Download the Newsletter # 37 Impact Special here.

Signatory organisations report on Covid-19 Pledge implementation and lessons learned
Over the past months, the financial inclusion sector has embarked on a journey to face the Covid-19 crisis. On the field, microfinance institutions have taken measures to face the health risks, lock downs and the economic recession. In the meantime, lenders, investors, support organisations and technical assistance providers had to adapt their intervention principles and coordinate their actions (1). By signing the Pledge on Key principles to protect microfinance institutions and their clients in the COVID-19 crisis (the “Pledge”), 30 organisations committed to complying with some key principles.
Six months after the signature of the Pledge, a working group of signatories (ADA, Cordaid Investment Management, Frankfurt School Impact Finance, Grameen Credit Agricole Foundation, Microfinance Solidaire, SIDI and the Social Performance Task Force) draws lessons from the implementation of the pledge principles. In a common publication, the signatories present the progress on 10 principles mostly related to rollovers and early stages of voluntary debt workouts, as this is what we can observe in the first months of the crisis.
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We conclude to a very good coordination between international lenders who have agreed on terms of handshake agreements, avoiding lengthy restructuring discussions in the majority of cases. This prompt reaction has proved instrumental to avoid a liquidity crunch in the sector as most investees have maintained sufficient levels of liquidity. In rare cases when individual non-coordinated behaviors threatened the fair burden sharing amongst international debt providers, peer pressure has been effective.
We have also seen an unprecedented coordination on technical assistance that already resulted in some collaboration between technical assistance providers, such as the organisation of a common webinar on liquidity management, the provision of tools on business continuity and the implementation of field surveys on final clients. Coordination was however not up to our initial objective notably due to need to prioritise issues that were more pressing. Given the important challenges that microfinance institutions will face on the field, we believe that we should pursue our efforts on this front to avoid duplication and steer efficiency.
Our pledge to client and staff protection lives on. We have encouraged initiatives to promote continued client and staff protection in these times of crisis and need to pursue such efforts to make sure that they remain at the center of the table of discussions. Many microfinance institutions will have to turnaround a business intimately linked to the financial health of clients, staff behaviors on the field and staff treatment. For that purpose, we encourage coordinated collection of information on staff treatment and client outcome throughout the crisis and beyond. We also encourage deepening sector initiatives that contribute to efficient reporting under these exceptional circumstances (2).
New debt funding has drastically slowed down during the crisis but has not completely stopped. As some economies begin to restart, many of our investees have shown promising signs of regrowth since July 2020, with significant differences among countries and sectors of activities. Acknowledging the opening of this new chapter, we commit to accompany and consolidate the economic recovery in a timely and responsible manner.
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[1] //www.covid-finclusion.org/investors
[2] The Social Investor Working Group of the SPTF has issued Lenders’ Guidelines for Defining and Monitoring Responsible Covenants in the Covid-19 context.

Sinapi Aba wins Best Bank for Women Entrepreneurs Award
Sinapi Aba, has been adjudged the Gold Winner for the Best Bank for Women Entrepreneurs 2020 for the Global SME Finance Awards. Launched in 2018, the Global SME Finance Awards was set up to recognise the commitments and distinguished achievements of financial institutions and Fintech companies in delivering outstanding products and services to their SME clients.
Sinapi Aba is a microfinance institution created in 1994 in Ghana by Opportunity International to serve as an incubator that provides business development and income generating opportunities to economically disadvantaged people who can thereby improve their living conditions. Sinapi is a partner of the Foundation since 2018. Trough savings and loan products, Sinapi Aba promotes entrepreneurial development, particularly women entrepreneurship that represents 78% of its clients. The institution also contributes to the development of rural areas, as 76% of its clients launch income-generating activities in rural areas.
Sub-Saharan Africa is one of the main regions supported by the Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation. In Ghana, where the Foundaiton started to intervene in 2018, the Foundation finances the microfinance institution Sinapi Aba, with a loan in local currency equivalent to €931,000.
More information on Sinapi Aba here.

The Foundation grants a new loan to OXUS Tajikistan
The Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation granted a new loan to the microfinance institution OXUS Tajikistan. The loan, for an amount equivalent to € 465,000 euros, is the 4th granted to this Tajik institution which mainly targets microentrepreneurs and farmers in rural areas. Its social mission is clear and aims to improve the economic and social conditions of the low-income population who are not served by the banking sector.
With this new loan, the Foundation has an outstanding portfolio of € 24.5 million in the Eastern Europe and Central Asia region for a total of 19 partners in 10 countries. This represents 26% of the total outstanding portfolio monitored by the Foundation at the end of September 2020.
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Created in 2008, under the joint leadership of Crédit Agricole SA and Professor Yunus, 2006 Nobel Peace Prize winner and founder of Grameen Bank, the Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation is a cross-business actor which contributes to the fight against poverty through financial inclusion and social impact entrepreneurship. Investor, lender, technical assistance coordinator and Fund advisor, the Foundation supports microfinance institutions and social enterprises in 40 countries.
For more information on the organisations supported by the Foundation, click here.

Crédit Agricole’s Solidarity bankers in images
Launched in June 2018 at the initiative of the Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation and Crédit Agricole S.A., Solidarity bankers is a skills volunteering programme open to all Crédit Agricole Group employees on behalf of microfinance institutions or social impact enterprises supported by the Foundation.
The aim of Solidarity Bankers is twofold: on one hand, it values the skills of Crédit Agricole Group employees who wish to get involved in solidarity projects and, on the other hand, it strengthens the support for microfinance institutions and companies financed by the Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation.
Two years after its launch, discover the testimonials and highlights of the missions in Senegal and Cambodia in 3 video clips that present the results of the programme.
First destination: Senegal
The programme’s first mission is emblematic: the mission led by Jonathan Michaud, an agricultural engineer from Crédit Agricole Franche Comté, in Senegal for La Laiterie du Berger. With the support of the Regional Bank, the Solidarity banker left for 2 years to help La Laiterie to structure the dairy industry in Senegal. Today, he is Director of KOSSAM SDE, the Dairy’s subsidiary created as a result of his mission, which contributes to structuring the milk sector in Northern Senegal by providing material resources and training to breeders and developing an innovative model of pilot “mini-farms”. It supports 1,230 local breeders, who have seen their income increase by more than 50% between 2018 and 2019.
Another mission was carried out in Senegal in 2020. Michèle Kouam, IT Project Manager at Crédit Agricole SA, left at the beginning of the year to support the Société Sénégalaise des Filières Alimentaires (SFA). Her mission was to work on digitizing the rice collection of SFA, a company that produces white rice from paddy grown by small farmers in the Senegal River Valley. By enabling access to credit, providing technical support and guaranteeing a fair price, SFA currently supports 3,200 small farmers and promotes the development of an inclusive rice sector in Senegal.
Heading to Cambodia
A final mission completes this record in images: the mission of François Galland, Head of International HR at Crédit Agricole SA, to the microfinance institution Chamroeun. François worked for 2 weeks on Chamroeun’s Human resources strategy. The institution offers financial products and services to more than 33,000 low-income people in Cambodia, who are also supported with a range of training and social support services.
What’s next?
Since the launch of the programme, 20 missions have been launched, 12 of which have been carried out. For the first missions launched in 2020, the selection process has been finalized, but two mission are still to be filled in Morocco and Egypt.
With Solidarity Bankers, the Regional Banks and Crédit Agricole entities in France and abroad are stepping up their actions in favor of inclusive finance and strengthening the human and social projects of the Group/PMT 2022 Strategy.

Solidarity Bankers and Plastic Odyssey: missions to be filled in Egypt and Morocco
THE PLASTIC ODYSSEY ADVENTURE
Every minute, 19 metric tons of plastic enter our oceans and 80% of marine pollution comes from coastal towns and cities in the world’s poorest countries. In the face of this global challenge, Plastic Odyssey aims to make recycling plastic waste into a profitable business that creates new jobs.
The project is based on a round-the-world voyage aboard a boat that acts as an ambassador for open-source recycling technologies. The boat will be making stops in emerging countries where these solutions will be used to recycle available waste to help create and grow plastic recycling microbusinesses. The expedition is due to set sail at the end of January 2021.
Crédit Agricole S.A., CA Regional Banks and subsidiaries support the project since 2018 by financing the construction of a prototype boat and the expedition with €1.2 million over 5 years. Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation supports Plastic Odyssey in the development of its business model and the project of structuring a social impact recycling branch during the expedition.
MISSIONS TO BE FILLED IN EGYPT AND MOROCCO
Plastic Odyssey will start its journey through the Mediterranean Sea, and needs to update its knowledge of the plastic waste value chain and to identify partnerships opportunities with social entrepreneurs. In the framework of the Solidarity Bankers Programme, Crédit Agricole SA and Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation, publish two missions to support Plastic Odyssey’s development. The missions are open only to Crédit Agricole employees based in Egypt and Morocco.
The Solidarity Bankers’ objectives will be to identify the key actors of the plastic recycling value chain in Egypt and Morocco, to analyze the business model of targeted social enterprises and their success factors and to identify development opportunities for Plastic Odyssey.
The duration of each mission is one day per week for sixteen weeks, which can be during the Solidarity bankers’ working time (skill-based sponsorship by the Solidarity bankers’ employers) and/or holidays (volunteering). The missions can be done in pairs or by a team of expert of Crédit Agricole based in Egypt and Morocco. The mission in Egypt will take place from the last quarter 2020 and the mission in Morocco in the first quarter 2021.
APPLY TO THE MISSION IN EGYPT
APPLY TO THE MISSION IN MOROCCO
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(1) Alpes Provence, Aquitaine, Atlantique Vendée, Charente-Maritime Deux-Sèvres, Finistère, Nord de France, Normandie-Seine and Provence Côte d’Azur
(2) CA Assurances, CACEIS, Crédit Agricole CIB, CA Immobilier, BforBank, CAMCA Mutuelle, Crédit Agricole Poland and Crédit Agricole Italy

RENACA, finalist for European Microfinance Award 2020
In the Covid-19 pandemic, encouraging savings activity is critical in providing resilience to vulnerable people. Savings allows, among other things, consumption smoothing in the face of income volatility, minimises the impact of financial and other shocks, encourages long term planning and offers opportunities for productive investment.
The European Microfinance Award 2020 (EMA 2020) will reward with a €100,000 prize the organization that better encourages effective and inclusive savings. Among 70 applications from 37 countries, three finalists were announced: Buusaa Gonofaa Microfinance, Muktinath Bikas Bank and RENACA, partner of Grameen Credit Agricole Foundation. These organisations offer savings products and services based on a genuine understanding of clients’ needs and behaviour, reach under-served populations, and ensure that the savings are accessible, affordable and useful.
RENACA is a union of cooperatives in Benin supported by the Foundation since 2013, which targets low income and vulnerable populations in rural areas. RENACA offers a wide range of saving products (‘tontine’ doorstep models, term deposits and demand deposits) and promotes community savings and credit groups. Its savings offer is supported by a mobile application and the use of tablets, for secure and trustworthy client transactions. RENACA also provides financial education and other non-financial services.
After the announcement of the finalists, the Luxembourg Minister for Development Cooperation and Humanitarian Affairs, Mr. Franz Fayot, said: “The extraordinary response to this year’s Award is strong evidence of the impressive reputation it has gained for rigour and quality as well as for the exposure benefits that those who do well in the process can reap. The diverse applications highlight not only how important responsible inclusive financial services are during crises, but also how especially savings can strengthen resilience of vulnerable communities”.
The winner will be chosen by a High Jury and announced on November 19th at an online ceremony during EMW 2020.
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More information on e-MFP

New programme to strengthen smallholder households
SSNUP (Smallholder Safety Net Upscaling Programme)
In collaboration with the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation and the Luxembourg Directorate for Development Cooperation and Humanitarian Action, ADA is launching a new program to support small farmers in Africa, Latin America and Asia. SSNUP (Smallholder Safety Net Upscaling Programme) will run for ten years with a budget of 55 million euros.
The program will draw on the technical assistance expertise of impact investment funds to design, test and develop financial and non-financial solutions for the mitigation and transfer of agricultural risks of different actors in value chains.
A partnership to strengthen the technical assistance offer
Based on its experience in the management of technical assistance programs, the Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation was selected as one of the impact investors in charge of setting up the SSNUP.
The Foundation will thus coordinate technical assistance missions for the organizations it supports – microfinance institutions and social enterprises – on various themes such as the development of new financial and non-financial products/services for small producers, agricultural microinsurance and the digitalization of operations. The SSNUP expands the Foundation’s offer of technical assistance and represents a tremendous opportunity to strengthen its impact on the organizations it supports in Africa and Asia and on the small producers supported by its organizations in the field.
In addition to the Foundation, four impact investors have joined SSNUP: Incofin, Oikocredit, responsAbility and Symbiotics. Other actors will be invited to join the program as it develops.
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For more information: ADA.

Event: Lidia, entrepreneur supported by Solidarity Cents
SOLIDARITY CENTS
Launched in 2018 by the Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation, Crédit Agricole SA and CA Centre-est, Solidarity Cents aims to finance entrepreneurial projects by mobilizing Crédit Agricole employees, who are invited to make a donation of 50 cents when they pay for their meals in the restaurants of Crédit Agricole Campuses.
Entrepreneurs du Monde, NGO financed also by Fondation Crédit Agricole Solidarité et Développement, has been the beneficiary of the operation since the first edition. The NGO has already received €15,651 to strengthen the ICI (Incubation, Creation, Inclusion) programme, which supports entrepreneurship projects for refugees, single parents and homeless people in Lyon. In 2 years, more than 100 people have been guided to structure their entrepreneurial projects.
2020 will be the 3rd and final year of support for Entrepreneurs du Monde, which will receive an additional €11,000 in subsidies.
MEETING LIDIA
To close the 3rd edition of Solidarity Cents, the Foundation and Crédit Agricole welcome Lidia, an Italian entrepreneur supported through the operation, to CA Campus in Montrouge on October 29th, 2020.
Arrived in France 12 years ago, Lidia is an Italian entrepreneur, mother of 3 children and beneficiary of the RSA. Thanks to the support of Entrepreneurs du Monde through ICI programme, she was able to create her own catering service. The next step: bringing an old grocery store to life in Lyon, in a street steeped in history with Italy.
Come to share with Lidia and taste her culinary specialties!
Event reserved exclusively for employees of the Crédit Agricole Group.
To register, contact carolina.viguet@credit-agricole-sa.fr

The Foundation grants a first loan to MLF Zambia
The Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation pursues its investments in Sub-Saharan Africa and has just granted a first loan in local currency equivalent to € 250.000 to the Zambian microfinance institution MicroLoan Foundation Zambia (MLF-Zambia), over a of three-year period. This loan has been granted within the framework of the African Facility programme which aims at reinforcing smal microfinance institutions.
MLF Zambia is a microfinance institution that was established in 2008. Its activities are overseen by the Microloan Foundation which has its headquarters in the UK. MLF-Z’s main activity is providing low-income women living in predominantly rural areas of Eastern, Southern and Central Provinces of Zambia with short-term loans of between 4-6 months for productive purposes. The institution lends exclusively to women.
With this loan, the Foundation now has an outstanding amount of € 36.4 million in the sub-Saharan African region, or 38% of the outstanding amount monitored by the Foundation.
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Created in 2008, under the joint leadership of Crédit Agricole SA and Professor Yunus, 2006 Nobel Peace Prize winner and founder of Grameen Bank, the Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation is a cross-business actor which contributes to the fight against poverty through financial inclusion and social impact entrepreneurship. Investor, lender, technical assistance coordinator and Fund advisor, the Foundation supports microfinance institutions and social enterprises in 40 countries.
For more information on the organizations supported by the Foundation, click here.

Three Solidarity bankers missions are available
Launched by the Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation and Crédit Agricole S.A, Solidarity bankers is a skills volunteering programme open to Group employees for microfinance institutions or impact businesses. The objective of this programme is twofold: it is a way of acknowledging the skills acquired by Crédit Agricole group employees and provides additional support to microfinance institutions and partner companies of the Foundation. Thanks to this scheme, the Crédit Agricole group reiterates its commitment to support employees’ solidarity initiatives.
Missions to be filled!
1. “Financial Audit / Reporting” mission for Kossam in Senegal
A subsidiary of Laiterie du Berger, Kossam’s mission is to develop an inclusive and sustainable dairy industry in Northern Senegal. Created in 2019, after a Solidarity Bankers mission, Kossam collects milk from 450 local breeders, to whom it provides market services (food, fodder), advice and training. The Solidarity bankers mission [which could be carried out by 2 Solidarity bankers] aims to support Kossam and Laiterie du Berger in strengthening the financial team and reporting. Depending on the health context, the mission will be carried out at the end of 2020 or early 2021 in Senegal.
2. “Fundraising” mission in favor of PPSE in Cambodia
Phare Performing Social Enterprise (PPSE) is a Cambodian social enterprise created in 2013 that produces circus shows and has recently launched an animation and graphic design studio. PPSE employs art graduates from PPSA, a non-profit organization that supports underprivileged children and youth. An online Solidarity bankers mission will aim to consolidate the new PPSE business plan (developed in response to the Covid-19 crisis) and to support a fundraising and merger process. The mission is planned for the last quarter of the year.
3. “Human resources” mission in favor of Oshun in Senegal
Created in 2018, Oshun is a social enterprise that provides quality water services for the most vulnerable populations in rural Senegal. As part of a structuring process after a strong development, a Solidarity bankers mission will help simplify Human resources management, recruitment and general management. The mission is planned for the last quarter of the year in Senegal, but the calendar will depend on the context generated by the Covid-19.
How to apply?
- Click on the link “Find a project“
- Enter in the the search bar: “Fondation Grameen”. All the Solidarity bankers missions will appear!
- Click on the offer of your choice, you will find all the information requested for your application.
Contact: Carolina VIGUET
Head of Communication & Partnerships
carolina.viguet@credit-agricole-sa.fr

The Foundation grants a new loan to Mikra in Bosnia-Herzegovina
The Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation continued to invest in Eastern Europe and Central Asia and has just granted a new loan in local currency equivalent to € 1.2 million to the Bosnian microfinance institution Mikra, over a of three-year period. This is the second loan granted to the institution following the 1 million euro loan in 2018.
Mikra is a Tier 2 microfinance institution founded by Catholic Relief Services (CRS) that started operations in 1993. Its mission is to provide responsible access to financial services to the poorest but economically active population, mainly women (70.2% of its 13,400 clients). The institution offers the poorest gainfully employed population access to affordable and quality financial and support services in order to reduce poverty and encourage entrepreneurship. The institution promotes the equality and freedom of Bosnian women, which are necessary preconditions for the success of their businesses and their social emancipation.
With this loan, the Foundation now has an outstanding amount of € 24 million euros in the Eastern Europe and Central Asia region, which represents 25% of the outstanding amount managed by the Foundation.
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Created in 2008, under the joint leadership of Crédit Agricole SA and Professor Yunus, 2006 Nobel Peace Prize winner and founder of Grameen Bank, the Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation is a cross-business actor which contributes to the fight against poverty through financial inclusion and social impact entrepreneurship. Investor, lender, technical assistance coordinator and Fund advisor, the Foundation supports microfinance institutions and social enterprises in 40 countries.
For more information on the organizations supported by the Foundation, click here.

Supporting financial inclusion of refugees in Uganda
In November 2019, the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida), the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation launched a three-year programme to promote access to financial and non-financial services for refugees and host communities in Uganda. This is a unique programme designed to inspire microfinance investors and microfinance institutions to extend their financial services to refugees.
Within this framework, the Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation is in charge of managing technical assistance and support for microfinance institutions so that they develop a range of products and services tailored to refugee populations. The Foundation also grants loans to institutions to provide them with the necessary resources for loans to refugees and host communities.
UGAFODE: First funded institution
The first institution supported under this programme is UGAFODE Microfinance Limited. Thanks to a loan equivalent to € 540,000 and the technical support provided, UGAFODE has opened an agency in the Nakivale refugee camp, in the district of Isingiro, which will help strengthen the resilience and autonomy of refugees in the host communities.
For UGAFODE, this programme follows a successful pilot financial inclusion project for refugees in Kampala. Thanks to the support offered under the programme, and the loan from the Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation, thousands of refugees will be able to access credit and money transfer services.
Refugees will also receive training in entrepreneurial management that will equip them with essential skills such as developing business plans, financial management, pricing and marketing.
Funding for other microfinance institutions is being analysed with