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Habitat for Humanity (HFH) Armenia, Armenia
The project targets poor households in the rural areas of Armenia. Beneficiaries include families currently living in unsafe and substandard housing, and those who received housing loans from HFH but have extremely limited sources of income.
HFH will provide families with long-term affordable loans to improve their housing conditions. This will enable beneficiaries to develop the discipline and credit record required to enter the formal financial system. HFH will also provide seed grants for families to start agricultural income-generation activities such as animal breeding and crop production.
Armenian Tree project will provide beneficiaries with fruit trees, which are a good source of additional income. Animal breeding and farming training will be conducted by Heifer International. Community Housing Foundation will work with eligible youth from beneficiary families to provide them with vocational training in construction skills to help create short- and long-term employment.
Partnerships: Armenian Tree Project, Community Housing Foundation, and Heifer International.
Building Resources Across Communities (BRAC), Southern Sudan
The award will be used to re-establish sustainable livelihoods for previously displaced poor Sudanese returning to Southern Sudan. More than four million people were displaced from this region during a twelve year conflict which resulted in one of the worst humanitarian crises of the 20th century.
Most people returning to the region lack sustenance for daily survival and rely on emergency aid with no strategy for longer term economic livelihood. BRAC will provide capacity building, skills development, and income generation training for 750 poor households. Some of the education programs that will be offered include health awareness training, introduction to savings practices, and human rights and gender equity training.
The program will start by supporting reintegration and resettlement, building knowledge and technical skills, and facilitating restoration of food security and livelihoods. Households will then receive financial literacy training. They will be taught to build savings to be used as financial reserves and to engage in income generation projects. BRAC will provide microfinance services.
Partnerships: Other aid and relief organizations operating in the region, BRAC microfinance program in Sudan, Sudanese government.
Farm Concern International (FCI), Kenya
The award will fund an existing credit line for commercializing and linking to the private-sector villages producing African traditional vegetables. The credit line funds market-related expenses like transport, packaging, etc.
Poor villages operating as subsistence producers are developed into profit making entities and strategically linked to private-sector buyers like supermarkets, hotels, hospitals, schools, and private households. FCI conducts research and streamlines production to ensure market demand is adequately met.
FCI has a relationship with financial service providers in the target regions of operation. Once producers start getting returns, they are linked to the nearest financial service provider to set up a mandatory savings account. This way they become clients of financial institutions, enabling them to build savings and access other financial products. Currently, 2,500 households are participating in this project, and a projected 3,000 more will be added.
Partnerships: MFIs, banks, SACCOS, and other financial service providers in regions of operation.
FINCA, Afghanistan
The project targets vulnerable Afghans, including unemployed/underemployed men and women, orphans, young former combatants, disabled persons, and ethnic minorities. FINCA, which provides financial services, will partner with the International Rescue Committee (IRC), which provides support to these vulnerable groups. IRC will work to provide market-oriented skills training, linkages to micro-credit, and business development support services. FINCA will provide appropriate financial services to clients once they are eligible for microfinance.
By using microfinance and vocational education and training as complementary activities, very poor households are given the ability to overcome constraints to sustainable livelihoods.
Partnerships: FINCA and IRC.
Tamweelcom, Jordan
Tamweelcom has partnered with Vocational Training Corporation (VTC) to provide complementary nonfinancial services to Tamweelcom's microfinance clients by offering proper training for vocational professions. The initiative targets poor clients and unemployed youth enrolled at VTC, who want to start microenterprises.
VTC offers training courses in various fields. At the end of the training period, candidates enroll in a business development services course to learn how to manage their own enterprises. VTC then gives candidates recommendations, enabling them to become eligible for microfinance services from Tamweelcom. Tamweelcom loan officers work with these clients to provide them with financial literacy education. They also assess and advise clients on entrepreneurship and financing options, expertise enhancement, and market opportunities, according to economic and competition conditions. The project builds on existing programs in Jordan to bridge a gap in the market between skilled people and lack of finance to fund their potential new projects and businesses.
The project builds on existing programs in Jordan to bridge a gap in the market between skilled people and lack of finance to fund their potential new projects and businesses.
Partnership: Vocational Training Corporation.
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Crédit-Epargne-Formation (C.E.-FOR), Madagascar (View Recipient's Profile)
C.E.-FOR will launch a pilot program to increase financial and nonfinancial services for very poor entrepreneurs who are committed to developing their own income-generating activities. In addition to providing microloans, C.E.-FOR will offer clients savings facilities, business management training, and links to social services. The program will target a preliminary group of 3,000 clients, with the capacity for future program replication.
HOPE - Round VIII Winner
Award Presentation Ceremony - CGAP June 2006 |
Institution de Microfinance HOPE (IMF HOPE), Democratic Republic of Congo (View Recipient's Profile, 2006 Report)
Based in the conflict-affected Democratic Republic of Congo, IMF HOPE is expanding its services beyond the urban areas of Kinshasa, Kisangani, and Lubumbashi. IMF HOPE will use the PPIC grant to redesign its current products and delivery mechanisms to reach poorer entrepreneurs in peri-urban areas who have not had access to financial services. Specific product modifications will include adjusting the loan size and client repayment schedules; altering client group sizes and structure; redesigning interaction between credit officers and clients; and assessing subsequent and necessary staff and client training.
Trickle Up Program (TUP) and Bandhan, India (View Recipient's Profile)
With PPIC funding, the Trickle Up Program will partner with Indian MFI Bandhan to pilot a model to graduate the urban poorest from grants to formal microfinance programs. The pilot will enable the poorest to access microfinance and manage debt successfully by offering clients consumer education, savings services, and business and management training. By the end of the pilot, it is projected that over 80 percent of clients will have graduated from TUP grants to Bandhan_s regular microfinance program.
Union des Clubs d'Epargne et Crédit (UCEC), Chad (View Recipient's Profile)
UCEC will use the PPIC award to expand its microfinance services in Southern Chad by opening at least three new branches in areas currently lacking any financial service providers. UCEC specifically targets the poorest and most marginalized populations within Chad, which is itself estimated to be among the 10 poorest countries on the planet. The new branches provide access to savings and credit in rural areas where neither government nor private-sector service providers are present.
XacBank, Mongolia (View Recipient's Profile)
XacBank will use PPIC funds to scale up its _Development Guide_ franchise service for rural savings and credit cooperatives. In this model, XacBank offers the cooperatives on-site consulting and audit services, management training, wholesale loans, and management information systems. XacBank thus hopes to offer rural clients the safety of a bank with the convenience of a local cooperative, at a cost that enables the bank to reach rural clients on a sustainable basis.
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Archdiocese of Kismu Savings And Credit Scheme (ADOK TIMO), Kenya
ADOK TIMO works in Western Kenya, where a high percentage of the population suffers from HIV/AIDS. Using PPIC funds, ADOK TIMO will expand a pilot credit product which provides loans, mainly to peasant women, to produce food products recommended for supporting immune function in HIV patients. The products include goat milk, sweet potatoes, and honey. PPIC funds will also be used to expand ADOK TIMO's "Utaweza" (You Can Do It) savings account. The account is designed to encourage daily savings for one full year and can be used as a guarantee for a larger rural enterprise loan..
Association for the Development and Enhancement of Women (ADEW), Egypt
Based in Egypt, ADEW has a long history of providing women with credit services, financial training, and legal support. It intends to use the PPIC grant to expand its "Girl's Dreams Program". The program targets girls who dropped out of school or have never attended. The girls receive training on financial literacy, technical skills and personal development and health. At the end of the twelve-month program period, the girls graduate into ADEW's regular microfinance program.
Cooperative Bank of Benguet (CBB), Philippines farmers in spreading sustainable agriculture. With the PPIC grant, CBB plans to provide credit and training to highland youth to encourage the development of new environmentally-friendly agribusinesses, specifically sustainably produced health foods and culinary herbs. Through this pilot project CBB also plans to test new and modern farming techniques. .
Credit Union "The First in the Far East" (CU "1ST IN THE FE"), Russia
CU "1st in the FE" is the only MFI in the Russian Far East providing credit services to elderly and disabled persons. With the PPIC grant CU "1st from the FE" plans to expand their pension loan program. This program allows the clients to borrow against their pension money for meeting emergency consumption needs. CU "1st from the FE" also plans to develop a new savings product that can be used as a guarantee for loans.
Oportunidad Latinoamérica Colombia (OLC), Colombia
OLC is the only MFI in Bogotá, Colombia, providing disabled people with access to credit. With the PPIC grant OLC plans to provide training to and expand its credit program for disabled people. The training includes courses on personal relations and business management that prepare disabled people to enter into OLC's traditional credit program. With the grant OLC also plans to improve their facilities to make them suitable for disabled people.
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Grameen Foundation USA/FINCA Uganda/UWFT/FOCCAS, Uganda
Through the Grameen Foundation, these three microfinance providers will use RPPIC funds to finance village phone operators (VPOs), increasing access to telecommunications for rural populations while also providing an income generating activity for the VPO and a source of income for the MFIs. In addition to loan income generated through the financing, MFIs will earn revenue by acting as distributors of airtime. The project is a partnership with MTN-Uganda, the country's leading mobile phone communications company, and the initial pilot has shown a strong demand for village phone services as well as pointing out the need for more dedicated support for the project from MFIs. RPPIC funds will pay for one employee per MFI to supervise the project, plus related overhead, training for VPOs and MFI staff, and equipment.
Fondasyon Kole Zepol (FONKOZE), Haiti
FONKOZE is requesting funding for one-time marketing expenses to increase the volume of transfers handled by its remittance service and bring it to profitability. FONKOZE's remittance service costs $10 per transfer regardless of the amount, which compares favorably to the average of $0.25 per dollar charged by other transfer companies. In addition, FONKOZE offers customers better currency exchange rates, the opportunity to collect funds near their homes in rural areas, and the ability to link these funds to other financial services such as savings accounts. Although high-cost transfer companies currently have very strong market presence among both Haitians and Haitian immigrants in the US, FONKOZE's previous marketing efforts have shown that awareness of FONKOZE's service can be increased through targeted publicity in ethnic Haitian media.
PARWAZ Microfinance Fund (PARWAZ), Afghanistan
PARWAZ is one of the few Afghan-led microfinance providers currently operating in Afghanistan. Established in late 2002 with the assistance of Global Exchange, during its first three months of operation it made loans to 253 women, 100% of whose repayments were made in full and on time. Locally staffed, it is not only cost-efficient but also better placed to deal with local power structures in regions where the central government has not fully established authority, enabling it to reach into more remote rural areas. The Board is made up of prominent and experienced Afghans as well as experts in microfinance and management. RPPIC funds would be used for initial operating expenses as well as loan funds.
Resource Integration Center (RIC), Bangladesh
RIC is an established NGO with approximately 35,000 clients. One of its current focus areas is senior citizens, who increasingly have difficulty accessing sources of income, especially if they lack family support. Through field visits and consultations with senior citizens and family and community members, RIC targets attempts to establish the creditworthiness of older clients and provide them with access to microfinance. RIC will use RPPIC funds to expand outreach to this excluded group and conduct action research to document and disseminate learnings about including older people in microfinance programs.
Microfinance Centre for CEE and the NIS (MFC) and Mercy Corps Microfinance Program Barakot, Uzbekistan
MFP Barakot is a microfinance NGO providing credit and business training to microentrepreneurs, especially women. The MFC is a technical resource center and offers training, consulting, research, and legal and policy services to regional microfinance practitioners. The two organizations have together requested funding for the development of a holistic framework to study vulnerability and poverty. This practitioner-friendly research methodology would produce segmented data on client needs for financial and supporting non-financial services, which would subsequently be used to create responsive products through an iterative product design process. The methodology would be perfected on the ground in the context of helping MFP Barakot design new products to expand its rural outreach. The grant would also support documentation and dissemination of this methodology for industry-wide learning. Top
International Justice Mission (IJM), India
IJM works to reverse the exploitation of bonded labor. RPPIC funds will allow IJM to obtain the legal release of individual victims and facilitate prevention by offering microfinance and microenterprise opportunities, through local finance institutions, to formerly bonded laborers and those at risk.
Asociacion Benefica PRISMA, Peru
PRISMA is a microcredit NGO that uses Community Banks and Solidarity Groups and is developing a Risk Management Rural Credit Pilot Program for Small Farmers. The RPPIC funds would be used as seed capital for a contingency fund for the producer associations.
Asociacion PILARH, Honduras
PILARH offers loans and social services to family-owned small businesses, primarily in agriculture. All clients must live below the poverty line and rely on the business as their principal source of income. RPPIC funds will go towards extending access to land for the very poorest of families
Conservation International (CI), Mexico
CI offers credit services, business programs, and sustainable agricultural education to small-scale coffee farmers, all of whom live below the poverty line. RRPIC funds will allow the program, Eterno-Verde, to be replicated in Colombia via the Colombian Coffee Federation.
Small Farmers Cooperatives Ltd. (SFCLs), Nepal
SFC is a system of innovative cooperatives with a range of savings, insurance, and credit products designed to fit agricultural activities. RPPIC funds will be used to establish a trust fund at the Small Farmers Development Bank to support the replication of Small Farmer Cooperatives in remote areas of Nepal.
Bai Tushum, Kyrgyzstan
Bai Tushum targets rural businesses from disadvantaged segments of the population that are engaged in agriculture or service industries. The RPPIC award will be used in the development of a new product targeting disadvantaged women working in the dairy industry, providing loans to individual women to purchase milk cows and to groups of women to buy equipment necessary to successful operation in the dairy industry.
Kyrgyz Agricultural Finance Corporation (KAFC), Kyrgyzstan
KAFC has an extensive branch network that will be used, with RPPIC support, to offer a new product, microsavings. KAFC also plans to work with NGOs to better reach more of the poor and to educate the poor about the benefits of savings.
Mountain Areas Finance Fund (MAFF), Albania
MAFF provides financial services to those in remote highland areas with little access to financial institutions, by targeting isolated villages and adapting services to the needs of the people. The RPPIC award will be used to expand their geographical outreach, and to support the provision of a more diversified range of products.
Moldova Microfinance Alliance (MMA), Moldova
MMA operates in small, rural villages, establishing and supporting Savings and Credit Associations. RPPIC funds will be used to extend these associations into 3 new locations, and to install cash machines in the 20 best-performing SCAs, linked to their partner commercial bank.
Association pour la Promotion des Groupements Agricoles (APGA), Togo
APGA targets groups of low-income women. The RPPIC funds will be used to support the weekly credit programs that help expand and diversify clients' activities.
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National Rural Support Program (NRSP), Hyderabad Pakistan
NRSP won PPIC funds for working with newly released bonded laborers in Pakistan. NRSP provides the microloans that these clients need in order to purchase agricultural land provided through a special government program, acquiring assets that will eliminate the need to return to indentured work.
Center for Microfinance (CMF), Nepal
CMF is currently working with formal insurance companies and insurance experts in developing a life insurance product for the poor, wherein the insurance company does the underwriting, determines the pricing, and manages the risks, while MFIs focus on their comparative advantage of collecting premiums. CMF expects that in the next two years the life insurance product will be rolled out, a training manual developed and 15,000 people in the plains and 2,000 people in the hills provided insurance coverage.
PACT, Myanmar
PACT's Partnership for Primary Health Care Project (PPHC) provides health and life insurance services to subscribed members, improves the distribution of basic drugs at the village level, and creates village level structures to monitor and improve community health conditions. The project charges for services and is expected to eventually become financially viable.
Jamaican Cooperative Credit Union League (JCCUL), Jamaica
The JCCUL used its PPIC award to implement a system linking member credit unions to a variety of remittance transfer companies, enabling customers to access remittance funds at credit unions and deposit them in savings accounts. The service is also one of the lowest priced in Jamaica, cutting financial and transaction costs for senders and receivers.
Asociacion Mexicana de Uniones de Credito del Sector Social, A.C. (AMUCCS), Mexico
AMUCSS is a support organization and umbrella entity for two networks of rural and microfinance providers, that include both cooperatives and 'microbancos'. AMUCSS used the CGAP grant to extend access to remittance monies to remote rural areas through pilots in two microbancos in Mixteca de Oaxaca, and to facilitate the link between remittances and access to other finance services, e.g. deposits. The pilot has shown that access of small and difficult-to-reach rural communities to remittance monies can be significantly improved, in terms of cost, time, and security.
Sinapi Aba Trust, Ghana
The Sinapi Aba Trust used its PPIC award to integrate a holistic set of client impact indicators into its MIS. The indicators are designed to track not only economic changes but also social and political transformations in clients' lives, as well as client satisfaction and retention levels.
Lift Above Poverty (LAPO), Nigeria
With the help of its PPIC award, LAPO provided loans for its clients to participate in the privatization of state-owned enterprises in industries such as banking, insurance, manufacturing, shipping, and aviation, an option that had formerly open only to the wealthy. LAPO believes that enabling the poor to buy shares in these financially viable companies, when combined with sound financial advice, will enable them to build up a long-term asset base.
Horizonti, Macedonia
Macedonia had been the only example of peaceful separation of a former Yugoslav republic, but in 2001 violence broke out there as well. As attrition increased and repayments fell, Horizonti had to adapt its methodology accordingly, tightening rules to preserve the viability of the program while putting in place a strict set of rules for accepting partial payments in cases of real need. It also sent out a clear message that the institution would continue issuing loans despite the violence. This has served to stabilize repayment rates, as Horizonti is now seen as the only long-term source of finance in its market.
Rural Finance Corporation (RFC), Moldova
The Rural Finance Corporation (RFC) provides loans and technical assistance to village Savings and Credit Associations (SCAs). As the SCAs grow in size, they borrow ever-larger amounts from the RFC. At present cash is simply transferred to villages, but this creates an obvious security issue. The RFC has therefore negotiated links with two commercial banks, and will install there banks' software in at least 5 SCAs. Cash will no longer be transferred to these associations from the RFC, but instead transferred to the nearest bank branch, and the SCA can withdraw the funds as needed. Using the softward will also make non-cash financial products available to SCA members.
Organizacion de Desarrollo Empresarial Femenino (ODEF), Honduras
While efficient mechanisms exist to transfer remittance monies to Honduras from abroad, internal transfer mechanisms outside of major towns are much less well developed. ODEF aims to improve this access for its clients by partnering with the a federation of credit unions whose links to US credit unions allow Honduran emigrants to send money to Honduras. ODEF will notify its clients and disburse the funds through one of its 9 branch offices or, in the future, through more innovative communications technologies like smart cards.
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Alternativa Solidaria Chiapas A.C. (AlSol Chiapas A.C.), Mexico
Alternativa Solidaria (AlSol) originally only offered savings and credit services to women in the violence- and poverty-ravaged state of Chiapas. However, when several clients died and their families have had to liquidate assets and go into debt in order to pay for burial services, AlSol decided to design a microinsurance product for this vulnerable population. In partnership with Zurich Insurance, it now offers $1,000 of life coverage for a $10 annual premium. The insurance company processes applications of groups of 125, and AlSol collects weekly premiums of 20 cents from its clients to pay for it.
The Local Enterprise Assistance Program (LEAP), Liberia
In an environment wracked with repeated outbreaks of violence, LEAP managed to build a client base of 4400 and a portfolio of $215,000. As the security situation improved, LEAP turned its attention from Monrovia to more distant market towns. CGAP funds were used to open two new branches in more rural areas of the country. Although conflict continues to flare up in the country, LEAP's chances for success are enhanced by its track record of recovering from past attacks.
Constanta Foundation (Constanta), Georgia
In order to increase its outreach beyond the urban poor with whom it had traditionally worked, Constanta developed a flexible lower-cost strategy based on a mobile team in satellite offices on certain days of the week. A partner bank is used to store and transfer funds for security reasons. Using the PPIC award to implement this methodology, Constanta successfully expanded access to credit for the rural poor.
Women Economic Empowerment Consort (WEEC), Kenya
WEEC used CGAP funds to expand its Pastoralist Group Credit Scheme, which provides financial services to semi-nomadic Maasai women, whose livelihood is based on their cattle herds. Credit is often made available in the form of cattle, for which WEEC negotiates bulk purchase deals and passes on the savings to clients. A link with a public program trains the women in caring for these new breeds that use limited pastures and have higher milk yields than nomadic breeds. Women make repayments from the sale of milk, excess livestock or handicrafts sold to tourists.
Youth Self Employment Program (YOSEFO), Tanzania
RRealizing that many clients had difficulty in repaying their loans towards the beginning of school terms, YOSEFO introduced a savings and loan product specifically for school tuition. Clients set aside weekly savings for their children before they start school, which the institution invests in risk-free investments such as treasury bills. Clients are also allowed to borrow for school fees, and repayments are made along with repayments of general loans. Top
Association Mennonite de Developpement Economique (AMDE), Haiti
In working in the rural areas in Haiti, MEDA was confronted with alarming levels of illiteracy, which had an indirect effect on the performance of community banks. MEDA realized that literacy training was essential in ensuring transparency and efficiency in operations as well as increasing the dignity and confidence of the membership. The CGAP award assisted MEDA in operating its literacy and business skills training program. Numbers and words are taught gradually in the first session, while the second session covers advanced reading/writing and business skills.
CASHPOR Financial & Technical Services Ltd. (CFTS), India
Despite the use of a modified housing index, CFTS experienced difficulty attracting the poorest women - usually casual agricultural laborers - as clients. Due to unpredictable demand for their labor in the fields, these women had trouble sustaining an ongoing income-generating activity. CFTS therefore drew from BRAC experience and designed a first-time loan product for raising semi-scavenging poultry, an activity which fit around clients' work schedules. CFTS also provides technical support on this activity to clients to maximize their chances for success.
Padakhep Manabik Unnyan Kendra (Padakhep), Bangladesh
Padakhep Manabik Unnayan Kendra was established in 1986, and has been running a microfinance program since 1993. In 1998 it started a special program for street children in Dhaka. Children are organized into groups of 15 to 20, where they can both save and access closely supervised loans. CGAP funds were used to expand this program after the completion of a successful pilot.
Uganda Microfinance Union (UMU), Uganda
When it opened its sixth branch in a rural town with no bank, UMU realized that the inability to safely transfer money between rural areas and urban trading centers prevents many financial transactions from taking place and consequently severely limits economic development. It therefore designed a Micro Draft Facility where clients can deposit funds at one branch and withdraw via a check or draft at another branch or commercial bank, opening up possibilities for many more economic activities.
Women and Associations for Gain both Economic and Social (WAGES), Togo
After consultation with its target population of poor women, WAGES became aware that requiring preliminary savings before granting loans excluded those who did not have the capacity to save. It therefore created two products, one targeted at returned refugees whose business activities were wiped out when they left, the other at very vulnerable people living in the Lacs district in poor villages with little arable land. Impact studies of the two programs showed significant improvements in client contribution to household incomes, acquisition of assets, food security, and housing conditions. Top
Groupe de Recherche et d’Echanges Technologiques (GRET), Cambodia
GRET received PPIC funds to expand an experimental health insurance system it had designed and implemented in two communes in Kandal province, close to Phnom Penh. The program provides primary health care to both children and adults, including free medical check-ups, and provides cash payments for some secondary care such as childbirth and certain surgical procedures.
Swayam Krishi Sangam Microfinance Ltd (SKS), India
In order to reduce loan delivery costs to their rural customers in sparsely populated parts of Andhra Pradesh, SKS gave clients smart cards and equipped loan officers with hand-held terminals. The objective was to speed loan administration, reduce errors, and increase officer productivity. Even with the additional costs of cards and terminals, SKS calculated that this system would save about $2,000 in costs per branch per year./p>
Freedom from Hunger (FFH), Ghana
FFHG believes that microfinance must be coupled with essential health information in order to overcome the immediate causes of chronic malnutrition. FFHG's "credit with education" integrated intervention therefore provides poor women with both microloans and non-formal adult education through self-managed women's associations. The program has been successful in reaching the very poor, increasing client incomes, and enhancing food security, and has now been replicated across the FFH network.
Centre Beninois Pour Le Developpement Des Initiatives A La Base (CBDIBA), Benin
Realizing the poorest women had trouble joining its regular village banks due to large group and loan sizes, CBDIBA launched a specially-designed program of "mini-credits". These loans, which averaged just $17, are administered through smaller groups, enabling the closer supervision that these clients need. Many of these clients are subsequently able to graduate from this program into the village banks, and this approach has been widely replicated by other institutions. Top
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