Microfinance Long-term Project Management

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Savings and Credit for Women in Afghanistan

Micro-entrepreneurs trying to work in a post-conflict environment need a secure place to save their earnings, and a safe place to access credit to build their businesses. MEDA has partnered with Women for Women International (WWI), a microfinance institution, to improve the well-being of Afghan communities and improve their access to financial services. 

This CIDA-funded project has served up to 14,000 clients to date and will continue to help WWI expand and grow. In order to connect the project with the Canadian Government and the Canadian Public, MEDA has launched the Afghanistan Challenge website.

Afghan Secure Futures

MEDA is firmly committed to engaging youth, and recognizes that in order to prosper they need access to both financial and social services. In Afghanistan youth are at risk of increased physical vulnerability, lower school attendance, and are at a higher risk for drug abuse and even suicide. Young people are a very large and expanding demographic in Afghanistan and this program will help 3,000 apprentices, boys between the ages of 12 and 18, build professional networks in the Afghan construction sector.

The project will strengthen linkages among workshop owners and increase access to financing so that 1,000 micro and small enterprises can expand their operations, hire more apprentices and upgrade equipment to create a safer work environment. Local tradesmen will acquire new business skills, allowing them to take on more and bigger contracts and increase and stabilize their revenue.

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Financial Services for Women in Haiti

MEDA is helping a local microfinance partner, Fonkoze/ Sevis Finansye Fonkoze(SFF), offer financial services to women in rural areas without access to commercial banks. With help from CIDA, MEDA is ensuring that gender and the environment are both considered when new credit or savings products are created so that the institution promotes equity and sustainability.
The project has served up to 100,000 clients. Currently the main area of focus is MEDA's work with Fonkonze on governance which will support a possible merger with another Microfinance Institution, Opportunity International.

 

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Africa

Egypt and Morocco

Promoting and Protecting the Interests of Children Who Work (PPIC-Work)

Many children in Egypt must work to support themselves and their families. MEDA is helping improve workplace conditions and provide access to learning opportunities for these working children. Children and youth work for a variety of reasons including poverty. The PPIC-Work project has a focus on human rights and MEDA ensures that boys and girls both have equal access to services. We support locally owned microfinance institutions who reach out to youth by upgrading technology and safety conditions for at-risk and underage workers.

One boy, Zakareya Rekaby, is 14 years old and lives and works in Egypt. Zakareya used to work as a street vendor of koshary, a noodle dish. With only a small loan provided by the project, Zakareya's family set up a kiosk and can now buy supplies in bulk at a cheaper unit price. Zakareya no longer has to worry about harassment and bullying from older boys in the street. The loan allows Zakareya to sell in a safe neighbourhood and focus on his studies. Access to the loan has also increased the family's income, giving them more flexibility and the ability to pay school fees.

Recently, MEDA and our partners designed and launched an online training tool.  Baalty is an interactive simulation that teaches business ethics and entrepreneurship.

PPIC-Work Partners

Egyptian Association for Community Initiatives and Development (EACID)
Association for Rural and Urban Women's Development (ARUWD)
Zeinab Kemal Hasan Foundation (ZKHF)

YouthInvest: Financial and Non-Financial Innovations for Youth

 

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Breaking the Rural Poverty Trap: Expanding Agricultural and Rural MicroFinance in Southern Mozambique

Most rural families (95%) - depend on their small farms for both food and income, but suffer from low productivity on their land due to lack of technical skills and lack of access to quality inputs and markets.

MEDA will assist poor farmers in Maputo province, Mozambique, to increase their incomes and improve food security through improved access to a range of high-quality, specialized financial products for agricultural micro and small businesses. With funding support from European Commission, the project will support the development and expansion of a local microfinance institution partner, Hluvuku - Male Yeru. MEDA will help Hluvuku build a strong network that will result in higher income generation for smallholder farmers and ensure the farmers' abilities to manage risk.

MEDA will also foster locally-driven partnerships between the microfinance institution and technology supply businesses, seed and other input suppliers, and farmer support organizations that offer technical production advice. This integrated approach will lead to successful household farms that grow healthy, diversified crops, have better nutrition, are less vulnerable to food, weather or price shocks, and sell excess into stable markets with fair prices, lifting their families out of poverty. The project will be tested over a 24 months period from Dec. 2008 until Nov. 2010, with the goal that the results will lead to opportunities for larger projects in Mozambique as well as in other countries.

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Rural Prosperity Initiative for Africa 

MEDA is currently offering support and guidance to International Development Enterprises (IDE) and the Gates Foundation for their irrigation supply-chain program in Zambia and Ethiopia. MEDA is using industry expertise to strengthen the links among suppliers, retailers and farmers to build a sustainable market for irrigation technology. MEDA also provides targeted training and financial assessment to ensure that the individuals and groups in the supply chain have the ability to maintain the equipment and sustain the market.

Working together with its local partners Ecumenical Church Loan Fund (ECLOF) Zambia and Christian Enterprise Trust Zambia (CETZAM), the project is working to strengthen our microfinance partners through training so that they can deliver effective services to rural communities.

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MiCrédito

MiCrédito is a microfinance institution that was started by MEDA as an alternative source of financial services for rural communities. Farmers in remote areas of Nicaragua are often excluded from the formal systems due to their remote locations and lack of credit history.

MiCrédito was established in 2004 and operations began with branches in Managua and Teustepe; the Leon branch was added in 2006. MiCrédito has grown steadily since inception, and through CIDA funding, MEDA is able to continue to help improve and expand the services they deliver. MiCrédito now has a portfolio of approximately $3.8 million. It has disbursed $12.1 million worth of loans, with each loan averaging $1,175, and currently has 3,000 clients. Of these lo

ans, 60% are to women clients and 38% to rural clients. To date over 98% of all loan funds have been fully repaid. MiCrédito is profitable and is projected to remain so in the future, ensuring its long term viability.

View MiCredito video
View full project profile

 

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