Projects & Results
The EU/ACP Microfinance Programme awarded eleven grants that are helping to build the capacity of microfinance institutions (MFIs) and technical service providers in Africa and the Caribbean.
Grants awarded and progress made
Results of the EU/ACP Microfinance Programme
Grants Awarded
Diversify financial products and services
- URWEGO pilots new savings services in Rwanda: Facilitating Savings for Central Africa's Poor Communities, Rwanda, Burundi, DRC
- Opportunity International, UK strengthens the capacity of several partner MFIs in Africa to refine and develop products, including microinsurance and remittances.
Apply new technologies
- Procredit introduces ATMs in DRC for the first time ever.
- Aquadev and Etimos strengthen financial service providers operating in rural areas in Senegal.
- MIFED and CIDR reconfigure and support the CVECA networks in Cameroon
- KDA and Africa Now improve the capacity of financial services associations in rural Kenya.
- A consortium of SIDI, Alterfin and MAIN works with MFIs that operate in underserved areas throughout Africa and in Haiti extends service delivery and outreach.
Enhance transparency
- Triodos International Fund Management and Facet enhance the risk management function and social reporting capabilities of MFIs in Africa with SMARTRAC.
- AMFIU helps improve consumer protection in Uganda as part of their broader transparency initiative.
Create microfinance banks
- LFS Financial Systems set up a new microbank in Madagascar.
- Horus Development Finance succeeded in creating a greenfield in Cameroun
Read the profiles of the projects and a snapshot of their lessons learned 
[3 MB] .
Below the description of each of the projects, you will find links to learn more about the progress and results of the projects to date, including their most recent quarterly performance update and lessons learned [3 MB] .
FacilitatingSavings for Central Africa's Poor Communities
Grant Awarded: 276,766 Euro
Implementing Partner: URWEGO Community Banking SA
ACP Countries: Rwanda, Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo
URWEGO Community Banking, S.A. (URWEGO), a prominent Rwandan MFI, received a grant to strengthen the capacity of the microfinance sector in Rwanda and neighbouring countries through the introduction of a savings programme. URWEGO is using the grant to finalise product development, pilot test and launch savings services that meet the needs of poor and underserved communities currently without access to safe savings in Rwanda. URWEGO’s growth in savings services has been exponential since it was introduced.
The grant also provides for documenting lessons learned and developing training and other materials to help associate MFIs in Rwanda, Burundi, and the Democratic Republic of Congo introduce savings products.
In July 2007, URWEGO Community Banking merged with Opportunity Microfinance Bank Rwanda into URWEGO Opportunity Microfinance Bank (UOMB). The merger with OI should allow URWEGO to scale-up its savings and other financial services, expand into rural areas with more sophisticated information systems and benefit from OI’s years of experience in microfinance.
Read more about the merger between URWEGO and Opportunity Bank Rwanda
Recent quarterly performance update [37 KB]
Enhancing Viability of African MFIs through Product Development and Improved Transparency
Grant Awarded: 825,318 Euro
Implementing Partner: Opportunity International UK
ACP Countries: Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Uganda and Zambia
Opportunity International (OI) UK enhances the institutional viability of seven of its network partners in Ghana, Malawi, Mozambique, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. OI UK is using the grant to strengthen the MFI’s capacity in product development (to better respond to clients' demand) and financial transparency (to secure access to larger amounts of domestic or international capital needed for expansion). OI UK helps the MFIs refine or develop new products as diverse as credit, savings, insurance, and remittances.
It has successfully launched an insurance intermediary, Microfinance Insurance Agency (MIA) in Uganda and Ghana. The MIA is involved in the design, sale, distribution and back-office administration of insurance products to the poor.
The grant is also being used to improve and develop automated, standardised reporting on financial, efficiency, and outreach indicators. Reporting on indicators relevant to financial services besides credit has improved. Because of the grant, the seven MFIs will be able to offer their clients a broad range of high-quality financial services; and their improved reporting to the MIX Market should secure them with a minimum 3 diamonds rating by the end of the project. OI promotes dissemination and replication of successful approaches.
Read client stories [478 KB] of the MicroInsurance Agency
Recent quarterly performance update [38 KB]
Strengthening ProCredit Bank Congo
Grant Awarded: 470,000 Euro
Implementing Partner: ProCredit Holding
ACP Country: Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC)
ProCredit Holding is continually strengthening the capacity of its ProCredit Bank Congo to achieve sizeable outreach in the challenging post-conflict environment of the DRC. The EU/ACP grant assisted ProCredit Bank Congo with the introduction of technology-based products linked to 12 new ATMs and build up its staff capacity for the rapid expansion.
ProCredit's approach includes a strong emphasis on staff training to ensure that the expected growth will be well-managed. In the first year of the grant, the bank exceeded its own targets, growing from 6,700 accounts to close to 30,000. The bank expects to have 7,700 loans outstanding by the end of 2008. Strong synergies are expected between ProCredit Bank Congo and other ProCredit Holding banks in post-conflict countries, such as in Sierra Leone where a ProCredit Bank was recently established.
In the news: ProCredit Bank first to install ATMs in the DRC
Recent performance quarterly update [106 KB]
Professionalising the Microfinance Sector
Grant Awarded: 503,149 Euro
Implementing Partner: Aquadev and Etimos
ACP Country: Senegal
Aquadev and its partner Etimos are using the grant to address the operational weaknesses of 15 MFIs in the Saint Louis region, and to help foster innovation. The grant provides technical assistance, information systems support, internal controls guidance and training to at least 260 staff members. Support, tailored to the precise needs of the selected cooperative and mutualist MFIs, is based on a diagnostic they have all undertaken. The technical assistance should help the MFIs significantly increase outreach to underserved areas with client-responsive services.
Aquadev will also use the grant to collaborate with the national microfinance association to support a MFI database, a resource centre for microfinance, and two learning/networking events. Lessons learned will be shared through the offices of ADFinance in Senegal, Niger, Burkina Faso, and Rwanda and through connections to the respective microfinance associations in these countries.
Recent quarterly performance update [34 KB]
Reconfiguring the Caisses Villageoises d'Epargne et de Crédit Autogérées Networks
Grant Awarded: 845,731 Euro
Implementing Partner: MIFED and CIDR
ACP Country: Cameroun
MIFED, in partnership with CIDR, improves access to financial services for the poor in Cameroon through the network of Caisses Villageoises d'Epargne et de Crédit Autogérées (CVECA). The grant is being used to create two regional unions of CVECAs and two regional technical service companies. MIFED and CIDR will provide technical assistance to build the institutional and management capacity of the new structures, facilitate their transformation into autonomous and financially viable structures, and train staff. In three years, the network should have 240 village banks with more than 60,000 clients, an increase of more than 40,000 clients.
Recent quarterly performance update [43 KB]
Building Capacity of Grassroot User-Owned Financial Services Associations
Grant Awarded: 295,000 Euro
Implementing Partners: Kenya Development Agency and Africa Now
ACP Country: Kenya
K-Rep Development Agency (KDA) and Africa Now are helping to transform Financial Services Associations (FSAs) operating in rural Kenya into effective and profitable financial entities. The grant is targeted to provide technical assistance to address the main weaknesses in FSA governance and management capacity. Specifically, leadership and governance are being strengthened through the establishment of effective credit committees and the involvement of professional audit services to conduct loan assessments to reduce loan loss risk. Better loan tracking systems are also being installed. As a result, these FSAs that are embracing and applying good practice principles in financial services to the poor will benefit more than 70,000 FSA shareholders and their families. The grant complements the work of the Financial Sector Deepening (FSD) Kenya Trust, supported by the British Government.
Recent quarterly performance update [45 KB]
Strengthening MFIs in Underserved Areas and Enhancing Transparency in the Microfinance Sector
Grant Awarded: 788,789 Euro
Implementing Partner: SIDI, Alterfin and MAIN
ACP Countries: Sub-Saharan Africa and Haiti
SIDI, along with Alterfin and the Microfinance African Institutions Network (MAIN), help strengthen MFIs that operate in remote, rural, and disaster-stricken areas in several African countries and Haiti. The grant is being used to provide technical assistance and equipment to build the institutional capacity of 12 MFIs. More than 200 MFI staff will be trained by SIDI and its partners MAIN and KNFP in Haiti.
The project also supports the innovative system of Mutuelle de Solidarite (MUSOs), which provides a member-driven alternative to traditional MFIs in remote or low-density areas. SIDI has trained people in software for MUSO data collection. It will translate a MUSO guide into four languages, and train MUSO promoters in Burundi, Burkina Faso, and Mozambique.
SIDI is also working on improving the governance of seven MFIs. They will put instruments and indicators in place to monitor social performance in MFIs in Guinea and Madagascar. Finally, it will organise two social performance workshops. As a result, 12 MFIs will expand services to 66,000 new clients and offer 13 new products.
Recent quarterly performance update [95 KB]
Mainstreaming Risk Management and Transparency Reporting of Selected African MFIs -
Grant Awarded:394,000 Euro
Implementing Partner: Triodos International Fund Management (TIFM) and FACET
ACP Countries: various African countries including Uganda, Ghana, Tanzania, The Gambia
Through a programme called SMARTRAC, Triodos International Fund Management (TIFM) and FACET enhance the risk management function and social performance reporting of less well-established MFIs. Following due diligence and SWOT analysis of potential partners, SMARTRACT is using the grant to develop a set of four practical tools. FACET provides the technical assistance in a twinning arrangement with local consultants (chosen by the MFIs), and organizes the training of trainers for the local consultants, providing them with the four tools.
Five African MFIs have benefited from assistance on risk management and 3 on sustainability monitoring. It is expected that at least eight MFIs and six local microfinance service providers will benefit directly from this project in six African countries. Through their enhanced skills in risk management and social reporting, MFIs are expected to become worthy investees or borrowers, enabling them to tap capital markets and thus grow faster to reach an increasing number of clients. Local service providers will be reinforced with new skills and a product offering that will likely be of interest to more institutions than those touched directly by this grant.
Read more about the SMARTRAC Programme.Download the tools developed.
Recent quarterly performance update [40 KB]
Increasing Transparency for Market-driven MFIs and Informed Consumers
Grant Awarded: 295,986 Euro
Implementing Partner: Association of Microfinance Institutions of Uganda (AMFIU)
ACP Country: Uganda
The Association of Microfinance Institutions of Uganda (AMFIU) is spearheading a transparency initiative for MFIs and clients. AMFIU addresses their clients' lack of awareness and limited access to the information necessary to make sound financial service decisions with the roll out of a Consumer Education Programme in 35 districts. AMFIU is also tackling the problem of over-indebtedness through a Consumer Code of Practice adopted by MFI members of AMFIU. The grant supports increased efforts to promote transparency standards, monitor performance, and share knowledge through such technology as a national product database. AMFIU will commission substantial training and coaching. They are also writing, creating, and publishing manuals and a consumer handbook.
In two years' time, at least 25 MFIs are expected to have implemented the Consumer Code of Practice and at least 90% of AMFIU's members will have submitted pricing data. This work complements efforts from the EU/Government of Uganda-funded SUFFICE programme, a Financial Sector Deepening Project Uganda supported by the British Government and the Financial Sector Programme of GTZ/SIDA.
Read more about AMFIU’s “House of Transparency” [521 KB] that encompasses these activities in a recent AMFIU publication on the topic.
Recent quarterly performance update [38 KB]
Creating a Greenfield MFI
Grant Awarded: 1 million Euro
Implementing Partner: LFS Financial Systems
ACP Country: Madagascar
LFS Financial Systems used the grant to finance the technical assistance needed to create a new Greenfield MFI in Madagascar. The new retail financial institution, AccèsBanque Madagascar S.A. (ABM), opened in February 2007 exceeds its targets thanks to high demand for its services. LFS developed the internal systems and procedures of the MFI, including the necessary IT infrastructure and audit mechanisms. They also provided intensive training to build up local staff capacity and to put in place a best practice credit technology. By March 2008, ABM had trained 130 local staff.
ABM offers a full range of credit and deposit services to the Malagasy low-income population (especially micro, small, and medium enterprises). By March 2008 they had 2,408 loan clients and a loan portfolio of 1.5 M Euro. Around 60% of the bank’s clients are women, and more than three quarters of the loans are less than 1000 Euro. Half of the loan portfolio is already being financed from deposits taken by the bank.
Investors in the new institution include a local commercial bank, Africap (investment fund in which the European Investment Bank has a stake), Triodos Doen, KfW and IFC. In three years, the MFI should become the first full-fledged, financially autonomous microfinance institution in Madagascar, with six branches throughout the country, a loan portfolio of more than 6,6m Euro, and 10,000 borrowers. The bank has an excellent working relationship with the Malagasy Banking Commission and participates in the national coordination group on microfinance. It is also working closely with other microfinance actors to create a credit bureau (funded by MCA).
Read latest press release
Recent performance quarterly update [112 KB]
Creating a Greenfield MFI
Grant Awarded: 890,132 Euro
Implementing Partner: Horus Development Finance
ACP Country: Cameroun
Horus Development Finance and its partner Horus Systemes d'Information created a Greenfield MFI in Cameroon (Advans Cameroun) which opened its doors in May 2007. Horus used the grant to provide technical assistance to set up and manage Advans Cameroun, define and develop the first loan and savings products, implement sound audit and control mechanisms, and put in place an appropriate management information system. A team of experienced microfinance professionals is training local staff to gradually take over MFI management.
Advans Cameroon is initially focusing on providing credit services to urban micro and small enterprises that remain underserved by banks and the deposit-oriented microfinance sector. In three years, the MFI should be serving at least 5,600 clients and managing expansion to six branches in Douala, Yaounde, and a third city. It is expected to reach operational and financial sustainability in four years. La Fayette Investissement (LFI), a venture capital investment company in which the European Investment Bank has a stake, is the majority shareholder of Advans Cameroon.
Recent quarterly performance update [118 KB]
Results of EU/ACP Microfinance Programme
To review the progress of the EU/ACP Microfinance Programme as a whole, read the most recent quarterly reports:
May-August 2008 [303 KB]
January-April 2008 [123 KB]
October-December 2007 [99 KB]
July-September 2007 [139 KB]
April-June 2007 [137 KB]
January-March 2007 [117 KB]
Learn more about results of investments in Rating and Transparency & Efficiency
Mid-term review of EU/ACP Microfinance Programme [738 KB]
A mid-term evaluation of the EU/ACP Microfinance Programme completed in May 2008 concludes that the Programme has successfully achieved its objective of improving the overall effectiveness of microfinance operations in ACP countries through institutional strengthening, microfinance rating and increased efficiency and transparency. Just after three years, it has already achieved many of its five-year targets. This success is attributed to different factors such as high level commitment from EC and ACP, strong project design and implementing partners, the use of performance based contract, and solid supervision mechanism with the support of CGAP.
The review recommends that in the remaining two years, the Programme should focus on ensuring the sustainability of supported partners, incorporating tools to measure impact and extracting lessons learned. The evaluation also recommends that the EC and the ACP launch a successor programme, even larger than the current one, and with increased linkages with the EIB and other microfinance funders to respond to the high demand for capacity building among ACP microfinance actors. In its conclusion, the report advises the EC and ACP to further institutionalize their support for microfinance and to build up the necessary capacity and expertise to manage new activities and ensure the effective quality control.
Read the executive summary [81 KB] 
or the full report [738 KB] of the Mid-term review.
