Selection Burkina Faso
Panafrican Microfinance Burkina
We envision our project providing much-needed technical and financial support to facilitate access to economic activities run by young women. We aim to improve the income of at least 1000 people and create decent jobs by deploying a flexible and adaptable financial model in the targeted regions for young women rice parboilers and NTFP processors in rural areas.
The Problem
Agricultural financing in Burkina reflects a general reluctance of financial institutions to finance young women who face a deficit of guarantees. One of the consequences of poor access to financial resources is the increased vulnerability of young women. Due to a lack of technical support and access to finance, their businesses are full of untapped potential that could significantly improve their income and offer them employment opportunities.
Other barriers include:
• The use of antiquated equipment for parboiling and drying.
• The need for sensitive strategies and mechanisms to mitigate the risks involved.
Hence there is a need to assist beneficiaries to design safe and appropriate products.
The Solution
We will rely on trained endogenous agents or Community Agents (in savings and credit management and entrepreneurship) to technically assist, organise and operate the young women’s groups and facilitate their access to finance. Our approach helps create a consistent and sustainable path to financial inclusion for rural women and facilitates their access to formal financial services through the deployment of safe, transparent and ethically managed financial products.
For instance, by providing modern equipment we ensure women’s processing capacities are increased threefold. To maintain a good processing rate, they will be in a position to employ casual labour. Therefore, indirectly, more than 2,000 people will see an improvement in their living conditions.
In addition, young people and women at a local level will have a source of monthly income as Community Agents. This income is composed of a fixed base which is the minimum wage and a variable base depending on the performance of the agent. Performance will be assessed by the support provided to facilitate access to markets of the groups’ products through contracts and connections to distribution networks.
Financial and non-financial services will be designed in a participatory manner such as human-centred design to meet the specific needs of each group. This tailored approach ensures that we provide meaningful access to the financial market.