Technical Assistance Programme to various EIB Financial Sector Operations in East and Central Africa

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Technical Assistance Programme to various EIB Financial Sector Operations in East and Central Africa MAY 2014 – OCTOBER 2020

MEMBER OF GOPA CO NSULT ING GR O UP

Financial Sector Technical Assistance Programme in East and Central Africa P R O J E C T H I GH LI GHTS

6

37

>1,000

>11,000

>25,000

Countries

Partner Financial Institutions (PFIs)

Trainings & Capacity Building Activities

Bank staff trained

MSMEs trained

EI B V I S I B I L I T Y A N D N E T WO R K I N G E V E N TS

EIB East Africa Microfinance and SME Banking Forum 2018

EIB East Africa Microfinance and SME Banking Forum 2019

P R I O R I T Y TA R G E T GROUPS

SME Business Plan Competition 2019

Women

29%

of bank staff trainees

47%

of MSME customer trainees

ENV I R O N M E NTA L A ND S O C I A L R I S K MA N AG E M E N T

557

Dedicated MSME Forums for 753 Women trained

staff trained at 13 PFIs Women’s Leadership Programmes implemented for 2 PFIs

P R O J E C T S U S TA I NA B I L I T Y

243

internal trainers trained

EIB Academy University of Dar es Salaam

27

62

>1,000

trainers trained

MSMEs trained

graduates trained

Over 1,500 smallholder farmers trained

1,745 refugees trained

TDB Academy

28

230

trainers trained

graduates trained

Financial Sector Technical Assistance Programme in East and Central Africa • 2

TA provided to support post-conflict Somalia and DR Congo

Technical assistance programme overview

The project successfully implemented:

The EUR 10 million Technical Assistance (TA) Programme to various EIB Financial Sector Operations in East and Central Africa was successfully implemented over a six-year period, from May 2014 to October 2020, by the Consortium of AFC Agriculture & Finance Consultants GmbH (www.afci.de), Akademie Deutscher Genossenschaften (ADG) and INTEGRATION International Management Consultants GmbH. The TA Programme complemented the EIB financing programmes totalling over EUR 1 billion with commitments to Partner Financial Institutions (PFIs) in East Africa. While the financing programmes seek to increase access to finance for micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) through the provision of targeted funding to local EIB PFIs, the technical assistance programme was initiated with the objective to strengthen the capacity of PFIs and MSMEs to maximize the utilization of funding and to improve and increase levels and quality of service to local MSMEs. By strengthening the capacity of PFIs and MSMEs, EIB aims to increase access to finance for MSMEs and thereby promote increased economic activity and employment generation.

>1,000 bank staff trainings, capacity building activities and MSME customer trainings over the course of the six-year project.

Technical assistance was provided across the following areas: COM PONE NT I

The Consortium established project infrastructure in four project countries and mobilized long-term and short-term technical experts to support implementation of technical assistance interventions. The project was implemented over two phases, with success demonstrated during the initial three-year project resulting in reward of extension for an additional three years.

Ultimately, the programme provided technical assistance support to 37 EIB PFIs in 6 East African countries— Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Somalia. At the conclusion of the technical assistance programme, over 11,000 bank staff have been trained, while over 25,000 MSMEs have received financial literacy and business development training. The Consortium further supported the processing of 142 allocation requests, on behalf of 16 PFIs.

Project countries

Bank Staff Training PFI staff training, with focus on credit risk management.

COM PONE NT II

Capacity Building Targeted capacity building via consulting interventions for PFIs.

COM PONE NT I II

MSME Customer Training

UGANDA SOMALIA R WANDA DR CONGO

Financial literacy and business development training for MSMEs, the programme’s final beneficiaries.

COM PONE NT I V

KENYA

Programme Oversight

TANZANIA

Programme oversight activities including the processing of allocation requests, and PFI monitoring and reporting.

Financial Sector Technical Assistance Programme in East and Central Africa • 3

Overview of EIB Financing and Technical Assistance Programmes

EIB/EU contribution

Final beneficiaries

Expected outcomes

Long-term local currency financing

EIB Financing Facilities

EIB Technical Assistance Programme EIB Partner EIB Partner Financial Financial Institutions Institutions

COM PONE NT I

Bank staff training

COM PONE NT I I

Increased access to finance for MSMEs

Improved capacity to serve MSMEs

Capacity building

CO M P ONE NT I I I

MSMEs, Women, Smallholder Farmers, Refugees

MSME customer training

Improved bankability of MSMEs

Overview of Technical Assistance Activities Implemented COMPONENT I

COMPONENT II

COMPONENT III

Bank Training

Capacity Building

Customer Training

Trainings

Bank Staff Trained

Activities

Trainings

Kenya

252

5,667

112

104

2,217

Uganda

101

2,588

35

79

7,045

Tanzania

103

2,149

69

127

16,318

Rwanda

63

894

34

10

206

DR Congo

1

11

2

-

-

Somalia

2

44

-

-

-

522

11,353

252

320

25,786

Total

Financial Sector Technical Assistance Programme in East and Central Africa • 4

MSMEs Trained

In addition to technical assistance activities implemented under the main components of the programme, the project also supported the accomplishment of the following activities:

Training of Trainers

Efforts have been made to promote the long-term sustainability of training activities through the implementation of comprehensive training of trainers programmes. Over the course of the technical assistance project, the Consortium implemented 21 training of trainers activities that guided 243 internal trainers at 14 PFIs and two external service providers.

Environmental and Social Risk Management

The Consortium promoted EIB environmental and social risk management principles by (i) screening allocation requests for compliance and eligibility, (ii) promotion of client protection principles, and (iii) the provision of specialized training and capacity building interventions. 22 trainings and 6 capacity building activities were organized on the topic of environmental and social risk management for 557 bank staff at 13 PFIs.

EIB Banking Forums

Two EIB Banking Forums were organized to facilitate discussion of best banking practice principles and financial market developments, as well as to provide opportunities for networking among financial sector stakeholders in East and Central Africa. The events were attended by 96 and 113 participants, respectively.

SME Business Plan Competition:

EIB Academy

Gateway

The project supported efforts to collaborate with local training service providers to promote the development of capacity to provide training to the financial sector and MSMEs. Since 2018, the project cooperated with the TDB Academy and the University of Dar es Salaam to provide strategic development and business planning training and train internal trainers.

The project engaged with the digital learning platform Gateway to test digital learning for impactful, costeffective training and capacity development for EIB PFIs. Gateway launched after the merger of Gateway Academy, an e-learning learning platform for financial inclusion incubated by the Consultative Group to Assist the Poor (CGAP), and Digital Frontiers. The programme leveraged existing PFI relationships to pilot the implementation of digital learning to PFI staff members on the topics (i) Product Management for Fintech, (ii) Digitizing Agriculture, (iii) Digital Finance for All, and (iv) Customers at the Center.

Ultimately, 81 bank staff from 7 PFIs from Kenya, Uganda and Rwanda, benefitted from these online training activities.

Financial Sector Technical Assistance Programme in East and Central Africa • 5

The Consortium supported the organization of an SME Business Plan Competition coinciding with the Annual SME Conference and Expo by Strathmore University in Nairobi. Winners were chosen for each of three categories including ‘most scalable business’, ‘most innovative business’, and most ‘socially responsible business.’

Case Study Annual EIB Eastern Africa SME and Microfinance Banking Forum The EIB and the Consortium organized, in collaboration with the Trade and Development Bank, the EIB Eastern Africa SME and Microfinance Banking Forums in Nairobi, in October of both 2018 and 2019. The two-day events sought to promote best banking practices and encourage financial sector participants to improve access to finance for MSMEs and other target groups.

TOPICS • • • •

The role of the financial sector and regulators,

•

Cyber security

preserving a healthy banking system

•

Best practices in SME finance

Mobile banking, re-shaping the financial sector and the

•

Managing distressed assets

role of the regulator

•

Digitalization of SME banking

General principles of credit risk management, the EIB

•

Effective product offerings and optimisation

Approach

•

Success factors and challenges in training micro

The banking sector in East Africa, recent developments, responding to market shocks

•

and SME customers •

Institutional and legal challenges in banking,

Environmental and social risk management, shift from risk to opportunity

a regional perspective

•

Climate change, a game changer for the finance sector

•

Adoption of Basel II

•

Practical approaches to agricultural finance

•

EIB SME and microfinance credit lines and technical

•

Women in business and gender finance

assistance programmes

•

Financing refugees

Green and themed bonds, growing appetite for

•

The ‘Conscious Leadership Model’

•

impact delivery

The knowledge sharing and networking events attracted 209 regional banking professionals, as well as including the participation of development partners such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF AFRITAC), Making Finance Work for Africa, and the Consultative Group to Assist the Poor (CGAP). The TDB plans to continue the annual event in 2020.

Financial Sector Technical Assistance Programme in East and Central Africa • 6

Project implementation and achievements COMPONENT I: BANK STAFF TRAINING The primary objective of the overall training programme was to strengthen the institutional capacity of PFIs to prudently utilize EIB financing resources. While the training programme was explicitly focused on credit risk management, the project also customized trainings in response to the specific characteristics and needs of each PFI. The delivery of training activities included classroom training in line with adult learning principles of self-motivation and self-directed learning. Facilitators employed a combination of various methods in order to ensure optimal learning outcomes, as well as demonstrating the applicability of knowledge and skills. Training approaches included introduction of concepts balanced with open plenary discussions, formal presentations complemented by individual and group case studies, daily reviews by participants and the administration of examinations. Each individual participant was encouraged to share perspectives and experiences during open plenary sessions, while facilitators helped participants to dialogue and build common understanding.

Training was complemented by an on-the-job training to further support the strengthening of credit risk management skills. At some PFIs, credit related staff were provided with selected sector reviews to ensure adequate knowledge with regard to the risk profile of specific industries, as well as facilitating appropriate management of respective loan portfolios.

Over the course of the project, the Consortium has been successful in implementing

>500 trainings for the benefit of over 11,000 bank staff training participants at 28 EIB PFIs.

Indicative training topics SALES

CREDIT

•

Credit Risk Management

•

Sales and Marketing

•

Financial Statement Analysis

•

Customer Service

•

Project Finance

•

Customer Relationship

•

Long-term Lending

•

Lease Finance

•

Wholesale and Retail

Management

Microfinance

FUNCTIONAL

•

Problem Loan Management

•

Portfolio Management

•

Financial Modelling

•

Branch Management

Facility Structuring and

•

Human Resources and Talent

•

Development

Trade Finance • •

Environmental and Social

•

Asset and Liability Management

Risk Management

•

Operational Risk Management

Islamic Finance

•

Product Development

•

Treasury

•

Business Communications for

OTHER

•

Executive Leadership

•

Agricultural Value Chain Finance

Banking Professionals

Financial Sector Technical Assistance Programme in East and Central Africa • 7

Online Training Programmes: The project supported efforts to make training content available online as a means to extending the audience and timeframe over which technical assistance is provided. Ultimately, 16 trainings were facilitated online for 5 PFIs reaching 342 bank staff training participants.

Case Study Environmental and Social Risk Management in Kenya During the project, a total of 22 environmental and social risk management trainings were conducted which include in-depth reviews of incorporating specific standards such as the EIB and International Finance Corporation (IFC) Environmental and Social Sustainability Performance Standards to help mitigate environmental and social risks.

The workshops focused on building awareness of the strategic and commercial relevance of environmental and social issues and risks to the banks and their clients, drawing on experience from their actual business operations, as well as interactive exercises focused on simulating how to practically implement environmental and social risk management policies and procedures from both a client relationship and project investment perspective. The objectives were among others to enable the staff to engage proactively with clients with regard to environmental and social risks and opportunities and to reflect on the ethical and responsible finance considerations.

Case Study Training of Trainers Programmes for Sustainability Efforts have been made to promote the long-term sustainability of training activities through the implementation of a comprehensive training of trainers (TOT) programme. Consequently, and in collaboration with EIB PFIs, the project has strengthened the internal capacity of 14 PFIs to sustainably support continued internal training of bank staff beyond the life of the project.

Working with PFIs, appropriate staff members are identified to act as internal trainers. Through the provision of customized and tested training materials, critical training skills, and instruction on specialized content, the TOT programme equips the internal trainers to sustainably carry on the critical work of strengthening the capacity of bank staff. In addition to topical training content, the project also provided specialized TOT programmes focused on adult learning techniques and presentation skills. Internal trainers are also provided coaching on curriculum development and key elements related to the organization of training programmes. The internal trainers are then able to both observe project trainers deliver the training topic, as well as being provided with the opportunity to deliver the training themselves under the mentorship of project trainers.

Financial Sector Technical Assistance Programme in East and Central Africa • 8

Over the course of the technical assistance project, the Consortium has implemented:

21 TOT activities

243 Internal trainers

14 PFIs

COMPONENT II: CAPACITY BUILDING The primary objective was to implement targeted diagnostics and capacity building interventions that address areas of weakness which could impact EIB lending activities. This support has improved the long-term sustainability of PFI operations, as well as strengthened the institutional capacity of PFIs to prudently utilize EIB financing resources. A benefit of the long-term engagement of the project has been that over time the Consortium was able to better understand and respond to the specific needs of PFIs.

Diagnostics

Strategic Development

Review and upgrade of policies and procedures.

Review of operations, gap analysis, recommendations and implementation.

Guidance and facilitation.

On-the-job Training:

Policy and Procedures Manuals

Special Topics

As a complement to and reinforcement of training activities.

For various topics.

Such as environmental and social risk management, gender finance, agricultural finance.

252 capacity building activities for the benefit of 31 EIB PFIs.

Typical capacity building activities included interventions such as:

Credit Risk Management

Over the course of the project, the Consortium has implemented

Case Study Gender Equality and Finance Reducing gender-based inequality has proven to be closely linked to increased economic development, resulting in higher income per capita, increased sustainability, and enhanced social stability. To promote gender equality in the development of its operations, a PFI in Uganda was supported in drafting the gender strategy and aligning it with the criteria outlined in the 2X Challenge, which has established a number of criteria that qualify improvement of gender equality by focusing on access to finance for women-owned or women-led businesses, increasing women’s employment opportunities and women’s access to products and services. The gender strategy set aspirational, but achievable goals for the next 5 years with increasing annual objectives.

In Tanzania and Rwanda, women in leadership training was provided online to some of the female employees of the banks, focusing on leadership skills, differences in leadership styles between men and women, motivating staff and career progression. Small group sizes helped creating lively sessions and good engagements from all participants. A final piece of work on gender equality was the construction of the internal gender strategy for a PFI in DR Congo.

Financial Sector Technical Assistance Programme in East and Central Africa • 9

COMPONENT III: MSME CUSTOMER TRAINING Over the course of the technical assistance programme:

320

Recognizing that access to finance is not just a supply side constraint, the EIB has sought to complement its financing programmes and technical assistance for PFIs, with support to address demand side constraints among MSMEs as well.

The project organized entrepreneurship and financial literacy training events to increase awareness among MSME final beneficiaries regarding EIB financing programmes as well as to improve the bankability of MSME final beneficiaries by strengthening their managerial capacity and entrepreneurship skills and improve their business performance. This can lead to increased capacity to access finance, grow companies, and generate employment.

EIB MSME customer trainings were delivered in both urban and rural settings, in 13 languages, and often received press coverage. Focused sessions have also been provided to audiences made up exclusively of women entrepreneurs and smallholder farmers.

MSME customer training events

organized in collaboration with

Benefits for MSME Customers

Benefits for PFIs

14 PFIs

Providing business development and financial literacy training for

25,786

MSMEs

• Exposure to best practice business development and financial management principles.

• Opportunity to educate customers on how the bank’s products and services can benefit small business owners.

• Learn about financial products and services and how they can be used to benefit their businesses.

• Keep customers close; customer relationship management is particularly important in increasingly competitive markets.

• Participants appreciated the attention from PFIs, as well as the opportunity to ask questions and receive direct responses.

77

At locations throughout East Africa

• MSME customer training events also provide valuable opportunity to network among peers and to learn from others’ experiences.

• Marketing opportunity across customer relationship management life cycle including cross-selling and client acquisition.

• Fosters good reputation in community, which promotes brand.

• Forces management to face customers, understand their needs, and then formulate a response to satisfy customers.

95%

claim positive outcomes as result of applying lessons learned

Financial Sector Technical Assistance Programme in East and Central Africa • 10

Case Study MSME Success Story • Kenya

Entrepreneur: Mary Wangari, Operations Manager

Business and Location: Road Works Juja, Kenya

EIB training received: HR Functions in an Organization

Since 2015, Mary Wangari has served as the operations manager of Territorial Works Ltd, a road works company with around 70 permanent staff. Mary attended an EIB supported training on human resources functions. “I found the training very useful particularly as I learned how to prepare job descriptions for all my staff, and I went to all the project sites to share this knowledge with co-workers. This has led to increased productivity as everybody is now clear on their roles. Our staff is also more motivated now through the incentive scheme we introduced. I would highly recommend the training to others in the same business”, Mary commented. The company also benefited from a performance bond, which enabled them to buy two trailers. “This was critical to our company as we needed to increase our scale to handle larger projects”.

Case Study MSME Success Story • Rwanda

Entrepreneur: Yvette Habineza Umulisa, Owner and Manager

Business and Location: Food trade Kamembe, Rwanda

EIB training received: Digitalization of business and defining work roles

Yvette’s business, which employs ten staff, sells food products, including staples like rice, oil, sugar, spaghetti, canned tomatoes, and soft drinks. She purchases goods from wholesale importers at the port and cultivates long-term partnerships with her 15 to 20 wholesale and retail customers, to whom she sells around 300 tons per month. Yvette started as a micro entrepreneur but received four loans of around RWF 65 million (~EUR 62,000) for working capital and has grown over the years to become a small business. During that time, her annual turnover has increased by 30%.

In the training Yvette learned how to diversify her product line and offer more services, as well as how to evaluate capital investments. “The training was a motivator to buy computers and digitalize my business. I also hired five more knowledgeable people and now everyone in the business has a defined role and specific area of competence. Before the training, I tried to be responsible for all business areas, which was just not feasible. Now, if we are in a phase where we are not selling, I can just go to my marketing employee and ask for the reasons”.

Financial Sector Technical Assistance Programme in East and Central Africa • 11

Impact survey results Bank staff training Learned something useful 27%

72%

1%

The project’s impact The projects’ efforts have increased the capacity of EIB PFIs to serve local MSMEs. The PFI bank staff now possess the knowledge and skills necessary to acquire and retain MSME customers, as well as to manage the risks associated with serving them. In addition, local MSMEs have gained exposure to basic though critical concepts and skills necessary to successfully grow their businesses and demonstrate bankability. Together with EIB targeted financing programmes, these accomplishments have served to increase access to finance to MSMEs in East Africa, encouraging economic growth and employment generation. Project achievements were realised through the maximization of key success factors including flexibility in response to evolving requirements and circumstances and the activation of an outstanding implementation team — a combination of regional and international expertise, complementing familiarity with local environments with promotion of international best practice.

Positive outcomes for PFI

PROGRAMME PERFORMANCE INDICATORS

45%

Results

50%

0.3%

Component I

4.7%

1

Minimum of 75% participants agree training is useful for practical work

98.5%

2

Minimum of 9,500 participants trained

11,353

3

Minimum of 160 capacity building measures are completed

4

Minimum of 1000 working days input is provided to FIs

1,130

5

Minimum 200 MSME training events implemented

320

6

13,000 MSMEs participate at events

25,786

7

Minimum of 75% of PEFF allocation requests processed within 5 days

100%

8

Minimum of 75% of MEFF allocation requests processed within 5 days

100%

MSME customer training

16%

78%

3%

Component II

Learned something useful

252

Positive outcomes for business 20%

53%

12%

Component III

3%

Strongly agree

Agree

Partly agree

Do not agree

Component IV

15%

Financial Sector Technical Assistance Programme in East and Central Africa • 12

In addition to feedback collected through monitoring and evaluation processes, the project has also received positive feedback directly from the project beneficiaries.

“We acquired expert knowledge and technical skills aimed at the development of our staff and clients, which also enhanced the bank’s performance in 2019/2020 and helped reduce considerably our Non-Performing Loan Portfolio over time. The participant’s feedback was largely very positive. We can fully recommend working with the EIB and AFC.” Head of Human Resources, Kenya

PFI Management

“Without meaning to exaggerate, the EIB technical assistance programme and the long-term expert selected were a God-sent opportunity for us. We can demonstrate that since we started benefiting from the project, the loan portfolio volume has gone up, asset quality improved greatly, and the bank has become increasingly profitable. Part of the credit for this goes to EIB for the good training and capacity building.”

Managing Director, Uganda

“We have worked together to change the lives of a number of entrepreneurs. The skills in the Bank are at a new level thanks to the work done under the technical assistance.”

Chief Executive Officer, Rwanda

Bank Staff Training Produces Positive Impacts for PFI (% of respondents)

Improved customer relationship management Improved customer satisfaction Increased client retention Increased income Increased sales Increased cross sales Improved portfolio quality Increased profit

“This training helped to improve the portfolio quality by improving quality of loan appraisal.”

“The training boosted the morale and team spirit, equipping the staff with soft skills. Hence sales increased as a result of product knowledge as well as customer retention.”

Bank Staff Training Participants

“We are still implementing what we learned by updating product conditions.”

“I learned how to improve internal customer service and how to deal positively with difficult customers.”

“My branch loan portfolio, number of accounts and profit has increased.”

“Before I could not see profit in my business. After the training, I started keeping records of my finances. I have managed to minimize unnecessary expenditures, hence profits have increased.”

MSME Customer Training Participants

“The training has effectively simplified my business management. Before the training I was really struggling with operation management and leadership.”

“Though the training was short, the content was practical and now I use the bookkeeping skills I learned there. I am now able to better control my expenditures and realize a profit. My business has improved and now I’m planning to take a bigger loan to expand my business.”

“I am now able to successfully run my business in the current economic downturn.”

Financial Sector Technical Assistance Programme in East and Central Africa • 13

Improved working environment Increased client acquisition Reduced nonperforming loans

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

REACHING EIB PRIORITY TARGET GROUPS While the technical assistance programme was primarily focused on beneficiaries, including PFIs and their staff and MSME customers, the project also responded to agendas to promote priority target groups:

Smallholder Farmers and Agriculture Value Chain Finance

Post-conflict Environments During the final stages, the project was able to provide support to PFIs operating in challenging post-conflict environments, including the provision of credit risk management and sales and marketing training for 5 Somalian PFIs, as well as training and capacity building on agricultural value chain finance and gender equality for a PFI in the DR Congo.

Refugees

Women and Gender Finance

Migration Management

The project supported efforts to promote agricultural value chain finance for the benefit of smallholder farmers, including the conduct of a comprehensive survey of 24 PFIs to determine levels of interest in targeted financing and technical assistance; as well as the implementation of 102 trainings for 174 bank staff and 1,593 smallholder farmers and 6 capacity building activities for 10 PFIs.

The project supported efforts to promote financial access for refugees and provided financial literacy training to 1,745 refugees at 10 locations throughout Uganda. For additional details see the related case study presented on the next page.

While project activities were not exclusively focused on providing support to women, they made up 29% of bank staff trainees and 47% of MSME customer training participants. However, the project did support a number of initiatives intended to promote women. For example capacity building support in gender finance, including the assessment of the gender policy and the development of a dedicated gender strategy; the organization of gender focused training workshops to promote women within the banks’ organizations, providing women’s leadership and women in business training workshops; as well as the organization of 4 Women’s Forums which were attended by 753 female microentrepreneurs.

In accordance with the European Union Agenda on Migration, the technical assistance programme helped to maximize development benefits and support economic resilience which can help countries of origin to generate better economic opportunities at home. Technical assistance to East African financial institutions helped to improve services and access to finance for MSMEs which in turn increases their prospects for growth and employment generation, thereby alleviating the incentives to migrate to seek economic opportunities abroad.

Outlook The project provided specialized training to over 11,000 bank staff and 25,000 MSMEs in support of 37 PFIs in 6 East African countries. While significant achievements have been realised, there remain opportunities to support the continued development of the financial sector and MSMEs in East Africa. Despite increased interest and institutional capacity to serve the segment by some financial institutions, the demand for financial services among MSME is still vast and growing. Financial institutions will need to continue to professionalize operations, while the scale and quality of training and advisory services in the region remains limited.

Concurrently, the region will continue to be challenged by ongoing macro-economic and political factors. And at this stage, the duration and impact of COVID-19 is still uncertain. Accordingly, technical assistance focused on training and capacity building will continue to be valued in the region.

Financial Sector Technical Assistance Programme in East and Central Africa • 14

Case Study Refugee Training Promoting Financial Inclusion for Refugees in Uganda According to United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) spokeswoman Cecile Pouilly, Uganda hosts about 1.2 million refugees— the largest refugee hosting country in Africa. Most of the refugees are limited by low income and little financial literacy.

To enhance refugees’ financial inclusion, the project offered finance and business trainings to 1,745 refugees in 10 locations all over Uganda.

It was the first EIB sponsored training for refugee communities of such a scale in Africa. After taking part in the 1-day seminars on financial and business management, refugees were to be enabled to further organize and run their businesses more systematically, manage their finances better, including increased savings, increase their sales sustainably and generally manage growth of their businesses.

Following successful two weeks of training, the last seminar was held in the capital Kampala. This grand finale event was supported by Uganda’s Office of the Prime Minister and attended by high-level people and the media. Besides the EIB Regional Representatives for East Africa, a delegate of the European Union and the UNHCR were present. “The specific refugee hosting model in Uganda is geared towards socio-economic empowerment. Therefore, cash transfer programming and financial inclusion will increasingly become an important component of the refugee response to Uganda”, said UNHCR Representative, Joel Boutroue.

maps for opportunity Symbols like self-drawn sketch refugee training identification helped during the

The majority of the participating refugees were women and most originally came from DR Congo, Sudan, Burundi, Somalia and Rwanda. In order to maximize the learning effect and make the last day’s session more interactive as well as practice oriented, AFC’s expert trainer divided the participants in smaller groups and gave them several case studies which they discussed and worked on. Overall, the trainees’ perception of the day was positive, and they indicated that they profited from the training. Parallel to the session bank accounts were opened for the refugees, bringing them another step further towards building and growing their own businesses.

This initiative was a huge success and a landmark in typifying the project’s development contribution, and hopefully just the beginning of a fruitful economic turnaround for many of the taught refugees.

Financial Sector Technical Assistance Programme in East and Central Africa • 15

Contacts

European Investment Bank (EIB) 100 Boulevard Konrad Adenauer L-2950 Luxembourg Grand Duchy of Luxembourg

AFC Agriculture & Finance Consultants GmbH Baunscheidtstr. 17 53113 Bonn Germany Phone: +49 2 28 98 57 9-0 Email: info@afci.de Web: www.afci.de

In consortium with:

Akademie Deutscher Genossenschaften (ADG) Schloss Montabaur 56410 Montabaur Germany Phone: +49 2602 14-0 Email: service@adgonline.de Web: www.adgonline.de

INTEGRATION International Management Consultants GmbH WiesenstraĂ&#x;e 5 60385 Frankfurt/Main Germany Phone: +49 69 913343-0 Email: int@integration.org Web: www.integration.org

For any further information related to this project please contact: Holger Christ, AFC Project Director holger.christ@afci.de

DISCLAIMER This technical assistance operation is funded by the European Union under the Cotonou Agreement. The Promoter utilizes nonrepayable grants from the European development funds coming directly from the Member States in support of EIB investment activities in the African, Caribbean and Pacific countries, assisting the Promoter during different stages of the project cycle.

The authors take full responsibility for the contents of this report. The opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect the view of the European Union or the European Investment Bank.