Author: BFC

Thank you to all of you who attended the ROI AG workshop and the panel at the European Microfinance Conference. 

All the results of ROI AG activities from 2016 can be found in the Library folder EMW-2016.

ROI AG Subgroups 2016-2017

Based upon the survey results from the beginning of the year,  ROI AG’s focus was spilt into the following sub-groups:

• Value Chain Finance
• Agroinsurance
• Non-Financial Services for Farmers
• Social Aspects of Rural Development

With two additional projects in cooperation with other AG Groups:

• Inclusive Green Rural Finance (Microfinance and Environment AG)
• Digital Finance Learning Communication Platforms (Digital Innovations for Financial Empowerment AG)

Top Ideas from Brainstorming of 2017 ROI AG Activities      (e-MFP ROI AG Workshop, November 17, 2016)

• Create a database of contacts by topic
• Weather forecast for farmers to mitigate risk
• Create a certification programme: “Agri Finance Expert”
• Work with the same local parties to exchange our experiences.
• Understand what makes it hard to get more members.
• See more in Google Spreadsheet File

Photo Protocol

Presentations

Photos

Over the past year, the BFC Team took the leadership for enhancing communication channels between members (and non-members) to present Trends in Rural Finance via the blog and across the 17 webinars/online discussions.

For the coming year, we would like to encourage members to show leadership with their own projects or to lead the existing ROI AG subgroups. Please act upon your own initiative to build collaborations amongst other members and work together to create impactful results.

For any questions, sharing of information, or support, please feel free to contact Marina Kortenbusch.

MIMOSA is an index tool used to measure credit market penetration and saturation, indicating potential over-indebtedness or unfulfilled credit needs. The technique for calculating the MIMOSA score was explained by Daniel Rozas in his recent ROI Webinar.

The first version of MIMOSA was only applicable to countries as whole, but the updated MIMOSA 2.0 can be applied to the regional level to give an in-depth view of where credit is most needed.

Cambodia, May 2015. The darker regions are indicated by MIMOSA 2.0 to be the most saturated for credit.

Continue reading “MIMOSA: Credit Market Penetration Tool”

CGAP have created a very interesting video on digital finance and education, it is definitely worth a watch if you’re interested in the subject.

Find the video on CGAP’s website.

An increasing number of farmers are becoming interested in growing their harvest using organic methods and heirloom seeds. But what is an heirloom seed?

An heirloom variety is a plant that has been passed down from generation to generation. Vegetables from heirloom seeds often have a rich taste, distinctive shapes, and come in an abundance of colours. Importantly, the seeds from heirloom plants tend to be genetically stable and can be saved and used for future harvests indefinitely (as opposed to hybrid seed varieties, where the desirable properties of the seeds disappear after the first generation).

Using heirloom seeds also has a social aspect. If we preserve and use them, we are contributing to ecological sustainability by encouraging biodiversity and promoting organic farming. As well as this, heirloom seeds are a representation of a region’s culture and heritage; this is valuable to conserve, but once a variety is no longer used, it is impossible to reproduce. Continue reading “Heirloom Seeds”

See below for additional resources to accompany Patricia Richter’s recent webinar.

• ILO’s financial education section

• Child Labour and Microfinance publication/s:

> Responsible finance and child labour: quo vadis microfinance? 

Patricia Richter and Sophie de Coninck

In: The Global Child Poverty Challenge: in search of solutions. 2016.

> Microfinance and Child Labour, ILO, 2011 (PDF).

Jonas Blume and Julika Breyer