Dear RFILC members,

The first snow has fallen in Europe reminding us of the winter season, but unfortunately reminding us also that the holiday season has came to the end. Our suggestion for your January’s reading is newly published synthesis report “New Trends in Agricultural Finance” that is produced jointly by GIZ, the World Bank Group, and the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) on behalf of the SME Finance Sub-Group of the G20 Global Partnership for Financial Inclusion (GPFI). This report presents a summary of research studies on five key areas of agricultural finance innovation prepared under the G20 Global Partnership for Financial Inclusion (GPFI). The five key presented research areas in the report are: i) understanding demand of smallholder households, ii) digital financial services, iii) financing for women in the agricultural sector, iv) value chain finance, and v) agricultural insurance. Each research area examines the innovations and trends, with the first three looking at the needs and opportunities for small farmers and women and ways in improve their inclusion into the financial system. The fourth area presents an approach and innovative tools for effective agricultural lending and market inclusion, and the fifth area focuses on innovations in using agricultural insurance as a tool to address one of the most important risks that inhibit agricultural finance, especially for smallholder households. The synthesis ends with key messages about the trends and lessons, including recommendations for policy interventions and further research and development.

Moreover, the second highlight is the report by the International Fund for Agricultural Development and the World Bank Group to the G20 Global Partnership for Financial Inclusion titled “The Use of Remittances and Financial Inclusion”. This report provides an overview of the nexus between remittances and financial inclusion with the objective to improve the understanding of the impact of remittance market policies and the interventions both nationally and globally on the levels of financial inclusion. This report is also an overview of the relevant general trends in leveraging remittances as a means to enhance financial inclusion, and underscores the importance of maximizing the economic impact of remittances towards sustainable development. The report defines an analytical framework for understanding the instrumental role of remittances as a means to foster financial inclusion. The main issues, policies, and interventions, as well as selected case studies, are presented from three perspectives: a client centric perspective; a supply side and market competition perspective and the regulatory framework and market environment.

Finally, this year Community-Based Microfinance for Financial Inclusion training course charts the journey from microcredit and microfinance to a more holistic financial inclusion agenda; with the focus on community owned and based microfinance models. Participants will go through in-depth study of members owned models such as Village Savings and Loan Associations (VSLAs), Self-Help-Groups (SHGs), Financial Cooperatives and Credit Unions, and the latest developments and innovations on the ground including informal savings groups linkages with Banks and MFIs, mobile banking, and value-chain finance. This course is offered three times per year in March (Ethiopia), May (Canada) and December (India).  Application deadline is January 31, 2016. For more information and registration click here.

With best regards,

The RFILC editorial team