The Foundation publishes its 2021 Integrated Report

The Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation has published its 2021 Integrated Report, which highlights the year's highlights and key figures. As of December 31, 2021, the Foundation managed €78.5 million in outstanding loans for 71 microfinance institutions and 10 social enterprises in 37 countries. Women's entrepreneurship and the development of rural economies remain at the heart of the Foundation's work: 90% of the 9.2 million beneficiaries of the institutions it supports are women, and 81% live in rural areas.

To increase the resilience of our partners, we coordinated 130 technical assistance missions, the highest level of activity in this area in the Foundation's history. The African Facility developed with the French Development Agency (Agence Française de Développement) was successfully completed, supporting 26 small microfinance institutions with a strong social mission in 13 Sub-Saharan African countries since its launch. It is in this context that the Foundation decided to carry out an assessment of its technical assistance offering in 2021, eight years after the launch of its first missions, with the publication of " Our technical assistance system ".

The Foundation continued its quarterly survey work throughout the year, enabling continuous monitoring of the impact of the health crisis on microfinance. At the same time, the Foundation published, with ADA and Inpulse, a Covid-19 Report which brings together the lessons learned from this period and future prospects for the sector. Thanks to this regular monitoring, our responses were able to be better adapted to each situation, combining new financing, technical assistance, deferral of deadlines and, very exceptionally, debt restructuring. The Foundation also continued to promote initiatives to protect the customers and staff of microfinance institutions.

The year was also marked by renewed confidence from donors. The Foundation received a new grant from the European Investment Bank to promote financial inclusion in sub-Saharan Africa. We also launched a new program to develop microinsurance in Africa and Asia with PROPARCO and the International Labor Organization (ILO).

It has also strengthened ties with the Crédit Agricole Group, particularly through Banquiers Solidaires. With this skills-based volunteering program, open to all Group employees, the Foundation is strengthening its technical support to the institutions and companies it funds. Nearly 30 projects have been launched for around 20 organizations since the program's creation in 2018.

The Foundation also strengthened its climate commitments. It joined the Manifesto of the French Coalition of Climate Foundations and secured funding from the Global Environment Facility (GEF) to support climate change adaptation projects of its partner institutions' clients.

Download the Report