Ecosystems for SHF finance

Building an inclusive ecosytem requires the collaborative effort of industry players such as DFIs, FSPs, government, commercial banks, farmer organizations, and others. The Learning Lab seeks to understand the key enablers for fostering an inclusive RAF ecosystem while also understanding the necessary interventions for ecoystem change. This primary topic area includes sub-topics like value chain development, climate-smart agriculture, capital providers, and farmer organizations.

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Protecting growing prosperity: Agricultural insurance in the developing world

Report: A new landscape report by ISF Advisors, with support from the Syngenta Foundation for Sustainable Agriculture, highlights the current status and future development of agricultural insurance for smallholder farmers. Based on interviews with more than forty-five key agricultural insurance stakeholders, our research paints a picture of an industry that shows great potential but struggles to achieve the necessary scale and product-level refinements.

In smallholder finance, big learnings start with sharing real failures

Spotlight: Closing the USD 150 billion smallholder finance is no easy feat – but it is possible. With 450 million smallholders worldwide, key stakeholders such as financial and digital service providers, will need to develop new solutions and scale existing ones to help close the gap.

Why Root Capital's talent management program is a win-win for rural businesses and young talent

Spotlight: Each year, more than 10 million young people across Africa enter the job market, competing for just three million formal jobs. As the continent’s youth population swells steadily towards a projected total of 800 million by 2050, this demographic crisis will intensify even further.

Webinar materials from RAF Learning Lab Annual Learning Review

Analysis: On October 5, 2017 the RAF Learning Lab hosted a RAF Partner webinar to discuss and share learnings from our Annual Learning Review. View the deck below for more information.

Enabling environment and smallholder finance: A complex relationship

Analysis: Part 6 of the Pulse series highlights early learnings around the smallholder finance enabling environment and makes recommendations for future research.

Agricultural technical assistance: catching up to its potential

Analysis: Part 4 of ISF's and RAF Learning Lab's Pulse series draws insights from the evolving Technical Assistance (TA) landscape in agricultural finance.

Strong women, strong farms: Empowering female smallholders through access to finance

Spotlight: Across Africa, 80% of agricultural production comes from smallholder farmers, most of which are rural women. Yet, in countries like Senegal, only 20% of women have access to financial services and less than 30% of them are involved in governance for their Producer Organizations (POs). As a result, many women struggle to scale their farms and build their businesses. This blog explains how the ICCO STARS program, a Learning Lab partner, is working to address this challenge and empower female farmers through stronger access to finance.

Measuring the performance of alternative delivery channels

Report: The MIX – with support from The MasterCard Foundation, UNCDF, and IFC – has published a new report on alternative delivery channels and their impact. The research from MIX also helped support the insights explored in The MasterCard Foundation's report on lessons learned from alternative delivery channels, which can be viewed here.

Alternative delivery channels for financial inclusion: opportunities and challenges in african banks and microfinance institutions 2016

Report: In their latest study, The Mastercard Foundation shares emerging lessons learned using alternative delivery channels for financial inclusion.

Going far, together: Breaking silos to unlock smallholder finance

Analysis: Part 2 of ISF's and RAF Learning Lab's Pulse series shares insights and trends on progressive partnerships across sectors and at the last mile in the rural and smallholder finance sector.

Expanding access to finance for smallholders one lease at a time

Analysis: New research from Financial Sector Deepening Africa (FSDA) and Nathan Associates highlights agricultural lease finance as a way to expand access to finance for smallholders, allowing for greater mechanization of agriculture in sub-Saharan Africa. This blog summarizes some of the key opportunities and barriers to uptake and usage of lease finance - concluding with the recommendation of a potential fund that would help share the initial costs of agricultural equipment.

Onward and upward: Using a systems approach to unlock smallholder finance potential

Community: A new blog series, jointly authored by the Initiative for Smallholder Finance and the Learning Lab will share monthly sector trends in smallholder finance and next steps forward for FSPs, donors, and investors. The Pulse is rooted in key findings and recommendations highlighted in the ISF's and Lab's latest state of the sector report, Inflection Point.