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Report: In Africa, where agricultural production remains far below potential, companies are working with smallholder farmers to raise crop yields, open up new market opportunities, and strengthen rural economies. In a new case study, AgDevCo’s Smallholder Development Unit features six examples of outgrower schemes that are delivering results.
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.
Report: In their latest study, The Mastercard Foundation shares emerging lessons learned using alternative delivery channels for financial inclusion.
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.
Tool: On March 6 in Dakar, Senegal The MasterCard Foundation hosted a program launch announcing the work of RAF Learning Lab partners ICCO, AgDevCo, and Root Capital. Alongside the program launch the Learning Lab hosted two learning sessions on the opportunity for partnerships and digital tools to unlock smallholder finance. This blog includes a brief summary of the learning sessions alongside presentation materials and relevant resources.
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.
Community: Part 1 of ISF's and RAF Learning Lab's Pulse series shares insights and trends on customer centric approaches in the rural and smallholder finance sector.
Media: On February 28 and March 1 the RAF Learning Lab team – in collaboration with Dalberg – hosted a webinar summarizing insights from our second Learning Brief, Better together: Last mile partnerships for smallholder finance.
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.
Analysis: The second in the Lab's Learning Brief series, "Better together: Last mile business partnerships for smallholder finance,"* offers baseline insights for building or enabling businesses partnerships to better serve smallholders. These are early findings from an ongoing study of four value chain/technology players looking to partner with financial institutions.
Report: Mercy Corps' AFA program conducts country-level ecosystem reviews in coordination with its work to support the expansion of digital financial and non-financial services to smallholder farmers in Kenya, Tanzania, and Zambia. These analyses are published as white papers in the "Fertile Ground" series. This is the Zambia white paper.
Report: Mercy Corps' AFA program conducts country-level ecosystem reviews in coordination with its work to support the expansion of digital financial and non-financial services to smallholder farmers in Kenya, Tanzania and Zambia. These analyses are published as white papers in the "Fertile Ground" series. This is the Tanzania white paper.