Project profile — Support for the Development, Professionalization and Consolidation of Microfinance and COVID-19

• Benin (100.00%)

• Financial policy and administrative management:
Financial policy and administrative management (24010) (25.00%)
Formal sector financial intermediaries (24030) (30.00%)
Informal/semi-formal financial intermediaries (24040) (10.00%)
Education/training in banking and financial services (24081) (20.00%)
• Business And Other Services: Business support services and institutions (25010) (5.00%)
• Agriculture: Agricultural financial services (31193) (10.00%)

• Gender equality (significant objective)
• Environmental sustainability (cross-cutting) (principal objective)
• Climate Change Adaptation (significant objective)
• Youth Issues (significant objective)

This project contributes to improving the economic situation of the most disadvantaged populations in Benin, especially women. This portion of the project aims to provide a response to the coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19). With the support of Canada, Développement international Desjardins supports the consolidation, professionalization and development of the microfinance sector, including strengthening the institutional capacities of the entities responsible for its governance. Project activities include: (1) supporting the National Agency for the Supervision of Decentralized Financial Systems in the implementation of the microfinance sector consolidation strategy; (2) developing a training program and tools focused on financial and credit management for the 10 decentralized financial systems supported by the project (90% of the market); (3) establishing a financial centre for entrepreneurs, subject to the positive conclusions of a feasibility study (300 entrepreneurs would use this centre); (4) offering demand-driven financial products or services (three financial products developed, including two for women); and (5) educating populations on basic financial concepts (900 training courses would be given to a total of 45,000 people).

The expected outcomes of this project include: (1) increased environmentally sensitive financial inclusion, particularly for those living in rural areas and vulnerable populations, including women and youth; (2) modernized and more professional microfinance sector, including an increased role for women; and (3) strengthened microfinance sector monitoring and consolidation by the Beninese government.

Results achieved at the end of the project (January 2022) include: (1) ongoing improvements in the oversight and consolidation of the microfinance sector. This was made by the operationalization and reinforcement of the National Agency for the Supervision of Decentralized Financial Systems. This guarantees that no structure will operate illegally in Benin; (2) The decentralized financial systems (DFS) project partners have improved access to their financial services. As a result, the financial inclusion strategy has led to the opening of nearly 140,000 new individual bank accounts, including 82,300 bank accounts for women. This brought the total number of new bank accounts opened to over 744,600, including 436,400 bank accounts for women; (3) improved people's skills through the continued implementation of an ambitious financial education and financial literacy training program to the benefit of 14,237 people. The total number of participants trained is 94,578, including 71,739 women and 22,839 men; and (4) with the project’s support, DFS continued to roll out digital financial services. As a result, by the end of activities, 426,942 users, including 286,560 women, had benefited from the digital solutions put in place by the project including the mobile "tontine" digital service: the most popular service among women.

• Proactive disclosure