AMIR in collaboration with CORDAID organized the ACCESS TO FINANCE (A2F) LEARNING WORKSHOP on 17th August, 2023 at Ubumwe Grand Hotel (Kigali), where more than 100 delegates from Financial Services Providers (FSPs), smallholder farmers (Agri-cooperatives), Government Agencies and development partners attended. This event was organized purposely to share important information about the CORDAID and AMIR’s interventions and joint effort provided by both institutions towards access to finance. It was also an occasion to officially conclude the financial inclusion program (STARLIT) implemented by CORDAID by sharing lessons learned and results achieved from that program. Therefore, the Access to Finance Learning Workshop was organized purposely for the donors, government entities, MFIs, Agri-Cooperatives, potential investors and other access to finance stakeholders to be informed about the available best practices in all CORDAID/AMIR’s interventions, the available opportunities at the demand side, have opportunities for networking and sharing experiences, strategies, and learning from each other. The workshop followed by a field visit on 18th August 2023, where CORDAID, AMIR and other partners had a field tour in the Eastern Province of Rwanda where they visited an Agri-cooperative called Terimbere Muhinzi Ndego-Byimana that has been supported under Cordaid projects including STARLIT. During this visit, selected participants from Cordaid, AMIR and their partners got the opportunity to witness and learn about the success stories of the Agri-Cooperatives supported by the concluded STARLIT project.
The workshop’s objective was to contribute to the knowledge-sharing, learning towards a better financial inclusion and collaboration opportunities through learning on access to finance leveraging from agriculture finance, green finance, refugees finance and digitization being an opportunity for more visibility and awareness of Cordaid and AMIR expertise in Access to finance.
The workshop was interactive and participatory approach was adopted during all sessions including panel discussions, plenary discussion with questions and answers sessions and networking session also was employed in the workshop for the opportunities among participants to share experience, strategies and learning from each other. The raised issues that need attention in the microfinance sector were noted and proposed solutions were highlighted.
Cordaid Country Manager, Mr. Patrick Birasa who addressed the welcome remarks to the workshop participants, appreciated every attendee presence in the workshop and expressed the role of empowering smallholder through sustainable financial solutions for both demand and supply sides.
In his opening remarks Permanent Secretary from MINAGRI – Olivier Kamana appreciated all participants for their attendance and mentioned the need to increase financing for smallholder farmers to increase incomes and transform lives especially in Rural Communities and he furthermore mentioned that this can only be achieved by addressing challenges related to access to finance with regard to the opportunities in agricultural finance initiative that provides small-scale farmers with all of the required tools.
In concluding the workshop Jackson KWIKIRIZA, the AMIR’s Executive Director expressed the happiness of having all the categories of invitees in the Workshop room, he therefore thanked all the participants including the Guest of Honor for having joined to bless the event, Country Manager and the team of Cordaid, Government of Rwanda, different Ministries and entities which participated in the workshop, development partners, AMIR members-financial institutions, banks, and cooperative leaders for their participation and making the event colorful.
The workshop served as a platform to raise Cordaid and AMIR’s visibility and awareness to the aforementioned partners. However, as one of its mandate, AMIR used this opportunity to advocate for its members MFIs and also showing its expertise in organizing events.
The successfully achieved workshop not only met its stated objectives but exceeded expectations in terms of knowledge-sharing, collaboration, and raising awareness. It stands as a testament to the collective dedication towards achieving better financial inclusion of smallholder farmers through funding and collaboration opportunities which serves as a stepping stone for future endeavors in this crucial domain of access to finance.
Moving forward, based on the insights gained from this workshop there is a need for continued collaboration between Cordaid and AMIR to strengthen the capacity of financial institutions and improve access and use of financial services by smallholder farmers and other actors in diverse value chains.
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