Some Ghanaian cocoa farmers are recording improved
crop yields and incomes by 160 percent under an agricultural finance pilot to
expand access to savings services in rural areas.
Working in partnership
with Opportunity International, the MasterCard
Foundation has provided 23,000 agricultural
loans to over one million depositors and borrowers within the past four years.
The $8 million dollar “Financial Services for
Rural Communities and Smallholder Farmers in Africa” Program is being
implemented in Ghana, Malawi, Mozambique, Rwanda, and Uganda.
President and CEO of MasterCard
Foundation, Reeta Roy, has observed that the innovative
model has allowed high returns for farmers in Ghana.
“A very important part of the project is to help
farmers not only to have access to savings but to have access to extension
services, fertilizer [and] planting techniques so that they can increase the
yield of their crops and they can be plugged into the value chain so there is
market access for their crops”, she told Luv Biz Report in an interview.
Farmers in 33 districts and six regions of Ghana are
presently accessing the agricultural financing scheme.
According to Reeta, the farmers’ savings are used
to expand farms and diversify to new crops whilst financing their children’s
education.
The Foundation also partners HFC Bank to better
serve the financial needs of young people with focus on financial literacy,
planning, budgeting and savings.
The
Toronto-based MasterCard Foundation was established in 2006 to advance microfinance and youth
learning to promote financial inclusion and prosperity.
Through
collaboration with committed partners in 48 developing countries, the Foundation
is helping people living in poverty to access opportunities to learn and
prosper.
Over
$600 million have so far been committed to a range of projects – with almost 70
percent of the investments in 22 African countries.
Recently, the $500 million MasterCard Foundation Scholars Program was launched to empower
15,000
young underprivileged Africans with the
requisite educational skills to participate in a competitive global economy.
The
comprehensive educational support approach involves the provision of
scholarship to cover tuition, boarding, books and pocket money as well as
mentorship and internship opportunities for beneficiaries.
According to Reeta Roy, one of the unique
objectives of the project is to profile high achieving young people who would
thrive in a learning environment.
“We
are also looking for young people who already have some of the characteristics
of leadership and the ability and desire to do something with their lives and
give back to community”, she noted.
In
Ghana, the Foundation has a ten-year $13million partnership with Ashesi
University to provide tertiary education to over 200 young people.
Another
project with the NGO, Campaign for Female Education (CAMFED), looks at girl
education at the secondary and post-secondary levels – focusing on rural girls
with disadvantaged background to complete Senior High School and others to
access financial literacy for gainful employment.
Reeta
Roy has emphasized that the Scholars Program provides employability skills that
lead to job creation.
“I
hope that this programme sends a signal not only to young people who have
higher aspirations, but it also becomes something which other donors, other
organizations which are doing scholarships will also be inspired and continue
to put those resources towards enabling access to quality education for young
people” she said.
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