Agricultural Value Chain Finance Training
1330 New York Avenue, NW
Washington, United States
COMMUNITY CONTRIBUTION
COURSE OBJECTIVES: Using participatory adult learning methods, by the course’s end you will:
Value Chain Finance
ARIES Program Brief No. 5: ACDI/VOCA – ARFC
FHI 360
United States Agency for International Development
March 10, 2010
The following is one in a series of briefs highlighting the experiences and lessons learned under the USAID Agriculture, Rural Investment and Enterprise Strengthening (ARIES) Program. A $100 million, three-year initiative, ARIES aims to create a strong private sector foundation for a sustainable, market-driven, rural finance system in Afghanistan. Each implementing partner focuses upon a different component of the financial landscape, from household micro-loans of less than $200 to loans of over $1 million to larger scale Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs).
This Program Brief focuses on the ARIES effort to stimulate lending to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) with ACDI/VOCA through the establishment of an independent finance company, the Afghan Rural Finance Company (ARFC). The ARFC’s objective is to support the creation of sustainable employment through long-term value chain financing. ARIES choose a strategy of direct investment in existing cooperatives and other private sector agriculture-related firms. ARFC supports the upper tier of SME financing with loans ranging from $20,000 to over $2 million. Within the overall ARIES scale, this is the highest level of loan products supported.
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Annex to Taking Stock of USAID's Rural and Agricultural Finance Initiatives
Joe Dougherty
ACDI/VOCA; Cardno
United States Agency for International Development
March 1, 2012
This file is Annex II to the paper "Taking Stock of USAID’s Rural and Agricultural Finance Initiatives." The document includes a summary of all of the USAID projects surveyed for the report as well as contact information. See the “Related” section below for the full study.
Taking Stock of USAID's Rural and Agricultural Finance Initiatives
microREPORT #183
Joe Dougherty
ACDI/VOCA; Cardno
United States Agency for International Development
March 1, 2012
This study takes stock of USAID’s rural and agricultural finance initiatives from missions around the world as well as from USAID headquarters. It corresponds with the study “Rural and Agricultural Finance: Taking Stock of Five Years of Innovation,” which catalogues innovations in rural finance both by international donor-funded projects as well as private initiatives. This paper explores the recent and current USAID projects that address the issue of rural finance, and looks at how the projects are expanding access to rural finance. It ends with some key conclusions looking across projects to provide insights that can inform USAID’s rural finance strategy. Be sure to see the "Related" section below for the excel annex that provides summary information for the projects listed in this report.
Key takeaways on rural and agricultural finance from Geoffrey Chalmers (ACDI/VOCA)
Geoffrey Chalmers of ACDI/VOCA provides key takeaways from his presentation at After Hours Seminar #58,
Viewing Value Chain and Household Finance From a Demand Perspective (Event Resources)
After Hours #58
Geoffrey Chalmers, Jason Agar
ACDI/VOCA, Kadale Consultants Limited
United States Agency for International Development
February 16, 2012
Financial access can be critical to reducing hunger and poverty in three ways. First, financial access for agricultural value chain development is needed throughout the value chain to achieve broad-based economic growth for low-income households. Second, diversification out of agriculture is a hallmark of economic growth, but rural entrepreneurs require financial access in order to invest in non-farm enterprises. Third, access to financial services enables rural households to meet regular and unexpected consumption and social demands, without having to divert financing from investment opportunities.
"Rural and Agricultural Finance: Taking Stock of Five Years of Innovations" researches and categorizes the principal challenges facing the agricultural and rural sectors. The report takes stock of the financial services initiatives around the world since 2006 that form part of the “innovations frontiers” in addressing these challenges. The paper’s framework emphasizes the inter-relation between the agricultural value chain, the non-farm enterprise, and the rural household. The presenters discuss findings from this paper, focusing on the ways in which these three areas overlap.
VC Learning Event Video Note: Geoff Chalmers and Greta Greathouse on value chain financing
In this video, Geoff Chalmers interviews Greta Greathouse about her presentation during the session, "Value Chain Financing" session at the USAID Learning Event, "Meeting the Challenges of Value Chain Development" held in Washington, DC on February 7-8, 2012. Read more about the session and check out the related resources
VC Learning Event: Financing Value Chains (Session Resources)
COMMUNITY CONTRIBUTION
Meeting the Challenges of Value Chain Development: A Learning Event
USAID Microenterprise Development Office
February 7, 2012
The attached presentation and media are products of the "Financing Value Chains" session of USAID's Meeting the Challenges of Value Chain Development: A Learning Event.
Session Description:
For value chains to grow and incorporate more of the world’s poor, a diverse range of financing needs must be met. From input credit and working capital, to more sophisticated instruments such as leasing and factoring, we have learned that we can lower the risk of providing these products by building on the close inter-relation of value chain actors and understanding the financing needs and cash flow of the entire household. This session provided a brief overview of a model of integrated rural and agricultural finance, and examined three recent country-specific “value chain finance” projects (Haiti, Kenya and Honduras) that were built on such an approach. The session emphasized broad strategies for ensuring that finance contributes to overall value chain competitiveness. Participants were engaged through an innovations marketplace that highlighted specific “value chain finance” products and services, and explored lessons learned and replication potential.
Current After Hours
February 16, 2012 | 4:00pm
Dr. Tina Elleanor Rhodes, Carnegie Endowment for Peace and Justice
USAID Learning Event session highlight: Integrating the very poor into value chains
COMMUNITY CONTRIBUTION
Institutional Sponsor
USAID Microenterprise Development Office
