The MasterCard Foundation, a leading independent global organization based in Toronto, Canada, believes that its $15.5 million project with Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) will help to lift 728,000 smallholder farmers out of poverty in Ghana, Tanzania, and Kenya.
The MasterCard Foundation Programme Manager, Financial Inclusion, Ruth Dueck-Mbeba, who spoke of this with The Chronicle in Accra, said the goal of the program is to enable these farmers to gain access to financial and non-financial services that would significantly improve their productivity and incomes.
This, she explained would be done both through financial institutions and agribusinesses in Ghana and Kenya. The five-year project, Mrs Dueck-Mbeba indicated, would expand financial access for farmers and agribusinesses by providing technical assistance.
“AGRA will conduct needs-based capacity building for financial service providers (FSPs), including training bank staff, product development support, and strengthening risk management systems. AGRA will also support market linkages for farmers to sell produce and access high quality seeds and fertilizers”.
AGRA will work with private sector actors to help reduce the costs of delivering rural financial and non-financial services. Based on market assessments, it will identify promising innovations in categories such as payments and financing, value chain management (operations, contract farming, etc.), as well as training and market information for farmers, according to her.
In view of these, several programs including education, economic opportunities for youth, and financial inclusion are being implemented on the continent in partnership with other stakeholders, she said.
Globally, Mrs Dueck-Mbeba noted that the Foundation had committed over a billion of dollars to their program areas for the next five to eight years. “The foundation’s vision for all our work is to really try to create opportunities for people to learn and to improve their lives.
She encouraged implementing partners to always remember why they are doing what they are doing and who they are seeking to help.
Mrs. Dueck-Mbeba noted: “It is about listening to, among others, young people to hear their experiences and perspectives, listening to customers to understand what products and services work well for them, what can be changed and improved, and how we can better add value to their lives and communities”.
Source: The Ghanaian Chronicle
