About 13,000 families living in extreme poverty in rural areas of the country will benefit from financial education, credit lines and assistance for two years in productive agriculture and business management ventures.
The ‘Rural Enterprises Financing’ initiative has funding of around US$72 million, made available by the government and the private sector.
The initiative’s implementers met in the city of Beira last week to finalise plans so that it fulfils expectations over its six-year life-span.
The aim of this initiative is to capacitate beneficiary communities on how to save and use credit for productive purposes, thereby overcoming extreme poverty.
After financial education, the 13,000 households can, if they wish, access credit at subsidised interest rates, says Rufino Duvane, the project’s national coordinator.
“Our funding limits are low, based on the capacity of beneficiaries living in rural areas. Normally, they only need a bit of money. However, those who need more than five to six thousand meticais will be able to get it, but will have to follow certain guidelines,” Duvane explains.
In addition to financing from the government and the private sector, the initiative is financed by Fundación Capital, a foundation that has been operating around the world within the scope of financial inclusion for about 11 years.
The programme is called ‘Graduation’.
“We call it ‘Graduation’, because it’s as if people graduated from extreme poverty,” notes Rodrigo de Reyes Lanfranco, country managing director for Fundación Capital. We’re going to do a very strong follow-up on business management and saving skills for two years. The beneficiaries are families with literacy and numeracy problems, some of whom have been living in areas heavily affected by armed conflicts.”
O País
