FE Report
BRAC and the MasterCard Foundation announced Wednesday a $19.6 million programme to expand financial services to the poor across Uganda, benefiting approximately two million people.
The programme will provide economically-active women in Uganda with loans, training and technical support to enable them to improve their livelihoods, said a BRAC press release.
Additionally, the programme will also help expand vocational and life-skills education for adolescent girls, it added.
"The MasterCard Foundation is working with innovators like BRAC to expand the poor people's access to microfinance services, support their entrepreneurship so they can improve their own living standard," said Reeta Roy, president and chief executive officer (CEO) of the MasterCard Foundation.
"This initiative with the MasterCard Foundation will be our largest programme in Africa," Fazle Hasan Abed, founder and chairperson of BRAC, said.
"What we learn in Uganda, including how to provide savings to poor women and their communities will help us rapidly scale up our operations to provide services to millions of people throughout Africa," he also said.
As part of this programme, BRAC will also explore the feasibility of becoming a regulated deposit-taking institution in Uganda, a role it has not yet played in Africa.
This initiative will demonstrate for the first time the full potential of BRAC's holistic microfinance approach to reduce poverty and improve livelihoods in Africa, the press release said.
Insights generated from this programme will enable BRAC to accelerate its long-term plan to adapt this approach for other African countries.
BRAC's $19.6m joint venture targets poor in Uganda
FE Team | Published: November 21, 2008 00:00:00 | Updated: February 01, 2018 00:00:00
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