The African Rural and Agricultural Association (AFRACA) has formed an Impact Task Force to deliberate on specific indicators that will be used by the Association to measure the impact of its members lending activities to rural smallholder farmers in Africa.

The three-year initiative was launched during the 21st AFRACA General Assembly held in February 2021 in which members collectively agreed to develop a Financial Indicator Framework and a single database of members credit data that will assist regulators and key industry players in decision-making, potentially link AFRACA members to a myriad of opportunities and enable the network address capacity building gaps among its member institutions.

The Task Force has been meeting frequently and members agreed the scope of the Financial Indicator Framework will be limited to only AFRACA member institutions and if funding is available AFRACA will increase its scope cover other financial institutions who have not yet joined the Association. The Task Force members are currently deliberating on specific indicators (social, economic, and environmental) that will be used collectively measure the impact of the Association’s work.

As part of its strategy, AFRACA will seek buy in from various Head of Institutions to facilitate availability of data being sought by the Task Force and liase with various stakeholders such as bankers Association and Regulators to get validated data.

In Year 1 and 2, AFRACA intends to build a comprehensive database of its members with refined metrics, analyse findings of data gathered and conduct validation meeting with its member institutions. In Year 3, AFRACA aims to conduct policy and advocacy activities and expand its research to non-AFRACA Financial Institutions. Additionally, the dissemination of AFRACA’s Impact Report will be done at this stage.

The Financial Indicator Framework will be all inclusive and a valuable asset to all financial institutions, donors and development partners who are looking forward to support/continue financial institutions increase their lending to rural small holder farmers.

Members of the Impact Task Force include: Ms. Sarah Mubuuke (Bank of Uganda), Ms. Rachel Mushosho (Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe), Mr. Seif Barri (Central Bank of Sudan), Ms. Mariém Dkhil (Crédit Agricole du Maroc), Mr. Kwesi Korboe (Bank of Ghana) and Mr. Malick Ndiaye (La Banque Agricole). Other members in the Task Force based on their expertise include: Mr. Kwame Boateng (Opportunity International Savings and Loans), Mr. Gilead Musinnga (NATSAVE) and Mr. Nzelu Edwin Chukwudum (Central Bank of Nigeria).

AFRACA is a leading pan-African Association whose membership comprises of financial and non-institutions involved in the promotion of rural and agricultural finance to rural smallholder farmers in Africa. To join the Association, please visit: https://afraca.org/benefits/