Rural Finance Institutions Building Programme

Rural Finance Institution-Building Programme (RUFIN)

The objective of this programme is to strengthen microfinance institutions and establish linkages between them and formal financial institutions in 12 Nigerian states. It lays the foundation for the long-term development of a sustainable rural financial system that will eventually operate throughout the country.

By reaching out to poor rural people, the programme ensures that they gain access to financial services and can invest in improving productivity in agriculture and small businesses. Marginalized groups, such as women, young people and those with physical disabilities, are particularly targeted by RUFIN.

The programme supports the development of target-group organizations into rural finance institutions that improve poor rural people's access to low-cost credit. It also assists microfinance institutions, including the Nigerian Agricultural Cooperative and Rural Development Bank, the National Poverty Alleviation Programme, and microfinance banks and NGO microfinance institutions operating in rural areas. The programme helps them strengthen rural outreach and improve services to the most vulnerable groups, notably households headed by women.

In addition, the programme works to develop new alternative financial products, promote an improved legal, policy and regulatory framework, and establish linkages between the financial system and the rural production system.

Source: IFAD