Rural Finance Support Programme

Rural Finance Support Programme (PAFIR)

The goal of this programme is to stimulate economic growth and contribute to poverty reduction by improving the livelihoods of rural households and boosting the viability of enterprises in rural areas of Mozambique. To achieve this goal, the programme improves sustainable access to appropriate financial services for individuals, groups and enterprises in rural areas, while creating a conducive institutional and policy environment for the long-term sustainability and diffusion of rural financial services.

The programme provides funds and technical assistance to help financial institutions reach out and extend financial services to remote rural areas. At the same time, it helps to organize smallholder farmers, artisanal fishers and other poor people in remote rural communities into self-managed financial associations – thereby facilitating improved management of their own economic resources.

There are four components to the programme:

• Institutional, policy and legislative support
• Innovation and outreach facility
• Support for community-based financial institutions
• Economic Development Support Fund (FARE) and programme management.

EU Food Facility in Mozambique: video

Source: IFAD