THE ESSENCE OF OUR WORK IN 2022

8 MICROFINANCE SOCIAL INSTITUTIONS
152 592 MICRO-ENTREPRENEURS SUPPORTED
89% ARE WOMEN
42% LIVE IN RURAL AREAS
269€ AVERAGE LOAN AMOUNT

“We have confidence in these marginalised people who are setting up their businesses. We give them complete support so that their trade, workshop, field or livestock can provide them with a way for the whole family to move forward.”

Marie Forget, Head of Social Microfinance

GROWTH IN PARTICULAR COUNTRIES

Despite the difficult economic situations prevalent in developing countries, our microfinance institutions (MFI) in West Africa are staying the course and continue to support a growing number of beneficiaries. Due to inflation being in double figures, we had to increase the loan amount offered to beneficiaries and increase our employees’ wages.

Even so, Assilassimé in Togo remains financially viable and provides support to more than 45,000 beneficiaries. In addition, our 3 most recent MFIs — Fansoto (Senegal), Wakili (Guinea) and Munafa (Sierra Leone) — can now cover half of their expenses from their income and are providing support to a growing number of beneficiaries: 18,000 in Senegal, 12,000 in Guinea and 9,500 in Sierra Leone.

CHANGES ELSEWHERE

In some of the countries, conditions were difficult in 2022. Now more than ever, those people who are most vulnerable continue to have to work to survive, so they need our support. Our on-site teams have been working relentlessly to provide them with that support.
In Vietnam, ACE’s activities slowed, due to a complex licence renewal process that was finally completed at the beginning of 2023. In Myanmar, SOO has managed to restart its work and has significantly reduced late credit repayments. In Burkina Faso, the political and economic situation has deteriorated significantly, but Yikri continues to serve its beneficiaries and provide them with access to financial services, mutual health insurance, social services and technical support for farming.
The situation has deteriorated the most in Haiti, but the team there is continuing to press forward by setting up services in rural areas, which have been less affected than Port-au-Prince.

PREPARATIONS FOR 4 NEW PROJECTS

We have been preparing to launch 4 new projects:
• In Liberia: we have undertaken fact-finding missions in its rural areas, where the provision of microfinance services is almost non-existant;
• In Guinea: we have been getting ready to roll out our programme in a very isolated region, Guinée Forestière, providing enhanced agricultural services;
• In Côte d’Ivoire, we are awaiting authorisation from the central bank so we can launch our microfinance operations;
• In Burkina Faso, we are partnering with the AFD to prepare a support programme for displaced populations, in the wake of the jihadi violence.

“We are strengthening young people’s employability and business skills so that they can become independent and contribute to the development of their country.”

Elarik PHILOUZE, Development Coordinator

VERY CHALLENGING CONDITIONS IN 2022

The war in Ukraine, the surge in the cost of raw materials, political and military crises, and social movements in several parts of the world have had a major effect on our beneficiaries. The conditions have made their economic situations deteriorate significantly and so their need for support from our teams has been considerable.

In Haiti, for example, the security situation has worsened significantly, with a resurgence of criminality and street gang activity. The closure of shops and fuel shortages has caused a general slowing down of work activity.

In Togo, the cost of some basic foodstuffs has doubled, and in the north of the country, the risk of terrorist acts has increased.

In Burkina Faso, the socio-political crisis is making it more and more difficult to work. These difficult conditions have put business models under strain and this has meant we have had to put on hold our objectives for making both the small businesses and our programme sustainable.

In Burkina Faso, the Emergence business school has continued to train people and get them started in cleaning and housekeeping, but it had to abandon its dry-cleaning work because achieving sustainability was not possible in this sector.
In Haiti, Atelyé Ekol Enejy has finished creating its training modules and has now welcomed its first trainees. However, this training has been significantly delayed because the equipment needed for the production lines of gas stoves and solar lamps has been slow to arrive.

In Senegal, the business school Muri Casa have produced and marketed their first fruit juices. However, their double objective of training young people and boosting the job prospects of the female producers is turning out to be more challenging to achieve than anticipated, both for reasons of feasibility but also due to legal constraints.

PLUS SOME SIGNIFICANT STEPS FORWARD

In Togo, Miawodo’s first wave of learners have progressed in its waste management school. 36 learners have been trained and are now being supported by Miawodo’s coaches. In December, the team also took delivery of a container that is equipped to transform plastic waste, as part of a partnership with Plastic Odyssey.

In Ivory Coast, the Archipelago programme came to an end in December, having supported more than 230 farmers (135 of them in 2022) through training courses dedicated to agricultural entrepreneurship. This programme has been a successful collaboration between 6 stakeholder members of the consortium (2 chambers of agriculture, 2 regional councils, 1 agricultural training institute and Entrepreneurs du Monde).

In France, in Rouen, the Un Toit vers l’Emploi (A Roof for Work) programme has begun a phase of growth so it can respond to the need for shelter and work for people with no fixed abode: 9 tiny houses were constructed in 2022 by its business school, and 257 people were supported towards work by its day centre.

In Lyon, the Des Saveurs et des Ailes (Tastes and Wings) programme, which supports vulnerable entrepreneurs in the catering sector, has been slowed by staff turnover. However, the new staff revitalised its work in the final quarter in time to welcome a new class in the very early days of January 2023.

CLIMATE
AFRICA IS THE CONTINENT MOST VULNERABLE TO CLIMATE CHANGE
HUNGER
AFRICA IS THE CONTINENT MOST AFFECTED WITH 237 MILLION LIVING IN HUNGER

“Family farming accounts for up to 80% of food production in Africa, so the food security of the continent’s inhabitants depends on it. Production is already being heavily impacted by global warming. Urgent action is needed!”

Éric EUSTACHE, Head of Agro-Entrepreneurship Unit

THE VITAL HOLISTIC APPROACH

In the Matam region of northern Senegal, small-scale farmers face a whole raft of difficulties that result in poor yields and low income from their labour. These include lack of growing space, fragile soil, limited access to water, seeds and financing, lack of mechanisation, no agricultural training in how to adapt to climate change, no storage facilities and no negotiating capacity with large-scale traders.

We are gradually helping them overcome these obstacles:
• 100 cereal and onion producers trained in climate-smart techniques have seen positive results in 2022: increased yields for 33% and increased satisfaction rates (76%).
• 1140 women farmers have had training in intensive farming and agro-ecology, support in setting up 3 production areas (total: 25 ha), and have been given irrigation pumps, help maintaining them, and the seeds needed for year-round farming of their plots.
• 2 granaries were in use in 2022, thanks to improvements made based on R&D on the issue of storage
• 4300 producers received regular updates on pricing trends for products at Senegal’s 8 largest markets, enabling them to decide where and when to sell their produce.
• 700 m2 of greenhouses have been built to demonstrate the possibility of having two production cycles a year instead of one

FIRM FOUNDATIONS

Thanks to support of the Agence Française de Développement and the Monegasque Cooperation, in 2022 our initiatives were consolidated in within a resource centre for the transition to agro-ecology, located on the same site as the granaries. It will also contain a school (construction has already started) for young people who want to go into farming. They will be given training and then support to start their own farms.

The centre also aims to become economically autonomous by developing its own farming activities. It has already converted 10 ha for agricultural use and the first harvest is expected in June 2023.

While this centre was being set up in Senegal, we were also founding the Ekofoda Centre in Tchebebe, Togo. It has the same goals and is already training a first generation of young people, supporting the region’s producers and developing its own production to become autonomous in due course.

6 SOCIAL ENTREPRISES
26 038 FAMILIES PROVIDED WITH EQUIPMENT
26 868 STOVE & SOLAR KITS DISTRIBUTED

“By providing access to reliable, economical equipment, mostly powered using renewable energy sources, we are helping the most vulnerable populations improve their living and working conditions, their health and their environment.”

Aude PETELOT, Head of Energy Unit

EVOLVING NEEDS
Our five teams have continued to extend their provision of solar kits and cooking stoves, making them accessible to the most vulnerable communities in even isolated rural areas.

In Cambodia, Pteah Baitong has developed and distributed solar water pumps for use on farms smaller than 1.5 ha: this solution provides low-flow irrigation which is very easy to set up, economical and reliable. The farmers are given training and support in maintaining the pumps themselves.

MIVO Energie in Togo and Nafa Naana in Burkina Faso have had continued success promoting solar lamps and kits – including fridges and motor pumps for productive use – and in distributing clean, efficient cooking equipment. Nafa Naana also offers flexible financing conditions (Pay-As-You-Go) for higher capacity equipment, meaning households can save money in the long term.

In Haiti, due to the unstable situation in Port au Prince, Palmis Enèji focusses most of its work outside the capital. It conducts extensive awareness-raising campaigns to inform people about the health, economic and social implications of using clean, renewable energy in a country where cooking with charcoal has dramatically reduced forest cover. However, fuel and gas shortages interrupted deliveries for several months in 2022.

In the Philippines, ATE Co continues to install standalone solar kits and robust, modular solar micro-networks in hard-to-reach villages. The team raises awareness amongst villagers of the benefits of renewable energy and offers training in efficient electricity use and solar equipment maintenance. In each house, one kit powers at least 3-4 light points and a mobile phone charger, as well as a fan or possibly even a television or fridge.

CARBON FINANCE: RECOGNISING OUR IMPACT AND SUSTAINABILITY

In Haiti, Burkina Faso and Togo, our 3 access to energy projects are Gold Standard-certified, meaning that the reductions in CO2 emissions achieved each year by families who previously cooked with wood or charcoal but now use gas stoves can be quantified, verified and valued.

These three projects can then sell carbon credits to companies that produce greenhouse gas emissions and wish to play their part in reducing carbon emissions. These sales will enable our three teams to achieve financial equilibrium more quickly, all whilst revolutionising the living and working conditions of the most vulnerable households.