News release issued by the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA)The Honourable Josee Verner, Minister of International Cooperation and Minister for La Francophonie and Official Languages, today announced that Canada, through the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), will provide an additional $12 million to Afghanistan's national microcredit program, a service vital to helping Afghans rebuild their lives.
"The Afghan people want to support themselves and their families, and the new Government of Canada is helping them through a program that offers access to much needed financial credit and loans," said Minister Verner. "Through the microcredit program, Afghans - women in particular - are starting new businesses, which strengthen the country's economy as well as their local communities."
CIDA will provide $12 million to the national microcredit program, MISFA (Microfinance Investment Support Facility for Afghanistan), which provides poor Afghans with access to loans and financial services that would otherwise be unavailable to them. Launched by the Government of Afghanistan in June 2003, MISFA funds 12 microfinance institutions that, in turn, provide a range of income generation and enterprise development services, as well as consumer loans to low-income people.
Large numbers of Afghan women are using this program to seize opportunities previously denied to them. It is one of the few means to directly improve the status and living conditions of women and their families and has produced excellent results to date. For example, MISFA has helped 190,000 Afghans (140,000 of them women) obtain the modest financing they needed to rebuild their lives. They also received advice on managing their new incomes responsibly.
Over $70 million in loans has been disbursed across 18 provinces within Afghanistan. Borrowers have repaid 98% of these loans with interest. Loans are invested into entreprises such as trades and retail, agriculture and livestock, handicrafts, and manufacturing.
