MADISON, Wis. — The World Council of Credit Unions' coffers have gotten a $27.7 million boost.
WOCCU received $8.3 million from the Microfinance Support Facility for Afghanistan and $19.4 million from the U.S. Agency for International Development. In northern Afghanistan, the MISFA funding will go toward five additional credit unions and points of service, designed as investment and finance cooperatives (IFCs), in order to be compliant with Islamic law. WOCCU will also provide continued technical support to two established IFCs in Sheberghan and Mazar-e-Shariff.
In addition, WOCCU will establish and support up to 20 IFCs and points of service in the northern, southern and eastern regions of Afghanistan with funding from USAID. USAID has granted $80 million to the Academy for Educational Development (AED) as part of its Agriculture, Rural Investment and Enterprise Strengthening (ARIES) Program, and, as an "associate" to AED, WOCCU will receive $15.4 million, along with $4 million in the form of a convertible subordinated debt-to-equity financial product to be invested in the project IFCs.
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While Afghanistan once had strong agricultural exports to support it, private investments have dropped in recent years and some farmers have turned to opium production for a living.
"The people of Afghanistan are proud and hardworking. They need nothing more than a bit of assistance from the rest of the world to help sort out their lives," WOCCU Afghanistan Project Director Randall Spears said.
"Although there are multiple challenges to be faced–language, tribal loyalties, even the recent influx of anti-governmental forces–one still gets the sense that these are a people that are on the move toward a better future," Spears continued. "We hope that this project will be one of those vehicles that will help drive them to that better future."
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