FIDES is involved in some of the most important rural microfinance systems in Eastern Europe (01 Moldova, 02 Albania) and in leading initiatives in Africa (03 Mali, 04 Namibia). New Microfinance Institutions will be created in West Africa (05 Sénégal, 06 Ghana) and in North Africa (07 Algeria).

01 MOLDOVA - 500 outlets provide loans and other financial services to now nearly 100 000 clients. It is the biggest newly created microfinance institution in Eastern Europe and has been awarded the title of "Best World Bank Project in Eastern Europe". With a Raiffeisen-type organization, the system is composed of village-based SCAs and an apex bank in the form of a joint-stock company with a banking license.

02 ALBANIA - Initiated as a World Bank project, the village-based institutions and their banking apex today represent one of the biggest microfinance systems in Eastern Europe, with more than 200 outlets covering the entire country. Targeted beneficiaries are farmers and small entrepreneurs who started their business after the dismantling of collective farms in 1992.

03 MALI - Important efforts have been provided under the "Programme Mali Nord" by the GTZ during the last decade in order to restore peace and to promote economic development in Northern Mali.
In this context, a specific rural microfinance approach has been developed and tested by FIDES, based on regional microfinance companies (SFRs). A network of SFRs has been created in the North of the country and is now expanding. These banks provide a wide range of banking and microfinance services and are capitalized jointly by local entrepreneurs and institutional investors. Lending resources are provided through commercial refinancing. A significant effort has been accomplished in order to train staff and governing bodies in an environment where no banks existed before. A common second-level institution has been established and will organize all central functions. Besides this greenfield creation, FIDES has provided expertise for development of the Malian National Microfinance Strategy on behalf of the World Bank and other donors.

04 NAMIBIA - The Ohangwena Pilot Program is aimed at implementing and testing the feasibility of FIDES technology in the very specific Namibian context, marked by numerous failures of other microfinance initiatives. It targets the needs of the rural population of Namibia, which is excluded from access to the formal banking system. The Program has succeeded in building a sustainable regional microfinance institution. It is now the most important microfinance initiative in Namibia and will be further developed into a commercial bank during 2008.

05 SENEGAL and GHANA - In these two countries FIDES is supported by KfW and IFC and is preparing the creation of commercial microfinance institutions. The institutions will cover at present underserved client segments. Since in both countries national and international migration plays an important economic role, payment systems based on modern technology will be established beside credit and savings services.

07 ALGERIA - In Algeria, 90% of the micro and small entrepreneurs have never received a loan from a financial institution. As a result of bilateral negotiations between the Algerian and German government, the GTZ (German technical cooperation agency) has set up a program to stimulate and support the small entrepreneurs in Algeria. Within this program, FIDES has been awarded the creation of a private financial institution dedicated to small entrepreneurs.

The market study for the financial institution was completed in December 2007. The institution will start by a pilot phase in the South of the country. It will enable to test the products and the procedures.

The next steps are the creation of a service company to appraise the credit requests with a specific lending technology, and the search of a banking partner.
The first loans are scheduled to be disbursed mid-2008.

08 INDIA - partnership with SEWA Bank.

IVORY COAST FIDES has been involved in the creation of Savings and Credit Associations (SCAs) and their central finance institution in the Northern Savannah Region. In June 1998, all SCAs assembled into a federation (FAFEC) under the provisions of the Mutual Financial Organizations Act. Since the beginning of the political crisis and military conflict, the FAFEC is the only financial institution still active in the North of the country.