PROSPECTS trained staff from the Ministry of Youth and Sport (MOYS) as financial education (FE) trainers, who then supported the rollout of FE in MOYS youth centres. This helped incorporate FE into national youth programmes. Egypt has also taken up Digitalise your Business (DYB) training, which covers aspects of e-commerce and how to deal with digital payments. As more payments move online, covering topics like mobile and digital payments is an important measure in financial inclusion.

PROSPECTS partnered with the Association of Ethiopian Microfinance Institutions (AEMFI) and facilitated financial education and the introduction of microinsurance, while a memorandum of understanding (MoU) enabled Shabelle Bank to be the first private sector entity to offer services, including digital agents and Sharia-compliant products, directly within refugee camps. Shabelle also operated group accounts for refugee and host community clients with limited capital. By engaging with these clients through group loans, Shabelle mitigated the financial risk in serving those with limited capital. Shabelle also used alternative forms of collateral, such as livestock. This form of mobile collateral was ultimately adopted by the National Bank of Ethiopia in a directive that required all banks to provide at least 5 per cent of their portfolio through mobile collateral, allowing pastoralists to use livestock. Work with the Cooperative Bank of Oromia introduced “Michu,” a digital lending product designed for youth owned businesses. This removed the need for asset-based collateral and offered faster, more affordable loan access. 

Iraq was the first PROSPECTS country to use the ILO’s Global Programme on Financial Education, translating materials into Arabic and Kurdish, as well as adapting characters and stories to the local context. The training manual Financial Education for refugees, IDPs and host communities was produced in Arabic and Kurdish and, later, it was similarly adapted in other countries. Financial education was launched to support the Central Bank of Iraq’s One Trillion Initiative, a national programme aimed at providing financing to micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs). Loans were issued to FE graduates based on the quality of business plans they produced after completing the SIYB training. PROSPECTS funds were used as guarantees on behalf of refugee and host community clients. Find out more about how PROSPECT supported entrepreneurship financing in Iraq and how Iraqi women entrepreneurs benefited in particular. 

Three partner FSPs used the ILO course Making Finance Work for Refugees, Displaced and Host Communities (MFWR) to conduct market research, adapt outreach strategies and develop financial products to pilot in refugee-hosting areas. This delivered loan products to urban refugees in Nairobi and supported the microfinance institution, Longitude Finance, to set up a satellite office in Kakuma Refugee camp and pilot credit products. PROSPECTS supported the formation and strengthening of VLSAs and SACCOs combining financial education, access to financial products and COOP training. Kenya has adopted Digitalise your Business (DYB) training covering e-commerce and digital payments, and raising awareness of digital risk and cyber crime. Hear the story of a financial education trainer from Kenya. 

In the face of hyperinflation and the collapse of the banking sector, PROSPECTS started with a small microfinance pilot in the agriculture sector, focusing on small-scale farmers as a defined market segment. PROSPECTS worked with a partnering microfinance institution (MFI), Al Majmoua, to understand the agriculture sector and related financial needs. A small guarantee was put in place to encourage the MFI to provide higher loan amounts and boost its lending to the higher-risk groups, in this case, farmers and agri-food producers. A tailored credit scheme allowed them to acquire raw materials, equipment and solar energy solutions though loans.

With PROPSPECTS, Opportunity Bank in Uganda adopted a village agent model where local refugees and host community members were trained to serve as bank agents, increasing familiarity with financial services providers and reducing transaction costs. Refugee and host community members were able to set up group accounts in BRAC Bank and Opportunity Bank. This reduced the collateral requirement from 60% to around 15%, making it more accessible. Refugee-led organizations (RLOs) proved to be instrumental partners in helping the programme deliver financial education within settlements, because there was no clearance process to access them.