Many obstacles to food security in Ethiopia
Several structural factors may explain the food insecurity that recurrently affects Ethiopia:
- High population growth
- Low productivity of agricultural plots
- Mainly rainfed crops
- Communication network almost non-existent
Microfinance to fight food insecurity
WASASA is a microfinance institution created in 2000 by the NGO OSRA, which is another partner of SOS Faim. It operates in eleven rural areas of the Oromo region and targets primarily small producers.
It offers different things:
- Financial services such as microcredits, savings, micro-insurance, etc.
- Promotion of rural savings and credit banks co-managed by communities in remote areas
WASASA & SOS Faim
Since 2017, the partnership with SOS Faim supports WASASA on different levels:
- Extending the reach of actions in remote rural areas through the establishment of new rural savings and credit banks: feasibility studies, construction, equipment, training of community leaders, etc.
- Supporting the use of new technologies to facilitate banking operations in rural areas: branchless banking and mobile banking
- Developing new products and services adapted to the specific needs of agriculture
- Strengthening the team's knowledge: training, field visits to other Microfinance Institutions, workshops to exchange experiences.
Encouraging results
At the end of 2019, WASASA counted :
- 170,738 clients (beneficiaries of credit and/or savings services)
Outstanding loans of €19 million
Outstanding savings of €8.5 million
43% of clients are women
What prospects ?
Targets to be achieved by 2021 :
- 8 new rural credit unions
- 10,720 members for these funds (40% of whom are women)
- 167,000 rural borrowers (50% women)