European Microfinance Award 2023 “Inclusive Finance for Food Security & Nutrition” – 14th Edition

The 2023 European Microfinance Award “Inclusive Finance for Food Security & Nutrition” highlights innovations by financial inclusion organisations to safeguard access to quality and affordable food for vulnerable populations and to increase resilience of sustainable food systems.

And the winner is…

YIKRI – Burkina Faso

Yikri is an MFI in Burkina Faso, a country with among the highest global levels of food insecurity as well as long-term socio-political violence. Yikri offers group-based financial services alongside education on financial literacy, health and nutrition, and agricultural practices. Yikri field officers are trained to recognise the warning signs of malnutrition in mothers and children and refer clients to associations offering subsidized milk programs. Yikri has a subsidised agricultural loan accompanied by training on sustainable agri-practices, including increasing crop production while reducing environmental impacts, and has started “field schools” to demonstrate recommended farming practices, as well as value chain training that connects farmers with input suppliers and buyers.

Presentation of the two runner-ups

Fortune Credit Limited – Kenya

Fortune Credit Limited is a Kenyan MFI offering services to a rural client base in a context of low farm productivity caused by lack of access to quality inputs, poor agricultural practices, lack of other infrastructure, and climate-related issues such as droughts. Inadequate resources and poor nutrition knowledge make it difficult for low-income people to purchase nutritious food. Fortune’s initiative includes land financing and cookstove and motorbike loans which facilitate market access for rural farmers; water tank financing; and a certified seed program in partnership with agri-dealers, where farmers can pre-pay in installments. Fortune also offers training on financial literacy, food production and environmental sustainability.

Fundación Génesis Empresarial – Guatemala

Fundación Génesis Empresarial is a Guatemalan non-profit foundation specialised in sustainable rural development. Responding to the challenges of malnutrition, micronutrient deficiencies, obesity and chronic non-communicable diseases, Genesis was chosen for an integrated combination of financial services, including working capital and assets loans for agriculture, which via its Agri-Livestock Value-chain Initiative is coupled with agronomist guidance and climate-smart agricultural practices, as well as non-financial services, such as a well-being programme with training on nutrition, health, business and financial management,
plus food bank support for the distribution of food and emergency assistance to poor populations.