Bringing microfinance to rural areas in Mali to improve women's lives

Local banks, NGOs and public institutions worked closely to ensure that women could access loans, join associations and have their voices be heard in collective decision-making processes. It also allowed these women and their communities to make collective investments that would increase their production, stabilize and diversify their nutrition, and ultimately achieve a better life.
The IFAD-funded initiative is supported by the Governments of Mali, Canada and Denmark, and receives technical assistance from FAO’s Investment Centre. It benefitted more than half a million rural poor Malians, among them 105,000 women. Today, they are some of the microfinance institutions’ most solvent clients.