Développement international Desjardins (DiD), an arm of Canada’s cooperative Desjardins Group, recently announced it has received additional funding from the UN’s International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) continue participating in the Youth Agropastoral Entrepreneurship Promotion Program (PEA-Youth) in Cameroon through 2018. PEA-Youth supports rural entrepreneurs aged 18 to 35 through the “development of viable agropastoral businesses; access to financial services; and improvements to the organizational, policy, institutional and legal framework.” IFAD is planning to lend a total of USD 22.5 million through the project from 2014 through 2020, with an additional USD 23 million to be raised from other partners, which have yet to be identified.
DiD provides technical support and investment for the community finance sector in Africa, Asia, Central and Eastern Europe, and Latin America and the Caribbean. It also operates the Partnership Fund and the Desjardins Fund for Inclusive Finance, which provide loans and investment capital to microfinance institutions and microfinance funds. As of 2016, DiD reports a loan portfolio of CAD 76.8 million (USD 57.4 million).
The Desjardins Group, which offers banking, insurance, securities and investment services, reports approximately CAD 248 billion (USD 185 billion) in assets as of December 2015.
IFAD, which was established in 1977 as an outcome of the 1974 World Food Conference, aims to eradicate rural poverty in developing countries. As of December 2015, it reported a portfolio valued at USD 13.8 billion with operations in 99 countries.
By Phoebe Rorke, Research Associate
Sources and Additional Resources
DiD:
Cameroon: IFAD Funds DID to Support Rural Enterprise Dev Managed by Youth
2016 Report – Abridged Version
IFAD:
Project Overview
Desjardins Group:
2015 Financial Report
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