Remittances help fight rural poverty in some of the poorest parts of the world. While the amounts are often small, remittances put money directly into the hands of millions of poor people. In addition, the impact of remittance services is dramatically enhanced when these are linked to other financial services such as savings, insurance and loans.
Promoting inclusive financial systems and innovative partnerships between rural financial institutions and remittance operators will provide significant benefits in terms of competition and cost reduction, thereby offering more resources to the poor and additional options for millions of families to use their capital profitably. For this purpose, the Financing Facility for Remittances (FFR) for Rural Sector Development has recently been established.
Building on the experience of the joint programme on rural remittances for Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC), a collaboration between the Multilateral Investment Fund (MIF) of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), the FFR was created to include new co-financing partners such as the European Commission (EC), the Consultative Group to Assist the Poor (CGAP), the Government of Luxembourg, and the United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF). To maximize outreach to other regions where remittances play a crucial role in rural economic and social development, this facility will fund a second phase of the LAC programme of the IDB/IFAD programme, and will focus on the EU/LAC corridor and include African, European, Middle Eastern and Asian countries as well.
The FFR will facilitate the rapid approval of proposals and swift disbursement of funds for the implementation of identified activities. The FFR will launch competitive calls for proposals and then select and finance the most innovative projects submitted. [Read more]
No comments:
Post a Comment