ADA assists financial institutions in digitalising their financial products for the agricultural sector in West Africa

ADA assists the financial institution partners of the GIZ/ProFinA project in digitalising financial products for the agricultural sector in Burkina Faso and Togo. All project stakeholders met at the GIZ conference in Lusaka, Zambia, in October to discuss the digital solutions suited to their needs and the next steps of their digital development. 

Given that the majority of the sub-Saharan population lives or works in rural areas, digitalisation is an opportunity for financial institutions to improve the range of financial services for stakeholders in agricultural value chains. These digital solutions have a high potential to foster financial inclusion in a lasting and affordable way. 

To promote the use of these innovative solutions, GIZ (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit GmbH) held a regional conference on "The digitalisation of agricultural finance: peer-to-peer discussions and advice on digital solutions in Africa" from 10 to 14 October 2022 in Lusaka, Zambia. 

ADA and the partners of the nine African countries in the ProFinA project (Promotion of Agricultural Finance for Agribusinesses in Rural Areas) met at this conference with the aim of learning, creating synergies and sharing knowledge to develop digital solutions. 

Drawing on her expertise gained through the Digital Finance Initiative, which led to the development and digital optimisation of many microfinance institutions in Africa, Catherine Liziard, Programme Manager at ADA, led the following sessions at the conference:  

• Financing digital finance 
• Unlocking the potential of savings: mobile money to reach stakeholders in agricultural value chains (AVC)
• Creating our digital community (the aim of this session was to invite financial institution partners of the ProFinA global project to learn from each other, stay connected and co-create an environment of communication). 

The event enabled the financial institution partners to confirm their digital strategy in order to define the next steps of their digital transformation for agricultural finance. 

The opportunity for financial institutions to take the time to discuss and share advice on digital solutions in Africa and to stay in touch after the event provides real added value for the ProFinA partners. It was also a great opportunity for ADA to share its digital finance expertise, as well as the toolkit built during the DFI project.

Catherine Liziard, ADA Programme Manager

An innovative partnership serving stakeholders in the agricultural value chain in West Africa  

In 2021, GIZ launched a call for tenders to support the financial institution partners (FIP) of the ProFinA project (Promotion of Agricultural Finance for Agribusinesses in Rural Areas) in digitalising financial products for stakeholders in agricultural value chains. ADA responded to this call for tenders as a member of the consortium created together with two technology consulting firms, IPC and PCES. 

The project's innovative approach is to support the FIPs under a joint action approach, including capacity building, technical support with digital finance experts and discussions between partners. The aim is also for the FIPs to define their digital strategy if they do not already have one. 

As part of the GIZ/ProFinA project, Catherine Liziard, Programme Manager at ADA, is currently assisting 12 financial institutions (six in Burkina Faso and six in Togo) in digitalising their savings and credit products for stakeholders in agricultural value chains,  as digitalisation provides them with local, secure and affordable distribution channels.