Financial inclusion is high on the European Union agenda, and we support our members to become effective inclusion advocates. We do this by continually expanding our Financial Inclusion Ambassador Toolkit. We aim at simple, strong and effective initiatives. This June, we held our second annual “Inclusion Ambassadors” award ceremony. We acknowledged four members who not only reach ...

The European Investment Fund (EIF) and Fondi Besa (BESA) have signed the first guarantee agreement aimed at supporting micro-enterprises in Albania under the EU Programme for Employment and Social Innovation (EaSI). This new EaSI guarantee agreement with the non-bank microfinance institution BESA, will cover a loan portfolio of ALL 3 billion (c. €22 million) for micro-borrowers, targeting in particular the ...

Why to advocate? It is both important and urgent that national and EU wide coalitions advocate for ensuring wider and deeper financial inclusion for all citizens. In today’s environment of growing demand for financial services and the imminent stronger dependence on financial services for managing personal finances, it is imperative to achieve greater political and financial commitment to support long-term ...

The Europe 2020 strategy is about delivering economic growth with higher employment. It recognises entrepreneurship and self-employment as key for achieving smart, sustainable and inclusive growth. The strategy is implemented by European Comission, led by Jean-Claude Juncker. The so called Juncker plan identifies 10 priorities of work, which include creating jobs and boosting growth. In its support to entrepreneurship and ...

Using the self-regulation guidelines known as the European Code of Good Conduct for Microcredit Provision? We can help! We work with microcredit providers to assess current compliance levels, in particular to: • Review the organization’s self-assessment results • Clarify specific clauses of the Code, their applicability and compliance levels • Propose strategies to address areas of weaknesses and poor compliance ...

What is EaSI Technical Assistance? The Employment and Social Innovation (EaSI) Programme is an EU level financing instrument. Under fi-compass, a unique platform for advisory services on financial instruments and microfinance, EaSI TA offers institutional assessment and tailored training to selected microcredit providers, workshops to spread good practice in the wider European microcredit sector and a dedicated helpdesk. How is ...