Grameen Crédit Agricole
Home > Mission

"Lenders of hope", Grameen Bank and Crédit Agricole are combining their efforts to fight poverty worldwide using microcredit.

The purpose of the GCAMF is to provide financial support to MFIs through loans, guarantees or equity, and to offer technical assistance adapted to their stage of development.
It is geared to institutions that comply with best practices for governance, transparency and borrower protection. Priority is given to MFIs dedicated to agriculture and rural activities and those dealing essentially with women.
The Foundation is active essentially in 3 regions:

  • Sub-Saharan Africa
  • the Middle East and North Africa
  • South and South-East Asia

It serves the cause defended for 30 years by Professor Muhammad Yunus

The Foundation’s approach to micro-finance

The GCAMF grants financing to MFIs on the basis of a double analysis (financial and social):

  • the financial analysis assesses the operational and financial ability of the MFI to develop on its own in the long run
  • the social analysis verifies that the MFI deals with the most deprived segments, respects the principles of client protection, and gives priority to women.

The Foundation pursues its activities with a view to a long-term partnership with the MFIs so as to bolster their autonomy.

The Foundation’s approach to social business

The GCAMF encourages and facilitates social business projects, i.e. businesses geared to facilitating access for the poorest segments of society to essential goods and services such as food, drinking water, energy, health care, education, communication, and whose shareholders assume the task of maximising the economic and social impact of the project on local communities while protecting the environment.

Some social business examples :

  • Grameen Danone Food au Bangladesh, created jointly by Danone and Grameen, this pilot factory produces nutrient-enriched yoghurts at a price the poorest segments of society can afford.


    • usine Danone à Bogra

     

  • Grameen Veolia Water au Bangladesh, endeavours to give the poorest segments of society access to drinking water by installing water treatment units.

    • The Foundation will cooperate in this kind of project essentially in a facilitator capacity, acquiring a minority shareholding stake where necessary, when the social business enjoys strong synergies with local micro-finance networks.

    En savoir plus sur la microfinance
    • What is a MFI?
    A microfinance institution (MFI) is a local entity that provides small-scale financial services (credit, savings, insurance) to people with no access to the traditional banking system, by giving them the resources they need to develop a business.


    • The United Nations Millennium Summit
    The Millennium Summit was held in 2002 in Johannesburg. Participating world leaders set an ambitious goal:
    to cut poverty
    .