Editorial

Dear partners and colleagues,

Working in a pandemic situation for two years now has been a challenge for all of us. In many countries, our offices as well as our partner structures were temporarily not or only partially operational. Nevertheless, our project implementation in 55 countries continued and contracting partners tendered new projects. The GOPA Group held its first GOPA Group Day in a successful hybrid format. We thank our partners and colleagues for their constructive cooperation under the special conditions!

The new government in Germany will draw attention to organic agriculture, climate-adjusted production systems and intelligent ICT applications. Reliability, certification and improvement of national and international supply chains became important topics. In all these subjects, AFC relies on strong experiences gained in the last decades. We stay flexible and constantly adapt our working strategies to the new realities. In this context, we developed an online course on agricultural finance. Our team is more than willing to improve our services in agriculture and financial sector development permanently.

In recent years, projects implemented under BMZ’s SEWOH focusing on income generation along agricultural value chains and supporting agricultural finance systems were essential for us. Our main activities in this respect took place in Ghana, Nigeria, Mali, Côte d’Ivoire, and India. We appreciate that an adjusted programme of BMZ/GIZ will continue under “One World without Hunger” (EWOH).

Green, Gender and Digital Finance are emerging topics in which we assist financial institutions to tailor their products and services and thus reducing inequality and enhancing financial inclusion for example in Nigeria (AFI) and Ethiopia (GIZ) or raising awareness on climate risks in Armenia (KfW).

Central Asia, where we are currently implementing nine projects on behalf of BMEL, GIZ, KFW and WB, has always been an important region for AFC. Counting three ongoing projects, Uzbekistan became a new focus for us.

In this edition, we present a selection of our projects – some of them recently started such as in Ghana (GIZ/EU) and Egypt (BMEL), some ended such as in Niger (EU).

In our headquarters in Bonn, we reduced our carbon footprint and are proud to be certified as a climate-neutral company since 2021, which is very much appreciated by our team.

Enjoy reading this edition in electronic form or climate-neutrally printed on FSC-certified paper! Please share your views with our authors and follow us on LinkedIn for future frequent exchange.

Thank you!

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Editorial GOPA Group Day 2021 – “With passion and in all diversity for a better tomorrow” Our commitment to the environment – ISO 14001 certified and climate neutral Pushing innovations Extending our engagement in organic agriculture AFC develops an interactive e-course on agri-finance ICT in our projects Map of selected projects AFC’s current presence in Africa Presenting selected projects in Africa Understanding barriers to finance for Ethiopia’s agri-SMEs Certification – a lever for agricultural SME exports from Senegal and Côte d'Ivoire Policy dialogue – a powerful tool for governance of Niger's food and nutrition security and sustainable agricultural development sector 18

AFC supports Ghanaian MSMEs in the agribusiness Closing the gender gap in Nigeria – strategy development for women’s financial inclusion AFC’s current presence in Asia 23

Presenting selected projects in Asia AFC’s presence in Central Asia Women empowerment in agricultural value chains in India Shaping the future of smallholder farmers in Thailand Improving access to finance for farmers in Papua New Guinea AFC’s current presence in MENA Presenting selected projects in MENA Quality assurance of plant products in Egypt Competence Centre to strengthen the dairy sector in Tunisia Supporting Morocco’s organic agricultural sector AFC’s current presence in Europe and Caucasian Countries Presenting selected projects in Europe and Caucasian Countries Housing Finance Programme in Armenia - A decisive step towards reducing CO2 emissions Strengthening Georgia’s business resilience in the finance sector New staff Expertise of AFC’s Financial Sector Development department Studies for development cooperation Expertise of AFC’s Agriculture and Agribusiness departments