2 minute read
Major impacts on improving access to essential services
Access to essential services is one of the major challenges for developing countries and central to the SDGs. Proparco, through its mandate, is committed to supporting improved access to essential services in its countries of operation. Out of the 214 projects subject to a monitoring of the results achieved at the end of 2019, 143 projects (67%) aim to create or improve access to an essential service. Through these projects, at the end of 2019, 34.3 million people had benefited from improved financial inclusion and/or improved access to energy, education and health since the projects were signed: • Financial inclusion: 2 million people have gained access to a microcredit and 700,000 loans have been allocated to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs); • Energy: 3.8 million people have gained improved access to energy through renewable energy projects; • Education: 9.2 million students have benefited from education services, including university and vocational training; • Health: 19.3 million people have had access to improved health services.
9 million students gained new or improved access to education
Over 9 million students have benefited from improved access to an education service, mostly through investment funds. Several funds are supporting education projects, including the Kaizen Private Equity fund, which is entirely dedicated to this sector. As it is difficult to estimate the impact on access of the projects identified by the funds beforehand, no estimate has been made ex ante.
19.3 million annual consultations at the end of 2019
Supporting the health sector is an especially important issue during the Covid-19 pandemic. The projects signed between 2015 and 2018 made it possible to provide 19.3 million annual consultations in 2019. In addition to consultations, certain projects focus on improving medical diagnoses, such as the Biosidus project which conducted over 17 million medical analyses in laboratories in 2019.
While it is often difficult to estimate the impact of investment funds on access to essential services before the signing of the project, the analysis of the investee companies of investment funds during the monitoring exercise showed that the funds have provided major support to improving access to essential goods and services.
Two million beneficiaries of a microcredit
Access to finance for microenterprises is one of Proparco’s strategic priorities. At the end of 2019, 2,035,350 people had access to microcredits through the projects signed by Proparco between 2015 and 2018. Financial institutions account for the majority of the impacts on financial inclusion. In addition to the 2 million people that benefited from a microcredit, 700,000 loans went to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).
Breakdown of beneficiaries of a microcredit by projects signed between 2015 and 2018
Investment funds Financial institutions
1,695,860
microcredits
83%
of beneficiaries
83% 17%
339,490
microcredits
17%
of beneficiaries
