A delegation from the African Rural and Agricultural Credit Association (AFRACA), led by its General Director, Millison Narh, recently visited the Bank Group and held talks with President Akinwumi Adesina, on possible cooperation with his institution.

AFRACA is based in Kenya as a regional association of financial and non-financial institutions involved in promoting rural and agricultural finance in Africa. The visit of the delegation to the Bank, looks to establish an investment vehicle to directly support its members who are mostly comprised of rural microfinance institutions. For decades, AFRACA has been at the forefront in driving the rural and agriculture finance agenda in Africa. Its members lack access to finance because they are not eligible for conventional financial services. AFRACA is now seeking the support of the Bank to participate in the fund.

Millison Narh acknowledged the AfDB's support to the Ghana Risk Sharing Facility (GIRSAL). President Adesina welcomed the team and acknowledged that AFRACA is a key player in the rural and agricultural financial sector. "Financial inclusion is a common goal for both institutions, and should be seen in the spectrum of rural finance, microfinance and agricultural finance," he stated. He also highlighted knowledge sharing as a potential area of collaboration with AFRACA, underscoring that its platform could be used to share and scale up successful practices in African countries such as Nigeria, Kenya Tanzania and Uganda. In this regard, President Adesina approved AfDB's participation in the upcoming AFRACA World Congress, which will take place in Dakar on November 24-25, 2016. AFRACA, for its part, will liaise with the AfDB team and define concrete lines of collaboration with regard to the Trust Fund, Risk Sharing Facility and the Bank's conventional financial instruments (debt, equity and grants).