Mercy Corps, a leading global humanitarian and development organization, on Friday signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with LAPO Microfinance Bank Limited to make credit facilities accessible to 90,000 low-income households, comprising smallholder farmers and microenterprises, in the Northeast states of Borno, Adamawa, Yobe and Gombe.
The Country Director, Mercy Corps Nigeria, Mr Ndubisi Anyanwu, while speaking at the signing ceremony in Abuja noted that the partnership with LAPO contributes to Mercy Corps strategic objectives of improving market systems development through community facilitation and private sector partnerships.
“The partnership will avail essential financial services and products to over 500,000 farmers in Adamawa, Borno, Gombe and Yobe states”.
Anyanwu explained that the partnership is part of its financial inclusion strategies to reduce the population of adults who are excluded from formal financial services, and continue to build resilience in fragile communities within the country.
“This partnership is a strategic way of responding to the well-documented challenges of poor farmers and producer households in accessing finance in Northeast Nigeria, where ongoing conflict and insecurity have worsened the already weak financial inclusion of poor farmers and vulnerable people, particularly women, young people, internally displaced persons, and people living with disabilities”. He added.
Managing Director, LAPO Microfinance Bank Limited, Cynthia Ikponmwosa noted that the partnership with Mercy Corps will further deepen the reach of the financial institution’s 30 years mandate of effectively bridging the social and economic gaps in Nigeria, especially for members of low-income households who are often most vulnerable and impacted during crisis situations.
“Mercy Corps’ partnership with LAPO MfB demonstrates a shared vision and commitment to revitalization of over 90,000 impacted families,”
Chief of Party of the Feed the Future Nigeria Rural Resilience Activity, Margarita Aswani on her part noted that “when like-minded partners come together, the real winners are the communities that we serve.
“We hope to learn from LAPO’s extensive experience in microcredit for vulnerable households and support our communities in North East Nigeria to grow their savings and their businesses, making them resilient against future shocks.”
The LAPO-Mercy Corps partnership will focus on interventions in the financial services sector that will create and institutionalize a market-based relationship between financial service providers, technical extension and business advisory service providers, smallholder farmers, microenterprises and small- to medium-enterprises, as well as agricultural inputs and output lead firms and key agribusiness stakeholders.
These interventions will be designed to increase access to and use of appropriate financial services, particularly credit, savings, insurance, financial education, and payment platforms for increasing enterprise productivity and household income for microenterprises and smallholder farmers in maize, rice, cowpea, groundnuts, and small ruminant value-chains, within the implementation states of the Rural Resilience Activity.