OVERVIEW

USAID’s Financial Access for Investing in the Development of Afghanistan (FAIDA) program helps the Afghan government and the private sector develop a robust financial sector capable to provide financial services, as well as to develop a financial legal framework and market infrastructure that will foster economic growth and generate employment opportunities. Moreover, this program directly assists the Afghan women entrepreneurs by providing targeted business development, training, and mobile money support.

CURRENT ACTIVITIES

• Enterprises: Provides tailored financial solutions by creating access to capital and increasing competitiveness. Links lenders to businesses who are in need for financing, (e.g. agricultural sector and remote areas).
• Banking Capacity: Builds the human and organizational capacity of Afghanistan’s financing sector, including banks.
• Regulatory: Creates environment for lending institutions as well as borrowers to help reduce risk and increase predictability. Develops new or updated regulations for the financial sector and key institutions.
• Better Than Cash: Provides technical assistance to Afghanistan’s cellular network operators to introduce new and innovative products and services and expand the use of mobile money.
• Gender Mainstreaming Unit: Ensures that women are integrated into Afghanistan’s financial sector, have access to financing services, and afforded opportunities for economic and professional growth.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS

• Created 5,983 jobs and benefitted 75,938 families from financing arranged.
• Provided $52.2 million in private sector loans to 5,802 businesses (including $3.2 million to 1,756 female-owned or operated businesses).
• Enhanced visibility, advocacy and financial inclusion by organizing two national Access to Finance (A2F) Exhibitions in Kabul, as well as 41 A2F Business-to-Banks Roundtables in provinces across Afghanistan for 3,148 businesses, of which 889 were female-owned/operated businesses.
• Supported the Chambers of Commerce of Kabul, Balkh and Herat in organizing three “India-Afghanistan Innovative Partnership Fairs” generating 50 business ideas and potential deals worth $32 million.
• Supported the Afghanistan Renewable Energy Union and the Ministry of Energy and Water in organizing a two-day Afghanistan-India Renewable Energy Summit in New Delhi, India, in 2015, with more than 150 participants from Indian renewable energy businesses and financial institutions and 31 participants from Afghan enterprises with a potential deal of over $68 million.
• Assisted the Afghanistan Microfinance Association (AMA) in training 992 Women entrepreneurs to develop 440 loan concept notes with a total value of $417,938.
• Partnered with the American University of Afghanistan (AUAF) and the International Center for Afghan Women’s Economic Development (ICAWED) to launch the Women in Business Management Internship program. This program provided 60 recent female university graduates with various internship opportunities in the financial sector.
• Helped form the Afghanistan Insurance Personnel Association (AIPA) that serves as the voice of the nation’s insurance sector, trains insurance professionals and generates greater awareness about the insurance sector.