2017 Microenterprise Results Report

Agency for International Development (USAID) to submit a report detailing the implementation of microfinance and microenterprise development activities for the previous fiscal year. This report summarizes USAID's investments in microfinance and the development of microenterprise, addressing the 12 reporting requirements included in the MRAA. USAID has played a significant role in the development of microfinance, which has become a largely sustainable industry serving individuals, households, and microenterprises with a growing number of financial services. The 2017 Microfinance Barometer report shows that in 2016, 1,160 formal microfinance institutions (MFIs) served more than 132 million people around the globe. As MFIs have become increasingly self-sustaining, USAID has shifted its support to address other gaps that further advance financial inclusion and create employment. In Fiscal Year (FY) 2017, USAID programmed $318 million for microenterprise-development activities, reflecting the important role microenterprise-development plays in promoting self-reliance. More than half of USAID's microenterprise programming funds programs in the agricultural sector, and microenterprise investments in areas of private-sector productivity and counter-narcotics have increased from previous years. Technical areas reported for the first time in FY 2017 include workforce-development, conflict-mitigation, and disaster assistance. The report highlights USAID's investments in microfinance guarantees, which have leveraged an aggregate estimated amount of up to $936 million in private sector capital. In FY 2017, USAID issued 10 new guarantees with the potential to leverage $114 million in private capital in support of microenterprises. The Agency supports microenterprise through a wide array of implementing partners and funding mechanisms, including contracts, grants, cooperative agreements, and sub-awards. In addition to the DCA projects, 47 other USAID activities reported mobilizing an aggregate amount of more than $29 million in private resources in FY 2017, with an average leverage of more than 116 percent of USAID's contribution. The report also highlights USAID's efforts to support the very poor, with 22 activities valued at $47.9 million during FY 2017, of which $34.5 million, or 72 percent, of funding supported the very poor. USAID estimates that its microenterprise investment supported 4,889,988 very poor individuals in FY 2017. The report concludes that USAID's investments in microfinance and microenterprise development have made significant progress in promoting financial inclusion and creating employment opportunities. The Agency's efforts to support the very poor have also been successful, with a significant portion of funding allocated to support this vulnerable population.