MUNAFA – SOCIAL MICROFINANCE
Freetown, Sierra Leone
DESCRIPTION
SOCIAL MICROFINANCE TO INCREASE RESILIENCE OF MARGINALIZED PEOPLE
This project aims to provide microfinance loans and training to beneficiaries in the slums of Freetown, the capital of Sierra Leone. These beneficiaries mainly derive their living from small informal activities in trade or service, such as the sale of shoes and clothing, drinks, oil, provisions, catering and other income generating activities.
After a first field market study by Entrepreneurs du Monde in April 2018, the programme was registered as a local company, named Munafa, in February 2019 and obtained its credit-only microfinance licence in October 2019. Munafa is engaged in improving in a sustainable manner the resilience and living conditions of marginalized families, by providing financial and socio-economic services tailored to their needs for the development of income generating activities. Munafa uses the individual responsibility group methodology promoted by Entrepreneurs du Monde, which has a strong social component, brings down all the barriers to access loans (no financial or physical guarantees, no joint liability collateral system) and promotes the strengthening of beneficiaries’ skills to develop their income-generating activities. In addition to microloans, Munafa provides socio-economic training and social support.
IMPACT / MAIN INDICATORS
• Number of branches: 5. New branch opened in 2023
• Number of saving accounts : 9 956
• Granted loan portfolio: 13 219 loans for a total amount of 1.536 M euros in 2023
• Socio-economic training: financial education, social and health awareness
• Training sessions: 6 654 in 2023
• Training of local teams in social microfinance methodology developed by Entrepreneurs du Monde.
• Operational viability as of end of 2023: 80%
LOCAL
PARTNER
Munafa – Sierra Leone
Selection
Duration
Project selected in September 2020
Multi-year project: 6 years
Financed
by
The Comgest Foundation
COMMENT FROM THE AMBASSADOR
Monique Erbeia
In 2023, MUNAFA continued to develop and was able to extend access to its services to a growing number of beneficiaries with the opening of its fifth branch and preparations for the opening of a sixth.
Thanks to activities linked to social performance management and the results of the first SPI4 social audit and internal satisfaction survey, an action plan incorporating an environmental dimension has been put in place over a three-year period.
Let’s focus on the SPI4 social audit which was implemented in 2023.
MUNAFA uses a form of social categorization based on the PPI (Progress out of Poverty Index). This questionnaire is administered for all odd-numbered loan cycles, to ensure that the microfinance institution (MFI) is reaching its target population and to monitor changes in beneficiaries’ living conditions from one loan cycle to the next. The questionnaires are then recorded in the BIJLI software via smartphones. In 2023, MUNAFA recorded 8,229 socio-economic profiles of its beneficiaries.
With the support of Entrepreneurs du Monde, MUNAFA compiled an annual social report using the beneficiary socio-economic profile sheets recorded in 2022. The analysis showed a major increase in the household income indicator, which rose by 92% between cycle 1 and 5, demonstrating the significant impact of MUNAFA’s financial services on improving beneficiaries’ living conditions. This in turn has had a positive impact on other indicators: improved household nutrition (43% more beneficiaries eat three meals a day between cycles 1 and 3), and an increase in the number of households with at least one insecticide-treated mosquito net (up 24% between cycles 1 and 5). A new social report will be produced in the first quarter of 2024, based on data collected in 2023.