The organizers explained that all Project activities have been implemented based on the principles of customer centricity, by placing the small farmers at the centre.  Through cooperation among the Albanian and the Japanese implementation team, the Project has successfully contributed to improvement of financial inclusion of rural smallholder families in Albania. The Project achieved this by developing new financial products and non‐financial services that flexibly respond to the needs of farmers.  This has been enabled by strengthening the capacity of the Savings and Credit Association, FED invest, to provide financial services in rural areas of the country.  Capacity development focus of the Project encompassed a wide-range of activities, from upgrading of the IT capacity of FED invest to staff training based on customer centric principles as well as delivery of financial and digital education for the farmers. The Project has been instrumental in developing ABA Centre and its digital platform ABA online, which is dedicated to meeting non-financial information and service needs of small farmers. The Project also extended support for purchasing agricultural inputs by small farmers during the period of COVID 19 pandemic in order to encourage their continued investment in agriculture.

Background of the FiAS (Financial Inclusion of Albanian Smallholders) Project

Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) has been supporting the enhancement of Financial Inclusion in Albania, through the implementation of the Technical Cooperation Project, “Smallholder Families’ Financial Inclusion Project in Albania”. The Project is implemented in cooperation with Ministry of Finance and Economy of Albania, and SCA FED invest.

The primary objective of the Project is to improve financial inclusion of rural smallholder families in Albania, by developing new financial and non-financial services and services that flexibly respond to the needs of farmers. ABA online is the ‘non-financial services’ developed with the support of the Project.

FED invest is the first pioneering microfinance institution established in Albania in 1992.  FED invest members include farmers, small-entrepreneurs, rural &peri-urban families excluded from financial services. FED invest is covering the whole territory of Albania, with 62 branches across the country, a strong rural presence in more than 2500 villages, now complemented with digital channels and digital services. As leader in providing affordable financial solutions to rural population, FED invest has a direct impact on the socio-economic development of Albania, with over 200 thousand loans and half a billion euros injected in the economy throughout its 30 years of existence.

Albanian economy is based on a large segment of farming and family-owned businesses and 45% of the population reside in rural areas. The rate of financial inclusion in Albania is low. Only 38% of people over fifteen years old own bank accounts at formal financial institutions, leaving many households without account at formal financial institution.

Given the above background and importance of the issue, the Government of Albania, through the Ministry of Finance & Economy, requested the Government of Japan to support a technical cooperation project addressing financial inclusion of rural smallholder in Albania by JICA, with a focus on development of FED invest’ s financial products and non-financial services. The Project has been working towards improving the livelihoods of 75 thousand small scale farmers through enhancing the capacity of FED invest and improving the services provided to them.

JICA is an Agency of the Government of Japan, responsible for implementing bilateral aid through Technical Cooperation, ODA (soft) Loans and Grant Aid. So far in the Republic of Albania, JICA has extended various projects in the fields of environment, private sector development, and health and tourism promotion.

**JICA Balkan Office covers 6 countries in the Balkans, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia, and Serbia.

*FED invest is a leading financial institution with social mission to provide services to rural and peri-urban population in Albania.

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