Microfinance Investment Support Facility for Afghanistan

Current phase: 2003-2011
Disbursed to date: $107.85 million

The Microfinance Investment Support Facility for Afghanistan (MISFA) is a national microcredit and microfinance program. The Government of Afghanistan launched MISFA in June 2003 as a multi-donor wholesale facility to build the country’s microfinance sector.

MISFA is one of the world’s largest microfinance programs. It funds 16 local microfinance institutions (MFIs) that, in turn, provide small loans and financial services to poor Afghans—people who would otherwise be denied access to them. Now, often for the first time, poor Afghans are able to obtain small loans from MISFA-funded institutions to better support themselves and their families.

Results

As of June 2009, there were more than 440,000 active clients—the majority of them women—obtaining small loans and financial services across 26 provinces in Afghanistan. Most clients are using loans provided by their local MFIs to invest in their own livelihoods, such as starting small retail businesses or investing in agriculture or livestock.