The Microfinance Investment Support Facility for Afghanistan (MISFA) is a national microcredit and microfinance program, which provides small loans to low-income earners to start new businesses.

The Government of Afghanistan launched this program in June 2003. It allows the Afghan government and international donors to channel technical assistance and funding to individuals.

This program is:

• Offering, often for the first time, impoverished Afghans small loans to better support themselves and their families.
• Funding local microfinance institutions (MFIs) to provide small loans and financial services to Afghans who did not have access to this kind of financial assistance before.

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.

The MIFSA program has achieved significant results to date:

• It has provided small loans and services to almost 430,000 impoverished people, of whom 60 percent are women, across 26 provinces in Afghanistan.
• More than 1.5 million loans have been disbursed.

• Microfinance Investment Support Facility for Afghanistan