Technical Assistance Programme to EIB’s Southern Neighbourhood Microfinance Facility

Project Overview

The EIB Technical Assistance (TA) Project promotes the responsible financial inclusion of the Southern Neighbourhood populations, in particular for vulnerable populations (youth, unemployed, migrants and refugees).

It aims to reduce poverty, encourage entrepreneurship and increase stability across the region. More specifically, it aspires to improve the quantity and quality of financial services offered to vulnerable beneficiaries who are currently unserved or underserved by the traditional financial sector.

The Project was implemented by a Consortium led by Frankfurt School and consists of two components:

Component 1

Provides support to Partner Financial Institutions (PFIs) to expand their financial services to more vulnerable groups, in particular migrants and refugees. Currently, Frankfurt School experts are implementing activities for three PFIs in Jordan, Lebanon and Tunisia to assist the development of a more efficient and digital lending process and the development of credit scoring models, ample capacity building for risk management, a client segmentation and assessment tool, and micro-insurance schemes for refugee finance amongst others.

Component 2

Focuses on vocational training, economic empowerment and technical support to vulnerable groups, such as the youth, unemployed, migrants and refugees. Here, Frankfurt School experts are developing and implementing a mentorship programme for loan officers and designing a business-coaching curriculum.