The Haiti Integrated Financing for Value Chain and Enterprise (HIFIVE) project builds on USAID’s longstanding support to the financial sector to increase the supply of financial products and services to underserved households and micro-, small-, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) in USAID-supported areas and value chains. On a smaller scale, HIFIVE had also offered business development services to MSMEs in U.S. Government-supported value chains to increase their capacity to access credit.

 

In June 2012, to heighten its contribution to improving the performance of the agricultural sector, HIFIVE increased support to financial institutions catering to MSMEs and households in Feed the Future-supported agricultural value chains.

 

As of June 2014, HIFIVE is focusing its activities mainly on increasing the capacity of financial institutions to use information communication technology (ICT), particularly mobile money, to further extend their reach to underserved households and businesses.

 

HIFIVE aims to: (1) Support rural and agricultural value chain access to credit and other financial products and services, and (2) Support the use of ICT primarily mobile money, to promote financial inclusion.

 

HIFIVE ‘s support is principally channeled through a $22.5 million grant fund that provides incentives for financial institutions to enter new markets or broaden their reach through technical assistance, training, and the use of ICT to reinforce their ability to provide new products while reducing their costs. For example, HIFIVE has managed the Haiti Mobile Money Initiative, financed by USAID and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, which has contributed to the rapid launch of mobile money. 

 

HIFIVE is now supporting the scale up of mobile money by providing assistance to microfinance institutions, non-governmental organizations, and private sector partners to use mobile money technology to provide financial services to underserved households and enterprises. The assistance is laying the groundwork throughout the economy to reduce cash transactions and contribute to financial inclusion.

 

• As of March 2014, HIFIVE has provided more than $20 million in grants and technical assistance to 63 financial institutions to strengthen their capacity to supply basic financial services in underserved areas.
• HIFIVE’s activities directly contributed to 47,162 microenterprises—mainly smallholder farmers—accessing credit and 489 MSMEs in targeted value chains accessing business development services.
• HIFIVE has also contributed to the launch, and is now supporting, the scaling of mobile money in Haiti.  

Additional Information