PlaNet Finance, an implementing agency for the EU-funded project “Supporting Financial Access via Cooperative Upgrading and Enterprise and Farm Development in Kayin State”, said it has turned over equipment and materials to its partner organisations as part of the implementation of the project.
A total of 14 laptop computers were provided to partner institutions. Four motorcycles to be used by village mobilisers and field staff of the local NGO Community Development Association were also turned over.
Five additional motorcycles will be provided to the Kayin State Department of Cooperatives and the Union of Cooperative Syndicate (UCS), and will be turned over after the upcoming Thingyan festival in mid-April.
PlaNet Finance said the project will establish two savings and credit cooperatives to expand financial inclusion to at least 2,000 households in 35 villages in Hlaingbwe township where currently no financial service provider operates.
It added that the project will also support the members of the cooperatives to undertake new or enhanced farm or enterprise activities that will generate increased income for them.
The cooperatives will provide credit for their members to invest in these new income-generating activities as well as a safe place to save in order to increase income and build wealth in this post-conflict area of Myanmar.
The 3-year project’s budget is €965,509 (K1.25 billion), of which the European Union has provided 82 percent with the remainder being provided by Agence Française de Développement (AFD), the French bilateral development agency.
