Intelligent Aid invites you to demonstrate your understanding and creativity in relation to microfinance and access to finance. Here are some examples of how our Microfinance Group has used its initiative to benefit local communities around the world – a series of collaborations to inspire your ideas.

Alleviating poverty in Moscow | Pioneering lending in rural communities | A template for giving | Real financial alternatives | Drafting skills benefit Haiti | Drafting skills benefit Haiti II | Aflatoun

Alleviating poverty in Moscow

Clifford Chance Moscow, working alongside longstanding client Citi and its Citi Foundation, is supporting INTEGRA, whose mission is to alleviate poverty, reduce unemployment and transform communities by providing training and loans in Central and Eastern Europe, and Russia. The vast majority of the entrepreneurs INTEGRA helps are socially vulnerable, typically heads of single-parent families, victims of domestic violence, migrants and people with physical disabilities. Our lawyers run master classes on legal topics for INTEGRA’s clients and the firm has provided INTEGRA with pro bono advice on standard documentation and other issues.

Pioneering lending in rural communities

Root Capital is one of a variety of development finance organisations that we support both from a leadership and a pro bono perspective. It has provided more than US$120 million in credit to 235 grassroots enterprises representing 360,000 farm households throughout Latin America and Africa.

Washington, DC partner Juan Morillo joined the Root Capital board in July 2008 and our lawyers in New York, Washington, DC and London have helped restructure the non-profit organisation’s Trade Credit loan templates and People Tree Loan, bringing greater uniformity to its lending activities.

"I offer strategic counselling on overall direction," says Juan, "and act as the focal point for the pro bono advice we provide to Root Capital."

"Clifford Chance helps Root Capital to provide financing to hundreds of thousands of farmers in the developing world," says Root Capital Founder and CEO William Foote, "by helping us to use industry leading loan documentation."

A template for giving

Since 2006, Clifford Chance has been working on a pro bono basis with longstanding client Citi to develop a user-friendly, multi-jurisdictional legal template for microfinance using standardised agreements and documentation.

Our global collaboration has produced a unique product that helps microfinance institutions (MFIs) in many countries to gain large-scale access to commercial bank financing, without constantly having to start the funding process from the beginning. It has so far involved Clifford Chance lawyers in Bucharest, London, Luxembourg, Madrid, New York, Paris and Washington DC. Since the template was settled, it has been translated into Spanish, French and Russian and used in about 30 countries – helping MFIs gain access to some US$200 million in commercial bank financing.

Real financial alternatives

Fair Finance is a not-for-profit social enterprise with three advice centres in East London. The organisation provides alternative sources of credit for the poor and marginalised who otherwise would be forced into the hands of loan sharks. It also provides microfinance loans of up to £10,000 to entrepreneurs unable to access mainstream finance for their business ideas. Finally, it provides debt and money advice and financial capability workshops for local residents.

Clifford Chance’s Finance practice has provided pro bono advice to the organisation since 2008. The firm is helping the organisation to expand its presence beyond its current three offices, by advising it on the corporate and financial aspects required to restructure.

Drafting skills benefit Haiti

Clifford Chance New York and London are advising Konsey Nasyonal Finansman Popilè (KNFP), a consortium for rural microfinance institutions in Haiti, about how microfinance legislation in other countries protects rural lenders and how KNFP might find ways of ensuring the continued success of its rural microfinance members.  This will help ensure that Haiti has an appropriate structure in place to allow Haitians to benefit from sustained microfinance, which will in turn help to alleviate poverty.

Drafting skills benefit Haiti II

A New York based team worked with Fondasyon Kole Zepòl, a Haitian microfinance institution ("Fonkoze"), in connection with the launch of zafen.org.  Zafen matches lenders and donors with low-income entrepreneurs, small businesses and sustainable social and economic development projects in need of affordable capital in Haiti, employing a "pier-to-project" model for microfinancing.  Zafen is a collaborative effort among Fonkoze, DePaul University, the Worldwide Vincentian Family and the Haitian Hometown Associations Resource Group. Fonkoze manages the program and administers the loans and donations made using its website platform.  The New York based team continues to work with Fonkoze on additional aspects related to, without limitation, the implementation of the program and the governance of the program as between the principal sponsors and additional parties that wish to participate.

Aflatoun

A team based in Amsterdam with assistance from Clifford Chance offices all over the world has been working with Aflatoun (www.alfatoun.org), an organisation that believes that children are powerful agents of social and economic change. By empowering children, Aflatoun aims to help to break the cycle of poverty. By focusing on financial literacy and capability, combined with access to financial products, the organisation's objective is to make children aware of their rights and responsibilities and equip them with the tools to put those rights into place. To support its work, Aflatoun asked Clifford Chance to research existing practices relating to child-friend banking in approximately 65 countries.