The Ugandan and South Sudanese NGO Rural Finance Initiative Limited (RUFI) has won the 2024 European Microfinance Award, which was instituted by the Luxembourg government in 2005.
The €100,000 award is a recognition of RUFI’s work over the last decade in advancing financial inclusion of refugees and forcibly displaced persons. The NGO began work in 2008 in South Sudan but was forced to relocate to Uganda in 2017 due to the South Sudanese Civil War. Four in five of RUFI’s staff are themselves forcibly displaced.
RUFI’s seeks to uplift the living standards of its clients by providing inclusive financial services to refugees, refugee-owned businesses, and host communities. It offers a suite of financial services, including group loans, individual loans, farmer loans, and green energy financing. Its REMEDY incubator program goes a step further by training and funding refugee businesses.
“This award is very important because this is the first time we have received something like this on an international platform,” Yengi Lokule, CEO of RUFI, told The Luxembourg Times.
The award ceremony was held at the European Investment Bank on Thursday night, with Grand Duchess Maria Teresa, who was also part of the jury that chose the winner, presenting the award. RUFI emerged victorious from a field of 49 applicants across 26 countries, impressing the jury with its innovative approach to empowering refugee populations.
Xavier Bettel, Luxembourg’s minister for development cooperation and humanitarian affairs, emphasised the award’s significance: “This year’s European Microfinance Award highlights an urgent need: advancing financial inclusion for refugees and forcibly displaced people. Through its extensive inclusive finance ecosystem, Luxembourg’s development cooperation is committed to breaking down barriers and building pathways to resilience, dignity and opportunity for those most affected.”
The Grand Duchess also highlighted the good work that had been accomplished by all the three finalists. “Their innovative approaches demonstrate the power of microfinance as an extraordinary tool to help displaced persons in their hardships,” she said.
The two other finalists included Al Majmoua, Lebanon’s largest microfinance institution. It offers various financial products to forcibly displaced persons, including nano-loans and business loans, complemented by training in financial literacy and entrepreneurship.
The other finalist was Palestine for Credit and Development (FATEN), which operates in the Palestinian territories and provides a range of services including emergency loans, startup loans for youth and women entrepreneurs, and clean energy loans.
The selection process involved an evaluation by financial inclusion experts, narrowing down the applicants to ten semi-finalists before the top three were presented to a grand jury for final assessment.
The European Microfinance Award, established in 2005 by Luxembourg’s foreign ministry is jointly organised with the Inclusive Finance Network Luxembourg (InFiNe) and the European Microfinance Platform (e-MFP), By Kapir Agwaral, uxebrigh Times
