The Social Inclusive Finance Technical Assistance (SIFTA) is the Technical Assistance programme that takes the baton from EasiTA, which ended on July 31, 2022. SIFTA does not aim to provide technical assistance only to microfinance institutions but to a vast audience of social economy actors like social enterprise finance providers, business incubators, or business accelerators interested in expanding services to financial support.
Differently from EaSI TA, SIFTA is a project led by the European Investment Bank’s Invest EU Advisory HUB, and it provides a broad range of services for microfinance and Social Enterprises finance providers like:
- Workshops to exchange practices and tools among microfinance and social enterprise finance providers.
- Analytical support provides general guidance on how to apply for financing
- Services tailored to specific needs of beneficiaries (who need to send a request):
- Targeted capacity building and technical assistance services through a consortium of service providers consisting of Frankfurt School of Finance & Management GmbH, together with the European Microfinance Network and the Microfinance Centre:
- Tailored training to provide knowledge and skills to the staff working at MF/SE providers targeting areas of improvement.
- Investment readiness training to prepare providers for taking on investments, loans, grants, or guarantees under InvestEU
- Training/coaching on the implementation of the Code to train Microfinance providers on the implementation of the European Code of Good Conduct for Microcredit Provision (the Code)
- Analytical support provides general guidance on how to apply for financing
- Peer-to-peer training and study visits to learn from experiences and practices of other microfinance/social enterprise finance providers
- Portfolio analysis and pipeline building to support providers in building portfolios and evaluating associated risks.
- Rating, assessments, and code evaluation services: through a specialised service provider, Microfinanza Rating Srl:
- Institutional Assessments consist of a detailed analysis of an institution’s internal policies and procedures.
- Ratings are tailored for mature institutions that wish to obtain new financing, receive a comprehensive assessment of their risk profile and social impact, and enhance their international visibility.
- Evaluation of the implementation of the “European Code of Good Conduct for Microcredit Provision.”
- Impact assessments focus on measuring the impact that MF or SE providers have on the ends-clients.
Click here if you want more information about SIFTA or email sifta@eib.org.
