Oikocredit and Solidaridad sign new partnership to strengthen community development

Amersfoort, the Netherlands – Social impact investor Oikocredit and global civil society organisation Solidaridad have signed a new partnership aimed at helping build resilient communities among low-income smallholder farmers in the Global South.

Under their new memorandum of understanding, Oikocredit and Solidaridad are joining forces to seek opportunities and raise funds to expand their collaboration begun earlier in 2023 in Guatemala on unlocking capital for underserved small and growing enterprises and supporting climate-smart business models and access to climate finance. The partners will combine strengths in countries where they work to develop local community support projects and programmes using pooled resources augmented with external joint financing.

Solidaridad’s contribution will draw on their successes in micro, small and medium enterprise development, collaboration and engagement with cooperatives and farmer communities, innovative knowledge and skills transfer, provision of inclusive services to small-scale producers and entrepreneurs, and promotion of market connections and transparent business models. 

Oikocredit will contribute direct debt and equity financing, linkages to inclusive financial service providers, and support for environmental, social and governance performance. 

Solidaridad and Oikocredit will together develop a shared strategy to define objectives, working areas and joint activities. Under current discussion are an expansion of their partnership in Guatemala and new collaborative community support activities in sub-Saharan Africa. Their initial commitment is to work together until the end of 2026.

Heske Verburg, Managing Director, Solidaridad Europe, said: “We believe this partnership with Oikocredit will help create better financing structures for critical SMEs working in supply chains with vulnerable smallholder farmers. This will ensure that they all have the resources needed to work towards climate-smart agriculture and entrepreneurial incomes.”

Mirjam ‘t Lam, Managing Director, Oikocredit, said: “This partnership with Solidaridad is a tangible testament to the current fruitful collaboration between us. Bringing together the strengths, networks and expertise of our two organisations offers tremendous potential to improve livelihoods of farmers and help them, their families and communities build resilience, and thus enhance our work for global justice and sustainability.”

About Solidaridad

Solidaridad is an international civil society organisation with over 50 years of experience in developing solutions to make communities more resilient and create more sustainable supply chains. Its almost 1,000 diverse staff work in more than 40 countries with a deep knowledge of local contexts.

Solidaridad works throughout the entire value chain to make sustainability the norm. Their innovative solutions support the transition to an inclusive economy that provides sustainable livelihoods with fair and profitable business opportunities. This includes decent working conditions, a fair living wage and production in balance with nature, so that all people can thrive now and for generations to come.

For more information, visit www.solidaridadnetwork.org.

About Oikocredit

Social impact investor and worldwide cooperative Oikocredit has nearly five decades of experience funding organisations active in financial inclusion, agriculture and renewable energy.

Oikocredit’s loans, equity investments and capacity building aim to enable people on low incomes in Africa, Asia and Latin America to improve their living standards sustainably.

Oikocredit finances more than 500 partners, with total outstanding capital of € 981.1 million (at June 2023). For more information, visit www.oikocredit.coop.

-Ends-

Note for editors

For more information or to request an interview, please contact: Viviana Cordero, Communications Business Partner, Oikocredit International, telephone: +31 33 422 4040, email: vcordero@oikocredit.org.