Financial Access for Investing in the Development of Afghanistan (FAIDA)

Project Dates: February 2011 - February 2017
Supporting and training micro-, small-, and medium-sized enterprises in Afghanistan, which comprise 80 percent of the labor force, has strengthened the country’s financial sector.

Representing 38 percent of Afghanistan’s gross domestic product and 80 percent of the labor force, micro-, small-, and medium-sized agricultural enterprises (MSMEs) have recently become an important driver of the country’s economy. USAID’s Financial Access for Investing in the Development of Afghanistan (FAIDA) project focused on building the capacity of MSMEs to expand their production, upgrade their equipment, and hire more employees. Working with Afghan financial institutions, the project developed innovative financial products and services to build a stronger enabling environment for these businesses. The project also focused on creating a network to support mobile money and branchless banking, with an emphasis on providing women access to these services.