Projects & Activities

Facilitating the growth and long-term sustainability of the retail financial service providers, so that they can reach an increasing number of the poor and low-income people.

INFUSE activities enhance the micro level by providing support to financial service providers by means of the Fund for Inclusive Finance (FIF) to increase access to financial services for the poor and low income populations at community level.  Financial service providers can apply for grants, loan funds, technical assistance and training to enable them to increase outreach and ensure sustainability within a competitive environment. Crucially, such measures will promote the extension of services including savings and credit, microinsurance, money transfer and remittances to low-income populations.
 

Micro-level Output and Activities:

• Grants for technical assistance and training, and loans provided to the local non-governmental organisation microfinance institutions in Timor-Leste, such as Tuba RaiMetin and MorisRasik;
• Support to the Credit Union Foundation of Australia and the National Directorate of Cooperatives to formulate a long-term plan to strengthen the credit union movement;
• Facilitation of a 5-year partnership, with co-funding from the UNCDF MicroLead Programme, to provide technical assistance and capacity building from BASIX, a leading microfinance institutions in India, to Tuba RaiMetin;
• Sponsorship of staff of the microfinance institutions to attend annual international training events including the Boulder Microfinance training in Turin and the Academy for Microfinance Development in Asia (AMiDA) in Indonesia.
   

Establishment of a financial business support infrastructure in Timor-Leste. 

INFUSE is enhancing the meso-level by supporting the establishment and start up phase of a financial business support infrastructure in Timor-Leste. This support, allocated from the Fund for Inclusive Finance (FIF), will be provided to targeted institutions and professional associations of financial service providers as well as providers of business services to financial service providers, including private companies, private, public and professional institutes, universities, and consultants focused in areas such as adult literacy, training, auditing, Internet Communications Technology (ICT) etc.

Meso-level Output and Activities:
Procurement of technical assistance and funding to support the development of a long-term financial literacy/education programme as there is a demand by micro rinance institutions for financial education of clients in order to:

• enable them to better understand a range of products and services;
• effectively manage their own finances; and,
• empower them to make sound financial decisions.
   

Policy development and strategic coordination to enhance the legal and regulatory environment.

Working to enhance the financial policy environment in a cross-sectoral manner, INFUSE seeks to collaborate and coordinate with all stakeholders in the development of an inclusive financial sector. This may include various ministries, as well as NGOs, donors, or private sector players. Of significance are strong partnerships with the Ministry of Economy and Development, leader in the development of an enabling national policy and vision statement on inclusive finance, and the Banking Payments Authority, alongside whom legislation on an inclusive finance sector will be drafted as needed.

Macro-level: Output and Activities

• Sponsorship of staff of the Banking and Payments Authority (BPA) to attend the annual Boulder Microfinance training in Turin;
• Technical assistance support to the BPA in developing an enabling a framework for microfinance;
• Participation in the Government of Timor-Leste’s (GoTL) National Priorities Working Groups to highlight the importance of financial services in the development of Timor-Leste; and,
• Facilitation of an annual Advisory Group for Inclusive Finance, which is a forum for all stakeholders interested in the delivery of financial services.