The financial company FPM SA represented by its Deputy General Manager, Mr. Patrick NKONGO MAMBU signed a financing agreement on Friday May 13, 2002, with the Cooperative of Agricultural Savings and Credit of Women Farmers (CECAFEP) represented by the Chairperson of the Board of Directors, Ms. Vasimire TSIKO Stella and the Manager, Ms. Baraka KYAVEREKI BLESSING. The official ceremony took place at the headquarters of CECAFEP in Butembo in the province of North Kivu. Concerned about its mission to support the construction and development of an inclusive, solid and responsible financial system through the refinancing of financial institutions that target SMEs and low-income people, FPM SA granted financial support to the COOPEC CECACEP to strengthen the financing of agricultural and peasant women in its areas of intervention, in the territories of Lubero and Béni. Indeed, women farmers actively contribute to economic development by maintaining agricultural activity in an area where the climate and soil fertility offer opportunities for several agricultural crops.

This is notwithstanding the many difficulties faced by economic operators in this province of the DRC. The resilience shown by the microfinance institution CECAFEP, which operates in areas facing various security challenges, contributes to improving the level of financial inclusion of women farmers in these areas, the main targets of the COOPEC, and other members who wish to join the COOPEC. The funding granted by the FPM SA in the medium term has the primary objective of contributing to the empowerment of peasant women through access to credit and to the training offered by CECAFEP through its network of peasant organizations that are members of LOFEPACO. It also serves to increase the COOPEC’s loan portfolio with a longer maturity, which is necessary to improve the repayment capacity of women farmers whose loan repayment is still linked to the cultural cycle.