Local Development Partners

Lendwithcare works with local development partners to provide loans to low-income entrepreneurs who are excluded or under-served by formal financial institutions. In order to remain sustainable, and cover the high cost of providing small loans to low-income customers, most Lendwithcare partners charge interest on the loans they provide. The interest rates charged by each partner are included on their individual partner pages below. More information is also available here.

While low-income entrepreneurs in most instances will pay interest to Lendwithcare's local partners, Lendwithcare itself does not receive any interest on loans made via the platform. This also applies to any individual making a loan through Lendwithcare.

All Lendwithcare partners have agreed to adopt and implement a code of conduct aimed at fostering transparency and protecting customers. This includes ensuring customers fully understand the cost of borrowing and have the capacity to repay their loans. Lendwithcare's goal is to identify and work with experienced local microfinance organisations to provide effective, long term, and sustainable financial and non-financial services to low-income people.

Akhuwat, Pakistan

Borvor, Cambodia

Cooperativa Santa Anita, Ecuador

Deki, Togo

Doselva, Nicaragua

ElleSolaire, Senegal

FairClimateFund (FCF), Rwanda and India

First Consolidated Cooperative along Tañon Seaboards (FCCT), Philippines

Fundación de Apoyo Comunitario y Social del Ecuador (FACES), Ecuador

Fundación Paraguaya de Cooperación y Desarrollo, Paraguay

Instituto de Desarollo Regional "Cesar Vallejo" (IDERCV), Peru

LAMAC, Philippines

MicroLoan Foundation, Zambia

MicroLoan Foundation, Malawi

Modern Farming Technologies (MFT), Malawi

Reef Finance, The Palestinian Territories

Small Enterprise Development, Thailand

SolarAid, Zambia and Malawi

Thanh Hoa Microfinance Institution, Vietnam

U&I Microfinance Bank, Kenya

Umutanguha, Rwanda

There are a number of factors we take into consideration when choosing local development partners. We have developed eligibility criteria for prospective microfinance institutions (MFIs) that wish to partner with Lendwithcare. Some of these criteria are essential (marked with E) and must be met by an MFI in order for it to be considered for partnership, while other criteria are more flexible (marked with F).

The specific criteria is as follows:

• Possess a strong social development mission (E)
• Be working for at least three years in microfinance or relevant development activities (E)
• Not have PAR 30 of more than 10% (E for financial service providers)
• Has an Operational Self Sufficiency (OSS) ratio of more than 90% as per the last financial statement (E for financial service providers)
• Be able to produce audited financial statements for the past three years (E)
• Be legally permitted to provide microfinance services and/or undertake development activities within the country of operation (E)
• Have a bank account and be legally permitted to use this account to receive and remit loan funds from overseas on a monthly basis (E)
• Does not engage in or support any activities considered illegal under domestic legislation (E)
• Has the ability to track/ringfence Lendwithcare funds to ensure they are being used for the purposes of the partnership (E)
• Adhere to CARE's Code of Conduct in Microfinance (E)
• Scores positively on the social assessment conducted by Lendwithcare (E)
• Has an organisational policy on safeguarding that has an explicit statement of zero-tolerance for SEA or is willing to comply with CARE’s Safeguarding policy (E)
• Has access to internet with reasonable connectivity (E)
• Has more than 500 active borrowers and/or a significant outreach among low-income and excluded communities (F)
• Has taken at least one loan from an external agency on which it has been making regular repayments or has received institutional funding and successfully implemented the project (F)
• During the last three years, has had an external assessment that demonstrates compliance with internationally agreed standards of good governance and introduces social and environmental criteria, such as a Social Audit (SPI4), a rating from a rating agency specialising in inclusive finance, a B Corp certification, or a Fairtrade certification (F).
• Be able to post information and updates in English (F)

Our priority is to partner with organisations that have focus on improving the lives of poor people. In addition to undertaking desk research and consulting with our local CARE country offices who have many years of experience of delivering humanitarian and development projects (including microfinance) within country, we always undertake in-country due diligence field visits lasting between 1-2 weeks. These visits carefully examine the operational policies and procedures of MFIs and this includes discussions with staff and clients. Once a partnership is established we request partners to submit quarterly reporting data on a range of financial and social indicators and we undertake further in-country visits at least once every 12 months to ensure that eligibility criteria continues to be met. If a local partner no longer meets the eligibility criteria, Lendwithcare may suspend or cease partnership, but only after discussions and investigations as to the causes.

You can find more information on each of our partners and the interest rates charged by clicking on the links to our partners above.