| Overview : United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF), together with the Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) - the Central Bank of Nepal is currently implementing the Support to Financial Inclusion in Nepal 2014-2018 through the Access to Finance (A2F) under broader umbrella of UNNATI. UNNATI – United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF), together with the Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) - the Central Bank of Nepal is currently implementing the Support to Financial Inclusion in Nepal 2014-2018 through the Access to Finance (A2F) under broader umbrella of UNNATI which works in the selected Value Chain i.e. Orthodox Tea, Ginger, Dairy and Large Cardamom in seven districts of Eastern Development Region (EDR): Ilam, Panchthar, Taplejung, Dhankuta, Tehra thum, Bhojpur and Sankhuwasabha. UNNATI – A2F provides financial and technical services to the Banks and Financial Institutions (BFIs) to effectively deliver the financial products and services to the client and has signed 13 Technical Assistance (TA) agreements with BFIs. In addition, UNNATI – A2F has recently launched a challenge fund. The project will have additional partnership with Banks and Financial Institutions that will comprise of commercial banks, microfinance institution, cooperatives and non-life insurance companies. With commercial banks interested in increasing agriculture portfolio through wholesale lending to cooperatives and Micro Finance Institutions (MFIs) as one of the option to increase their credit portfolio to rural areas, a need for the standardized cooperatives assessment and rating tool for the bank has been realized to increase its lending portfolio including in the agriculture sector. Therefore, UNNATI-A2F project plans to support banks in developing cooperative assessment and rating tool that can be used later by BFIs to rate the capacity of cooperatives and improve the performance of wholesale lending and increase agriculture portfolio. |
