Here is how DID, with the help of experts recruited mainly from the Desjardins financial cooperatives and subsidiaries, helps developing countries:

• Develop base institutions;
• Organize them into networks;
• Introduce new financial products;
• Turn around crisis situations;
• Modernize operations;
• Draw up supervision strategies;
• Help draft legislation on savings and credit cooperatives;
• Provide training for various stakeholders involved in local finance.

In over twenty developing countries, DID supports the creation and consolidation of local cooperative financial institutions, based on the Desjardins financial cooperative model. These financial cooperatives, owned by the communities they serve, today are recognized as pillars of local development, because they protect small savings deposits and make financial resources available to families and entrepreneurs, while introducing the principles (sometimes surprising!) of democratic management.

These institutions supported by DID constitute a community asset, in addition to strengthening local leadership, democracy and individual autonomy. They serve over 3 million families and entrepreneurs, mobilize nearly CAN $800 in savings and provide loans worth CAN $700. These are enormous sums of money considering income in the targeted communities and the fact that the average loan in Africa is around CAN $700.

Since its creation, DID has worked in close collaboration with the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA). DID also carries out mandates for the World Bank, the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), the African Development Bank (AfDB) and other multilateral organizations. In addition, a number of mandates are partly or entirely financed directly by the partner-beneficiary.

This is how, every day, DID lives and delivers the Desjardins cooperative difference.

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