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Project Information

The OPM team was contracted to advise Sida Nicaragua on the development of an exit strategy for the financial components (credit and investment funds) of the Fondeagro programme. Fondeagro is a project providing comprehensive support to coffee producers and livestock owners in the Departments of Matagalpa and Jinotega. As the programme is reaching its end date (December 2010), Sida wanted to design an exit strategy that could guarantee, as far as possible, the continuity of the services that the programme currently provides. The assignment included the following activities: (i) Analysis of goals, activities, and results of Fondeagro; (ii) a comprehensive analysis of the institutional framework of the microfinance sector in Nicaragua; (iii) analysis of the recommendations and best international practices in the field of rural microfinance, as well as the directives of Sida in this sector; and (iv) evaluation of the different possibilities to receive Fondeagro´s funds. These possibilities included public and private Nicaraguan institutions, as well as international agents. This task included the definition of evaluation criteria to assess the convenience of each institutional arrangement.