Cooperative Bank of South Sudan has tapped the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in what experts are calling one of the most ambitious attempts yet to bring modern finance into the country’s rural economy.
The deal, part of the multi-donor Rural Enterprise and Agricultural Development project, aims to pull thousands of small farmers, women entrepreneurs and youth-run agribusinesses into the formal financial system—many of them for the first time.
At the signing ceremony in Juba, Caroline Mwongera, the country director for the UN’s International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), termed the deal a turning point.
“This agreement represents a transformational step in strengthening South Sudan’s rural financial systems,” she said, adding that the project will use credit, cooperative development and financial literacy as tools for long-term rural transformation.
Backed by a $20 million (Sh2.6 trillion) IFAD grant and additional contributions from the South Sudanese government, UNDP, Cooperative Bank and local communities, this brings the total funding to more than $25 million (Sh3.3 trillion).
The initiative aims to reach 162,000 people across seven counties, with half expected to be women and 70 percent youth.
Officials say the structure of the project reflects the realities of South Sudan’s farm economy, where many farmers still rely on informal savings groups, handwritten lending records and unstructured markets.
