What We Do – ILCU Foundation

We’re proud to say almost 140 credit unions from the Irish credit union movement donated over €450,000 to our work in 2022. In addition credit union members and the public donated over €34,000 via fundraising initiatives including the CU Challenge and Ukraine Support Fund. These generous donations enabled the Foundation to support our dedicated local partners to develop and strengthen their 193 credit unions with over 181,000 members in our three core countries – Ethiopia, Sierra Leone and The Gambia.

Donated by Irish Credit Unions

Credit Unions Supported

Members Included

Irish Credit Unions Who Donated

Highlights from the year include:

The new three-year Step-Up programme was launched and co-funded by the Foundation and Irish Aid. Step-Up will build upon the previous programme and seek to enable the credit union movement to develop its services and operations, grow its membership, and advance toward effective credit union supervision.
A Standard Rulebook for credit unions has been developed and gone through a validation workshop with credit union leaders and managers.
EasyBooks – a basic systems-based record keeping – has been introduced into three credit unions. We have collaborated closely with the Credit Union Association in Ghana, which has successfully utilised Easybooks for several years and adapted it for use in Sierra Leone.
The Amhara SACCO Federation, the first regional apex body for Ethiopia’s savings and cooperative credit movement, conducted its first AGM.
The Ethiopian Cooperative Commission (ECC) conducted pilot inspection exercises based on the new prudential directive; 56 SACCOs were inspected.
A small delegation from Ethiopia attended the Regulatory Roundtable to learn about regulatory and supervisory development from other African credit union movements.
Remote support was provided on a quarterly basis to the Compliance Officers in The Gambia, to strengthen their capacity, and a mentoring programme was put in place to provide technical support to ACCOSCA (African Confederation of Cooperative Savings and Credit Associations) staff throughout the year.
National Association Cooperative Credit Unions in The Gambia (NACCUG) held its first-ever stakeholder’s conference to raise awareness about credit unions and NACCUG’s work in The Gambia. The event brought together regulators and policymakers to discuss challenges and opportunities for the credit union sector.
An internal controls review of the NACCUG Soft platform is ongoing as part of our support to improve their IT systems.
Remote support is provided to the NACCUG Compliance Officers to build their capacity and strengthen their role.

€450,000+

the amount donated in 2021 from almost 140 Irish credit unions to support the Foundation’s work.

193

the number of credit unions in developing countries who have benefitted from support programmes through the Foundation’s work.

181,000+

credit union members in Ethiopia, Sierra Leone and The Gambia who are benefitting from our expertise.

€15,000+

donated by credit union staff/members and individuals in support of the CU Challenge.

€24,000+

donated by credit unions and Moore Ireland for Ukraine Support Fund to support humanitarian efforts and hte credit union movement.

€250,000+

the amount received from Irish Aid in 2022.

There are currently 1.7 billion people in the world without access to any form of financial services.

This means they have no means to securely save their money, no access to ethical loans, no financial education and as a result, are at risk of becoming indebted to high-interest loans.

Most of these people are living in low-income developing countries, where careful financial management is necessary to support the families and businesses in the communities they reside, to effectively prepare for, respond to and recover from livelihood shocks and stresses.

Access to basic financial products and services can transform a community. It can unlock opportunities for education, employment, entrepreneurship and can provide a safety net to manage their finances and absorb financial shock in times of crisis.

The Foundation plays an important and key role in educating people and assisting in the development of credit union movements internationally, providing safe and ethical financial solutions for communities and working towards the goal of achieving financial inclusion for all.

A Special Thank You To

Credit unions and their members, for their donations and continued support.
The Irish League of Credit Unions for bearing staff, fundraising and administrative costs. To the ILCU Board, management and staff, thank you for your continuous support, and for your help on various projects and aspects of our work.
The various Chapters that allowed us to make presentations at their respective meetings.
CUMA for allowing us to promote our work at their Autumn conference.
The corporates who generously supported our work: Moore Ireland, GreyGarde, RBK, Rooney Media and ECCU.
The Foundation acknowledges the funding received from Irish Aid.