VisionFund International Brings Financial Inclusion to Refugees in West Nile Settlements

VisionFund International (VisionFund), the mission-focused microfinance subsidiary of children's charity World Vision, today announces that VisionFund Uganda is the first microfinance organisation to have established a branch in Moyo to serve the Palorinya refugee settlement, a remote part of Uganda home to over 121,000 refugees and over 48,000 Ugandan nationals. VisionFund plans to bring financial services to the refugees at scale and will open a further three branches in 2020 with the  second branch planned in the coming months in Yumbe district to serve both Yumbe town as well as the Bidibidi settlement, one of the largest refugee settlements in the world, home to over 230,000 refugees.

Working with World Vision savings groups, VisionFund Uganda provides financial literacy training and loans to savings groups in Palorinya – mainly comprised of women from both the refugee and host communities - in order to enable savings group members to take loans to grow their small businesses and generate an income to support their families.