Organisation

ILCU Foundation / ILCUF

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Irish League of Credit Unions International Development Foundation
Organisation general information
Organisation name: 
Irish League of Credit Unions International Development Foundation
Founding year: 
1980
Country: 
Ireland
Total number of staff: 
9
Resources dedicated to microfinance: 
4
Percentage of microfinance activities: 
Between 70 and 100%
Type of organisation: 
Non profit
 
NGO, -
Organisation's contact person
Contact person: 
Mr. Alan Moore
Address: 
33-41 Lower Mount Street

Dublin 2
Ireland
Phone: 
+353 (1) 614 6930
Organisation summary
Mission: 

The mission of the ILCU Foundation is to alleviate poverty in developing countries by supporting credit unions, their representative bodies and other co-operative type organisations as a means for socio-economic development through the provision of financial and technical assistance.

Type of intervention: 
  • Subsidies / donations in money
  • Subsidies in staff time (e.g. technical assistance/capacity building, evaluation)
  • Subsidies in staff time (e.g. research / information dissemination)
  • Subsidies in staff time (e.g. policy advice / development / lobby)
  • Subsidies in staff time (e.g. networking/ donor / coordination)
Countries of intervention: 
Africa
Europe
Areas of intervention: 
  • Macro level: Prudential regulation, Supervision, Supporting networks and associations, Strengthening national/regional microfinance support sector, Capacity building (focused on all MFIs)
  • Intermediate level: Community-based finance solutions, Rural finance, Value chain development, Business development services, Social impact/performance, Environmental microfinance, Gender
  • Micro level: Financial product development and innovation, Performance (financial and social), Ratings and external audits, MFI operations (e.g. general management, governance, finance and accounting, staff training, recuiting), Strategic planning, Marketing, Graduation of MFIs, Risk management, Management information systems, MFI operations (e.g. general management, governance, finance and accounting, staff training recruiting)
  • Other themes: Impact and performances studies, Sector mapping, Evaluation
Main competences: 

The Irish credit union movement is regarded as one of the most successful in the world. The movement has almost 371 credit unions in operation, comprising of nearly 3.6 million members. There are over 7,000 active volunteers and over 4,000 people employed. Through our work, ILCUF is sharing the success of the Irish credit union movement with similar type movements in low-income and developing countries.

ILCUF works to improve financial inclusion to benefit marginalized communities and reduce poverty by offering significant-scale technical assistance to credit union movements. ILCUF strengthens the role of credit unions and savings and credit cooperatives in low income and developing countries through sharing the expertise and experience of the Irish credit union movement. ILCUF provides both financial and technical assistance to the partner countries to help develop and/or strengthen their movement to ensure long-term sustainability. Our aim is to support credit unions and similar type cooperative organisations to provide savings and credit facilities, thereby encouraging empowerment and education. ILCUF is providing support to countries in Eastern Europea, Africa and Central America, working with the partner movements at national, regional and local level.

Characteristics of ILCUF:

  • Capacity building financial cooperative movements to the point of national scale and sustainability, including apex organisations, to support disadvantaged society members.
  • Delivery of technical support and training on a broad range of financial cooperative issues.
  • Maximising aid effectiveness through knowledge management and exchange programs and the enhancements of local capabilities to deliver technical expertise and develop infrastructure
  • Keeping a poverty focus through our project/partner selection policy and operational tools such as social performance management to ensure the social agenda of the credit union model is maintained.
Please indicate any innovations in your microfinance program planned for the coming year: 

ILCUF, in consortium with The Canadian Co-operative Association (CCA) and the African Confederation of Saving and Credit Co-operative Associations (ACOSCCA) obtained four year funding from the International Fund for Agricultural Development, to enable credit unions in Ethiopia, Tanzania and Malawi to improve their rural financial outreach through technological innovations such as mobile banking for co-operatives, youth savings and insurance.

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