- About Us
The Association for Microfinance Institutions Kenya (AMFI-K) is a member-based umbrella network for microfinance businesses and microfinance service providers established and registered under the societies Act since 1999. The overarching goal of AMFI-K is to spearhead and promote a healthy and vibrant financial system in Kenya that enhances access to financial services and promote inclusion of the bottom of the pyramid.
Access to financial services of the bottom of the pyramid is critical in enabling the poor and low-income households to access essential basic needs such as education, healthcare services, decent housing, clean water and energy thus promoting human dignity, equity and security.
Microfinance service sector has therefore become a critical component in achieving the national social-economic development agenda and the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals numbers; 1, 3, 4, 5,10,11, 13 &17 that is;
- End to Poverty
- Ensure Healthy Livelihoods
- Inclusive and equitable education
- Reduced inequalities
- Reduced inequalities
- Gender equality and empowering of women and girls.
- Climate Action
- Partnership for Goals
As detailed, microfinance services supports low-income households to mobilize resources necessary to invest in essential services that transform livelihoods while also improving the coverage, quality of services that advance financial inclusion
Our Mission
To champion the aspirations of microfinance institutions through advocacy, capacity building, linkages and research
Our Vision
To be the network of choice that promotes a conducive environment for microfinance providers in Kenya.
Our Values
In pursuit of our vision and mission, AMFI-K is anchored on the following core values
Leadership
Diversity and Inclusivity
Integrity and Ethics
Transparency and Accountability
Knowledge sharing
Our Mandate
Our mandate and operations are guided and anchored on a strategic plan that provides direction and outlines goals of the Association. This plan provides the roadmap towards both, membership growth, financial and operational self-sustainability of both the members and the secretariat.
The four core pillars of our core mandate are;
Policy Advocacy
The objective of this pillar is to enhance collective action by its members and other stakeholders for an enabling policy and regulatory environment for the microfinance industry in Kenya. In order to deliver this mandate, this strategy envisages that AMFI’s institutional capacity for advocacy and lobbying will be enhanced to effectively support the development of an enabling environment for MFIs to operate and increase their growth and outreach to low-income people.
Capacity Building
The objective of this pillar is to strengthen the capacity of MFIs in delivering appropriate and sustainable microfinance services to low income people, through organization and coordination of workshops and training courses and effective management information systems, with a view to enhance members’ capacity to manage and operate MFIs professionally. To achieve this, AMFI will seek to conduct regular assessment of members’ capacity building needs and organize demand-driven training workshops and seminars on thematic areas and develop content specifically tailored to respond to members’ needs.
Networking and Linkages
The objective of this pillar is to provide regular platforms for her members to enhance effective collaboration among themselves and with other development actors and relevant stakeholders. AMFI will seek to harness the wealth of experience and expertise among its membership and relationships with regional and international organization operating in the microfinance space to provide a platform for peer to peer learning and to improve information sharing and dissemination.
Research and Knowledge Management
The objective of this pillar is to provide members with timely and quality research and information that help underpin the policy and advocacy agenda, and facilitate industry product design and decision-making processes. This is an area where immediate value can be created by initiating and promoting interest in research on microfinance, to enhance the understanding of the needs of microfinance industry, support informed policy and regulatory reform, product development and replication, and ultimately improve financial access for the low-income population in Kenya. An online resource center will be established to ensure that information on the microfinance industry is systematically generated, stored, analyzed, and disseminated to ensure continuous learning and the development of innovative, high impact financial inclusion policies.
Sustainability
The objective of this pillar is to achieve both financial and operational sustainability of the association. To achieve this AMFI members have identified sustainable sources of income which include and not limited to members subscriptions, sale of periodical publications, trainings and other members supported activities.
