UNCDF Microcredit is active in more than 35 countries, including Yemen.

Yemen, by far the poorest nation in the Middle East, has been working with the UNCDF (United Nations Capital Development Fund) Microfinance division for years and is now successfully instituting microcredit programs geared towards the creation of employment in the form of microenterprises.

The UNCDF first started working in Yemen in the 1980s, with a joint program between it, the government of Yemen, and the government of the Netherlands to increase the number of small businesses in the country. Shortly after launching this program, the UNCDF started a MicroStart operation in the country. Before this, Yemen had almost no microfinance institutions (MFIs) working within its borders. The MicroStart program brought in successful MFIs to help local organizations implement microfinance programs on their own, especially microcredit programs geared toward women.

The first Yemen-based MFI to result from this program was the Development Unit of Small-Scale Enterprise, which began operations in 1991 with 28 loans to microenterprises. By 1997, it had issued 768 loans with a total value of 362.8 million rials (the local currency). In 2002, there were approximately 310,000 microenterprises in Yemen, employing about 485,000 workers.

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Development Unit of Small-Scale Enterprises In Yemen

UNCDF Microcredit

UNCDF: Yemen

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