WASHINGTON - The World Council of CUs has received another federal grant for its Afghanistan development project, this one an $8.3-million gift from the Microfinance Support Facility for Afghanistan. The funds will be combined with a $19.4-million grant from US Agency for International Development to help develop a system of microfinancing, in an effort to wean the war-torn country off growing opium.
US AID has devoted $80 million to the development of a cooperative financial system in Afghanistan, with plans to create some 50 new CUs and 30 farmers' cooperatives over the next five years. WOCCU will use funds from the latest grant to establish five additional CUs in the Islamic financial model, which bars the charging of interest. WOCCU has been working in Afghanistan for two years and has helped built two fledgling credit unions, serving about 3,000 members in the northern part of the country.
