What we do
ADA’s work consists of three complementary activities.
- Supporting local actors with technical assistance programmes delivered in Africa, Latin America and Asia.
- Financing impactful organisations by advising Luxembourg-based investment vehicles.
- Sharing the lessons learned with other development and impact finance stakeholders.
SUPPORT: TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE
ADA runs technical assistance programmes to strengthen local economic actors in Africa, Latin America and Asia. ADA experiments and innovates within these programmes to maximise their impact. Whenever possible, short-term test projects are run with potential new partners to test solutions for vulnerable people before implementing larger programmes. ADA currently runs the following technical assistance programmes:
Sustainable agriculture and forestry
ADA promotes sustainable land management that increases the economic resilience of local populations while preventing environmental degradation. To achieve this, ADA supports businesses and organisations in agricultural and forestry value chains to develop tailored services for smallholder farmers and foresters. These services will help farmers grow their business sustainably by increasing and diversifying their income, giving them access to profitable markets and helping them to adopt sustainable practices.
ARCC – Climate-resilient agriculture
ADA helps smallholder farmers to adopt sustainable practices with the aim of increasing their resilience to climate change and of protecting their livelihoods.
Strengthening forestry value chains
The programme strengthens forestry value chains by connecting different actors and by providing tailored financing and training in sustainable practices for smallholder farmers, small-scale forest owners as well as businesses.
Impactful entrepreneurship
The transition to a greener economy can contribute to local economic development, employment opportunities and improved living conditions. ADA supports this transition by facilitating economic activities in rural areas with improved access to renewable energy and by strengthening micro to medium-sized enterprises that offer green products or services or want to reduce their environmental impact.
Young people and green jobs
The programme facilitates the socio-professional integration of young people by supporting micro, small and medium-sized enterprises committed to environmental issues.
EVER — Énergie verte pour le développement rural (Green Energy for Rural Development)
The programme aims to ensure sustainable access to energy via solar mini-grids in rural areas of West Africa by leveraging the electricity to develop economic activities.
Channelling impact finance - Attracting impact investments through technical assistance
ADA leverages its expertise in impact investing to help its partners attract investments. To this end, ADA aims to strengthen the entire impact finance value chain to facilitate the flow of capital from international capital providers to vulnerable communities. These investments not only strengthen the impact of ADA’s activities but also ensure the developed solutions will continue to be provided in a scalable, sustainable and autonomous manner once ADA’s programmes have been completed. ADA can assist in assessing financial needs, designing suitable financial solutions and providing technical support to improve access to finance.
SSNUP — Smallholder SustaiNability Upscaling Programme
The programme aims to increase the resilience of smallholder farmers and to strengthen agricultural value chains with technical assistance and investments.
ICFI — Inclusive Climate Finance Initiative
ICFI unlocks climate finance for local organisations to enable them to offer climate change adaptation services to vulnerable people.
Technical assistance for investees
ADA facilitates access to technical assistance for the investees of Luxembourg-based investment vehicles such as LMDF, FIT (see below) or other vehicles managed by the European Investment Bank.
FINANCE: INVESTMENT ADVICE
ADA provides strategic and investment advice to impact investment vehicles that are aligned with its vision such as:
LMDF — Luxembourg Microfinance & Development Fund
ADA prospects local financial institutions for investments by LMDF and monitors the approved investments.
FIT — Financing Innovation Tool
FIT offers flexible, long-term catalytic capital solutions to support innovative businesses and financial institutions in developing countries. By accepting a higher level of risk than conventional financing, this capital acts as a lever: it mobilises additional public and private resources that would otherwise not have been accessible.
SHARE EXPERTISE: KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT
ADA measures and manages the impact of its interventions and identifies the lessons learnt. This experience gained from these activities is then shared with all stakeholders in the development and impact finance sectors, with a view to improving interventions and maximising their impact.
IN A NUTSHELL
Supporting, financing and sharing expertise: three levers for making target populations less vulnerable.