The Challenge

Vanuatu is made up of a group of 83 islands in the southwest Pacific and is governed as an independent republic. He recorded in 2010 its seventh year of uninterrupted growth even during the global financial crisis. Vanuatu has its results to strong policies he carried out as well as a continued commitment to reform and good economic governance. But these achievements were overshadowed by a growing political instability, which limits its development. Outcomes in health, education and infrastructure, in particular, are below expectations, reducing also the country's progress. It ranks 124th out of 187 countries ranked according to the Human Development Index 2012.

How We Are Helping?

The UNCDF assistance Vanuatu to overcome challenges in the development program through the Pacific Financial Inclusion (PFIP by its initials in English). The PFIP provides funding to increase the number of small open active accounts at the National Bank of Vanuatu (NBV), by passing from 13,700 to 27,400. The objective is to develop the network of rural data communications to consolidate the progress made by the projects currently deployed by the NBV to support banking and microfinance in rural areas. The project will also introduce electronic banking systems and multilingual mobile (SMS alerts, balance checking, etc.).. It builds on the initial work done by NBV with support from the Asian Development Bank and deepens within the network of rural branches of the NBV.

In Detail