Mutual Guarantee Associations are cooperatives whose members are jointly liable for member’s debts. They are effective tools for micro and small entrepreneurs to improve access to financial services from banks. With financial support from the Government of Italy, the Social Finance Programme launched an initiative in North Africa and the Middle East to create MGAs for artisans.

A concept paper and a handbook on MGAs have been developed. The concept paper contains technical information on MGAs.  The handbook is also available in Arabic, French and Spanish.

The MGA handbook is available in four languages: Arabic, English, French and Spanish. It provides a simple explanation of mutual guarantee associations and how they work. It can be used as a training tool and contains a number of international case studies from which lessons can be learnt for starting a mutual guarantee association.

Phase II of the project will organise four training workshops on MGAs and how to set up such an organisation, in partnership with two Italian associations, National Confederation of Artisans (CNA) and Confartigianato.

If you are interested in receiving this training, please contact SFP@ilo.org.

For more information on mutual guarantee associations, please contact Coumba Diop-Boario.