Strengthening competitive structures in the cooperative sector in Mexico, Central America and Cuba

Although the poverty and income inequality have declined over the past decade, Central America keeps being the region with the highest social inequality world wide. A crucial reason for that is the low percentage of the population with access to financial services, but also to product and input markets. According to the World Bank's Global Findex, 39% of the adult population in Mexico have access to financial services, 37% in El Salvador and only 19% in Nicaragua. No data are available on Cuba.

DGRV's supra-regional project, operated from the country office in Mexico-City, focuses on small and medium enterprises (SME), cooperative banks and its members as well as on cooperative federations and national authorities on the macro level.
The project activities include consultancies, trainings and exchange programs, as well as specialized IT applications, e.g. early warning and control systems, social balance, et al. With the activities the project aims at improving the cooperative banks sustainability and expansion of their financial products with the purpose to enhance the financial inclusion in the project countries. In Cuba, the DGRV advises the national partner in the elaboration of its cooperative sector.