Scaling Deforestation-free Commodities through Financing

What are the best practices for designing and implementing returnable grants in sustainable commodity value chains? Join our Brown Bag Lunch to learn from the IKI supported project the Rebuild Facility. 

We are delighted to welcome Shasi Wagle and Nana Agyepong to share insights from the Rebuild Facility’s experience implementing a returnable grants model for sustainable cocoa and coffee. Since 2020, the IKI-supported Rebuild Facility has provided market access players in East and West Africa with working capital financing towards improving farmer livelihoods, protecting vulnerable landscapes, and strengthening local companies.

The Rebuild Facility is committed to nurturing sustainable cocoa and coffee enterprises across East and West Africa, specifically in Côte d'Ivoire and Ghana for cocoa, and Ethiopia, Kenya, and Uganda for coffee. So far, the project has disbursed over 16.7 million euros in returnable grants to 20 companies, securing the incomes of 42,610 smallholder farmers, and keeping over 79,000 hectares of land under sustainable land management. The returnable grant provides grantees who often face challenges accessing finance with a credit history, which improves their investor position beyond the duration of the grant. Grantee companies also report better access to the international commodity market as a result of the Rebuild Facility’s support.