IELTS Listening Test Questions

Good morning, today I’m going to report on the current and historical situation for microfinance programmes in Côte D’Ivoire, a West African country with a population of 28 million.

Although today several programmes operate in urban areas too, (Q1)microfinance programmes began working in rural communities in the mid 1970’s  with the aim of improving access to financial services for micro and small businesses in the countryside, especially working in or connected to the agricultural sector. The goal was to provide local entrepreneurs with access to the money they needed to start and grow a business. Banking services at this time were seriously undeveloped in many rural areas of the Côte D’Ivoire, really limiting people’s ability to get a business off the ground. (Q2)Household income in these places was very low, and many didn’t have bank accounts, and bank branches were usually located far away in much bigger towns, making it very difficult and time-consuming for entrepreneurs in rural communities to access the money they needed to begin a business. Even where there was a pretty clear demand for a product or service, entrepreneurs had almost no options when it came to raising capital. Simply by giving small businessmen and women the opportunity to take out a business loan, (Q3)microfinance programmes had the potential to really help speed up economic development in poor rural areas, and improve the standard of living of the people there.

In the first several years, however,  (Q4)the programmes struggled to effectively reach the people they most wanted to help, namely those living in the countryside. The difficulties led to the government and international donors increasing their efforts to organise the sector in a way that meant that they could more effectively reach out from the towns and into the countryside. In the early days of the microfinance programmes, the Côte D'Ivoire was also faced with (Q5)an HIV/ AIDS pandemic which was having a negative impact on the health of the population and subsequently their communities, economic growth and development.

Fast forward to 2008, and (Q6)the Première Agence de Microfinance (PAMF) was founded with a strong focus on extending loans to improve agricultural productivity, acquire livestock and establish small enterprises in rural areas. In spite of political insecurity in the country, the PAMF continued to work in rural areas of the north and (Q7)achieved strong annual growth in accounts. Women were also included, making up a third of PAMF borrowers. The success of PAMF has shown that microfinancing programmes can be both successful and sustainable in the long term.

It should be noted that these microfinance programmes, like that of the PAMF, are not giving away money. (Q8)The current interest rate charge on PAMF loans is 10 - 12%, which is several percent above the rate of inflation. In addition, borrowers usually need to provide some sort of collateral to qualify for a loan. This could be in the form of business assets like real estate or equipment, or some personal assets. The collateral is decided upon on a case by case basis, (Q9)to make sure that the borrower feels personally responsible for paying back the loan.

Various lessons have been learned over the years that microfinance programmes have been operating in the Côtee D’Ivoire. As I mentioned before, the first big challenge was to reach out into the countryside, and find a balance between lending to rural and urban borrowers. Later, (Q10)the programmes realised the impact digital services could have, and for the last decade, big strides have been taken to improve digital access. Besides that, the importance of reaching out to women and making sure that they too can benefit from finance has become really central, and is helping to empower women, and as a result improve their lives, and those of their families and communities. These programmes demonstrate that by giving people opportunities, they will…