The conference room at the UNFD headquarters yesterday morning hosted the launching ceremony for the extension of the Islamic microfinance program in the city of Djibouti. Organized by the Djiboutian Social Development Agency (ADDS), the event brought together several personalities including, the Minister of Social Affairs and Solidarity, Mouna Osman Aden, the Secretary of State in charge of decentralization, Hamadou Mohamed Aramis, the secretary general of the UNFD, Fatouma Moussa Abdi, local elected officials from the municipalities of Balbala and Boulaos, representatives of Islamic banks in the area as well as a plethora of spokespersons from associations of women from different districts of the capital.

Based on the principles of Islamic law, Islamic microfinance has emerged in Djibouti as a tool in the fight against poverty and unemployment. The success of the pilot phase in Balbala has also earned the Micro-finance Unit of the Djiboutian Social Development Agency to expand the project in the capital in order to benefit a larger section of our fellow citizens. in a precarious situation.

At least, this is the meaning of the ceremony organized on Monday, November 30 in the conference room of the headquarters of the National Union of Djiboutian Women located along Boulevard Hassan Gouled in the commune of Boulaos.

Organized by the Pilot Unit of Islamic Microfinance, (entity under the supervision of ADDS), the launching ceremony of the extension of Islamic Microfinance in Djibouti-ville, is placed under the high patronage of the Minister of Social Affairs and Solidarity, Mouna Osman Aden.

The event brought together on site, the Secretary of State in charge of decentralization, Houmed Mohamed Aramis, the Secretary General of the UNFD, Fatouma Moussa Abdi, the Director General of the Center for Leadership and Entrepreneurship Oubah Ali Malow, the director general of ADDS, Mahdi Mohamed Djama, the presidents of the communes of Boulaos and Balbala, Mohamed Omar Ismail and Idriss Bachir Kawrah, the president of civil society, Youssouf Nouho Hassan, local elected officials, representatives of organizations UN and the delegation of the European Union, officials of the various Islamic banks of the place, executives of the UNFD, the ADDS and some 500 other participants coming mostly from female associations of the various districts of the capital .

All these beautiful people gathered in the conference room of the headquarters of the UNFD, after the opening of the ceremony with a verse from the Holy Quran, watched a documentary testifying to the success of this project.

In the series of speeches that followed, the Secretary General of the UNFD, Fatouma Moussa Abdi, in her welcome address, focused on programs aimed at economically empowering young girls and women in the country. set up by UNFD.

« Our organization was among the main microcredit institutions engaged in improving the living conditions of the beneficiaries of this Microcredit project which allowed the establishment of the microfinance system » she added before praising this Islamic system which, according to her, constitutes a real lever in the fight against poverty.

The president of the commune of Boulaos, Mohamed Omar Ismail and his colleague from the commune of Balbala, Idriss Bachir Kawrah who followed him in turn underlined the importance of this project for the populations of their respective areas.

The head of the Islamic Microfinance Pilot Unit, Mohamed Ahmed Amin, who spoke in turn, said his institution has funded 300 million francs, more than 2,000 AGR.

Comments echoed by the interim director of the « Micro-finance  » section of ADDS, Kadra Omar Kamil who added that the government of Djibouti and donors have injected more than one billion 200 million francs Djibouti in the CPEC and in this project.

For his part, the Secretary of State for Decentralization, Houmed Mohamed Aramis, has pledged to support the initiative to extend this project to the interior regions. « We are ready to provide our contribution in any form of support that may be necessary. The creation of sources of opportunity and even wealth for the most vulnerable is proving to be a lever on which we must act relentlessly, « he insisted.

In her speech on this occasion, the Minister of Social Affairs and Solidarity, Mouna Osman Aden, underlined the growing potential of Islamic micro-finance which required its expansion in order to benefit more clients. « My Department is convinced that by doing so, we will greatly contribute to the achievement of the objective of creating 5000 jobs advocated by His Excellency the President of the Republic » declared Minister Mouna Osman Aden.