MFI Report

Located in Sichuan Province, in western China, ARDPAS began its operations in 1998 with the funding support from the Sichuan Provincial Government. Having reached 30,000 clients in 2000, ARDPAS was once the largest microfinance program in China. However by 2001, the central government mandated that provincial government poverty alleviation funds could not be used for on-lending activities. Therefore the Sichuan Provincial government had to recall their capital, and ARDPAS’s operations were forced to close down. In 2004, ARPDAS restarted their operations using capital from Funding for Poor Cooperative (another MFI in China), Grameen Trust, and Zhejiang Province. As ARDPAS looks ahead, they are working to become a sustainable operation, as well as expanding out to other poor areas in Sichuan, including a focus on developing the economic capabilities of ethnic minorities at the border of Sichuan and Tibet. Cacher