The overall objective of the project is to contribute to poverty reduction through agriculture and rural development in Kilimanjaro and Arusha regions in Tanzania, thanks to credit access improvement for rural populations. Its specific objective is to build a strong financial institution, controlled by the SACCOS, providing relevant services to a large amount of Tanzanian farmers and rural population in general in the region of Kilimanjaro. The expected achievements are: - USAWA has reached or is about to reach its self financial and technical autonomy - USAWA provides a wide range of services (various credit and saving products, micro-insurance, refinancing, advocacy etc) to its SACCOS members - Agriculture remains the main focus area for USAWA members; investment in agricultural development is strongly boosted The main USAWA targets for 2014 are: Number of SACCOS 45 Number of members 25,000 Amount of capital 1,949 million TZS Amount of savings 3,298 million TZS Loan portfolio 7,046 million TZS The main proposed activity to reach those targets is to accompany USAWA team and decisional bodies towards their self-autonomy, through advice, training and capacity-building. To do so, Fert will put at USAWA’s disposal a permanent technical assistance made of local staff and expatriate technical assistant.