Center for Agriculture & Rural Development Mutually Reinforcing Institutions (CARD MRI)

The Center for Agriculture and Rural Development Mutually Reinforcing Institutions (CARD MRI) is a “group of mutually reinforcing institutions that is dedicated to ultimately empower the poor”. It was founded to address growing poverty in the Philippines by encouraging the development of micro-enterprises, particularly amongst low-income rural women.

Originally founded as the Center for Agriculture and Rural Development, CARD’s micro finance branches were inspired by the hugely successful Grameen Bank model in Bangladesh and assisted by Mohammad Yunus, the Grameen Bank’s founder himself. In 1997, CARD began operating a for-profit rural bank known as CARD Bank, along with reinforcing institutions to mitigate risks, generate profit and resources, and provide support to its members as well as daily CARD MRI operations.

Examples of its reinforcing institutions include: a mutual benefit association to protect members, a development institute to facilitate micro finance training for CARD staff, an insurance agency to improve risk management, an IT services company to provide information technology resources to CARD MRI, a business development services group to assist clients in expanding their micro enterprises, and an in-house research department tasked with monitoring and reporting on CARD MRI performance.

Since its original inception in 1986, CARD MRI has evolved to become one of the leading micro finance institutions in the Philippines.