The Private Agriculture Sector Support Trust (PASS) provides financial services and business development services through financial institutions to SMEs in the agricultural sector in Tanzania. In 2000, PASS was established by the Government of Tanzania and Government of Denmark as a pilot project facility under the Agriculture Sector Programme Support (ASPS I) funded by Danida. PASS became operational in 2001 and in 2003 continued as a facility under Danida’s Agriculture Sector Programme Support II (ASPS II). In 2007, PASS was registered as an autonomous legal Trust and became a component of the Business Sector Programme Support (BSPS III and BSPS IV) of Danida.
PASS provides access to financial and business development services for small and medium sized commercial farmers, farmer groups and agribusinesses (SMEs). Through the provision of credit guarantees to partner financial institutions and through assisting potential borrowers in developing business plans. The focus of the business services offered are geared towards developing business plans that support clientele in securing loans. The financial services offered by PASS assist eligible individuals and companies to access loan facilities for their viable investments via appraisal of loan write-ups in line with partner financial institutions’ terms and conditions. In conjunction, PASS provides a partial credit guarantee cover that is given to the partner financial institutions to top up inadequate collateral, thereby enabling PASS end-clients to gain access to financing. All services are offered to its end-clients on a cost-sharing and/or commercial basis. Carnegie Consult conducted the evaluation commissioned by Danida, which covered the period 2000 to 2018. The objectives of the evaluation were mainly backward-looking with a focus on impact and sustainability as well as lessons learned and recommendations for improvement. The evaluation followed the OECD/DAC evaluation criteria and included in-depth interviews with stakeholders, financial institutions and end-clients, portfolio analysis, financial analysis and an end-client survey in five regions in Tanzania. The evaluation report can be found here.
