Financial Alliance for Sustainable Trade
The Finance Alliance for Sustainable Trade (FAST) is an initiative of the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) that represents financial institutions committed to sustainable production and the trade of sustainable goods. FAST is made up of over 100 members, including socially oriented and alternative lending institutions, SME producer organisations, development institutions and other stakeholders in the agricultural commodities supply chain.
FAST is an organization whose mission is to ensure the continued growth of sustainable production and trade by improving access and availability of affordable finance to sustainable producers in developing nations. By identifying and implementing concrete and innovative strategies, such as the Financial Marketplace (aka: Lending Marketplace, FAST helps bring potential borrowers and financial service providers together. The Financial Marketplace was launched April, 2009.
The FAST secretariat is located in Montreal, Canada and is staffed by a small team of eight employees.
Projects and Initiatives
- Guarantee Facility for Social Lending
- Financial Literacy Training
- Impact Assessment Tool
- Financial Marketplace
Organization History
- 2002 – the idea for FAST arose at the “Sustainable Trade Committee” of the Social Venture Network
- 2003 – with funding from USAID, Root Capital, at the time known as EcoLogic Finance, assumed the role of "lead management agency" for the partnership, called the Finance Alliance for Sustainable Trade (FAST)
- 2005 – the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) took the leadership role in FAST
- 2006 – the FAST Steering Committee was formed, composed of representatives from RaboBank (Netherlands), Cordaid (Netherlands), ForesTrade (US), Root Capital (US) and the IISD (Canada).
- 2007 – FAST officially launched operations
- 2008 – FAST opened its secretariat in Montreal, Canada and began accepting memberships
- 2008 – FAST received two new grants $150,000 from Citi Foundation and $75,000 from Lodestar Foundation totaling US $225,000 donated