Pictured are employees of renewable energy partner BBOXX in Rwanda. In late 2015, Oikocredit invested in BBOXX DEARS Kenya LLP.

Oikocredit's renewable energy team started 2016 strongly with an $ 11 million investment in a solar energy power plant which will provide clean energy to more than 71,000 homes in Honduras.

At a press conference in Frankfurt, Germany, we recently announced our 2015 results. We passed a historic milestone of € 1 billion in total assets and grew our Africa portfolio by 52%. 

A new report describes Oikocredit’s client outcomes programme which provides capacity building support to partners to help them better analyze client data and improve services. 

Our facts and figures for the 4th quarter of 2015 include capital outstanding, total number of partners and countries where we invest as well as an overview of our funding by type, region and sector.

To raise our profile and bring our case studies and stories to light, Oikocredit UK & Ireland has signed a deal with the Guardian online. We’ll be publishing 3-4 articles each month in our Oikocredit ‘investing for development’ zone. The Guardian will also be echoing our content in their own 'extreme weather' hub, which we sponsor.

Getting our stories 'out there' is dependent on promoting via our networks, social media or otherwise - so please do share and like for us! The first three pieces cover ‘the impact of climate change on small-scale farmers’; in May we’ll focus on renewable energy, and in June we’ll have a personal perspective from a journalist on-the-ground in Ecuador. 

To help us spread these wonderful stories, please use these links: 

• The Oikocredit ‘investing for development’ zone: http://www.theguardian.com/oikocredit-investing-for-development-zone
• The Guardian ‘extreme weather’ hub, sponsored by Oikocredit: http://www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/series/extreme-weather 

We have now completed our move from Garstang to Putney and our new address is:

Unit 1,  Hyde Park House, Manfred Road, Putney, London, SW15 2RS

Our telephone number remains the same.  

Sadly, we say goodbye to our administrator Helen Forshaw who gave over two years of wonderful service to Oikocredit UK and is now transferring her talents to a residential care organisation in Garstang.  We shall miss her deeply but we are delighted to welcome on board Eileen McManus as our new administrator.  Eileen joined at the beginning of March and is getting stuck into her new role.

Archie Pearson completes the team as our graduate trainee intern and joined us at the beginning of September 2015.