Under the SIFTA program, FEBEA held a training on the topic of social housing last week in Vienna, co-organised by one of its Austrian members, the European Centre for Social Finance. Given the current salience of the topic, the training gathered experts with different backgrounds to provide a picture of the current challenges and solutions to the lack of affordable housing Europe is increasingly facing. With a bright history in social housing, Vienna was chosen as the destination of this session as it has a large enough pool of organisations working in the field, but also because it allowed to complete the event with a field visit to one of the largest social housing complexes in the world, the Karl Marx Hof.

The African Microfinance Week (SAM), known by its French acronym “Semaine africaine de la microfinance,” is a biennial event that serves as a prominent platform for the advancement of financial inclusion in Africa. This prestigious gathering attracts professionals from various sectors, including investors, microfinance institutions (MFIs), researchers, banks, networks, innovators, and governmental representatives. The 6th edition of SAM, held in Lomé from the 16th to the 20th of October, 2023, brought together over 1,100 participants from across Africa. Among those in attendance were Anne-Sophie Bougouin and Dominique Lesaffre, representing FEBEA.