ECLOF International was founded in 1946 in Geneva, Switzerland after the Second World War to offer financial support to churches throughout Europe. The first loans were used by churches to rebuild, renovate, or expand their premises, as well as to establish schooling and health facilities. In the pursuit of it's mission ECLOF International aims to relieve poverty and restore human dignity, by means of microfinance. Today, it reaches out to rural areas that traditionally have not benefited from microfinance as it has developed over the past several decades.