Books and Publications
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According to Vulnerability: The State of the Microcredit Summit Campaign Report, 2013, in 2011, 13 million fewer of the world's poorest families received access to microcredit and other financial services than had in 2010. This marks the first time since 1998 when the Campaign began tracking this data that the total number of clients and the number of poorest families reached has declined. The total number of clients was reported to have fallen from 205 million to 195 million and the sub-set of families living in extreme poverty, defined as less than $1.25 a day, from 137 million to 124 million.
Most other parts of the world saw moderate or slowed growth, with the exception of 1.4 million new clients in Sub-Saharan Africa. Despite this reverse in 2011, microfinance institutions still provided microloans to more than 124 million households living in extreme poverty. Assuming an average of five persons per family, this means that more than 621 million people were affected; this is twice the entire population of the United States.
In Vulnerability, we also examine how the microfinance community can improve the products and services to address the needs of those most vulnerable to poverty. The report argues that getting the industry back on track will require a new understanding of clients' needs, preferences, and aspirations, as well as designing new tools for delivering products and services to them at lower costs.
In order to make the report more accessible, for the first time in the Campaign's history the report will be presented through a companion website, bringing the printed page to life.
Read the report online at http://stateofthecampaign.org
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The State of the Microcredit Summit Campaign Report highlights the latest data on the progress towards reaching more than 175 million of the poorest families with microfinance and ensuring that 100 million of those families rise out of poverty. This report is the largest and most comprehensive annual survey on the outreach of microfinance to the poor and very poor.
According to the report, over the last 13 years, the number of very poor families with a microloan has grown more than 18-fold from 7.6 million in 1997 to 137.5 million in 2010. Assuming an average of five persons per family, these 137.5 million microloans affected more than 687 million family members, which is greater than the combined populations of the European Union and Russia.
The report also highlights the number of poorest women reached. Not only have these women been the most excluded from traditional banking, but they are also the ones most likely to ensure that the increased income is used to improve the lives of their children. From 1999 to 2010, the number of poorest women reached has increased from 10.3 million to 113.1 million.
The latest data comes from more than 3,600 institutions worldwide, with more than 94 percent of the information having been collected within the last 18 months.
In addition to the data, the 2012 report exposes some of the most contentious debates that are raging in microfinance, going into detail about the Andhra Pradesh, India crisis in particular. Microfinance investors from Citi and Deutsche Bank weigh in on the impact of the crisis to the sector, and leaders from international microfinance networks ACCION, FINCA, Women’s World Banking, Opportunity International, and Vision Fund discuss how this has been a major turning point for their organizations. In the pursuit of recovering the soul of microfinance, the report outlines a seven-step framework for addressing this and other controversies and for getting microfinance back on track. As the seventh and final step, “Recognizing Excellence”, the report presents the progress on the Seal of Excellence for Outreach and Transformation in Microfinance.
PDF versions of the 2012 Report are available in English, Spanish and French.
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The State of the Microcredit Summit Campaign Report 2011 addresses recent controversies within the field of microfinance and announce a new initiative under development that is designed to recognize those institutions that are committed to doing the most to help families lift themselves out of poverty. The report is the largest and most comprehensive annual report on the outreach of microfinance to the poor and very poor.
PDF versions of the 2011 Report are available in English, Spanish, and French--as well as in Japanese (translated by RESULTS Japan).
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2009 Advocacy Document
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Most of us don't believe we play a part in the decisions made by our government, and this feeling of impotence has led to years of public apathy.
The 10th anniversary edition of Reclaiming Our Democracy once again brings to the fore a unique vision to meet this crisis: ordinary people taking extraordinary action, becoming citizen leaders in order to create a democracy "as if people mattered." The story is told through the inspiring action of RESULTS, an international grassroots citizens' lobby committed to healing the break between people and government, and creating the political will to end hunger and the worst aspects of poverty.
RESULTS has played a leading advocacy role in campaigns that have dramatically increased global immunization rates, saving the lives of millions of children, and produced a revolution in banking--microcredit--which is providing tiny, life-changing loans to millions of the world's poorest people. A domestic branch of RESULTS now focuses on issues like early childhood education and childcare in the United States. Such activism is needed more than ever today. According to the Washington Post, "There is not a rich lobby in Washington that wouldn't trade its limos for [RESULTS'] achievements...." Parade magazine has said of the group, "They defy the odds."
In the words of Apollo astronaut Rusty Schweickart, "We aren't passengers on spaceship earth. We're the crew." Reclaiming Our Democracy is for anyone who wants to learn how to make a difference. It's an operator's manual for citizens on spaceship Earth.
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The State of the Microcredit Summit Campaign Report is an annual publication that compiles data collected from microfinance institutions worldwide and evaluates progress toward the Campaign's goals.
PDF Versions are available here: English, Español, Français, and العربية.
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More Pathways Out of Poverty explores new practices in microfinance, some of them revolutionary, and draws on the success of the industry to illustrate the challenges involved in lifting clients out of poverty. Taken together, the contributions from leading microfinance leaders and institutions serve as a map for ensuring that microcredit contributes powerfully to cutting absolute poverty in half by 2015.
Edited by: Sam Daley-Harris and Anna Awimbo
Contributors Include: Nigel Biggar, Erin Connor, Alex Counts, Rekha Reddy, Larry Reed, Thierry van Bastelaer, Women's World Banking, Roshaneh Zafar, and Manfred Zeller.
Paperback: 216 pages
Publisher: Kumarian Press (November 2006)
Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 6 x 0.3 inches
Shipping Weight: 8 ounces
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Pathways out of Poverty brings together important perspectives from the field that practitioners and policymakers will find useful, not only to build on successes but also to overcome the challenges facing us in the years ahead. If we are seriuous about the Millennium Development Goal of reducing poverty by half by 2015, we'll have no other option but to establish credit as a human right. This book will help guide you to do it.
Microfinance is a key intervention in helping poor families in developing countries move out of poverty. The Microcredit Summit Campaign has been working since 1997 to promote microfinance, with the aim of reaching 100 million of the world’s poorest families by 2005.
This book, published five years after the first Microcredit Summit, challenges conventional wisdoms and explores in depth the Campaign’s core themes: reaching the poorest, reaching and empowering women, building financially self-sufficient institutions, and ensuring a positive measurable impact on the lives of clients and their families.
The book will serve as a roadmap for development agencies working to achieve the Millennium Development Goals, including the goal of cutting absolute poverty in half by 2015.
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