In This Issue

Plenary Session: Empowering Women Through Microfinance/ Innovations from the Field

Plenary Session: Presentation of BRAC Institutional Action Plan

Bangladesh Prime Minister H.E. Begum Khaleda Zia to inaugurate the Asia/Pacific Microcredit Summit Meeting of Councils

State of the Microcredit Summit Campaign Report 2003 to be released November 3 in New York

USAID and SEEP Network to Facilitate Development of Poverty Assessment Tools

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USAID and SEEP Network to Facilitate Development of Poverty Assessment Tools

USAID is required by the recently amended Microenterprise for Self-Reliance Act to ensure that at least fifty percent of all the microenterprise resources it disburses shall be targeted to the very poor. The very poor are defined as: those living in the bottom fifty percent below the national poverty line established by the national government of the county in which those individuals live; or, living on the equivalent of less than $1 per day. Over the next two years, USAID will adopt proven and effective poverty measurement tools to identify the very poor.

The Poverty Assessment Working Group (PAWG) of the Small Enterprise Education and Promotion (SEEP) Network is engaged in a collaborative effort with USAID, CGAP, and the broader microenterprise community to develop and evaluate poverty assessment methods for measuring the poverty levels of current or prospective clients of microenterprise institutions. The PAWG will put forth its recommendations on poverty assessment methods to be field tested by USAID, practitioners, and independent researchers for eventual certification.

For more information please click here to access the SEEP website.