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| Volume 1, Issue 6: January '04 | ||||
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In This Issue UN General Assembly Launches Program for International Year of Microcredit Register Now for the Asia Pacific Microcredit Summit Region Meeting of Councils Archived Issues
Vol 1 Iss 5 Nov. '03 |
Plenary Session: Building Better Lives - Sustainable Integration of Microfinance with Education in Child Survival, Reproductive Health, and HIV/AIDS Prevention for the Poorest EntrepreneursRemarks by Kul C. Gautam
Let me commend Chris Dunford for this fine paper Building Better Lives, which is so full of good ideas and good insights…. on balance, we at UNICEF would argue for the integration of some selected services, and even see them as requirements to effectively reduce poverty. Our experience and observation reaffirms the main argument in the paper, that there is likely to be greater reduction in poverty when microfinance programs are combined with increased access to basic social services than when programs focus on credit alone. We have noted that when microfinance is linked with access to certain basic social services, we can see demonstrable improvement in the health, nutrition, and education of borrower's children, and particularly girls. Mr. Chairman, money, or income generated through microcredit after all is only a means. It is not the end by itself. The ultimate objective of microcredit is not just to increase income, but to promote human development. And, the purpose of human development, we would all agree, is to enable people to live a long and healthy life, to be able to learn and earn, to enjoy social and cultural activities, and to participate freely in political processes. Availability of microfinance or credit alone does not lead to human development or the elimination of the worst forms of poverty. To do that, it must be deliberately and explicitly linked to provision of basic social services. The pursuit of the Millennium Development Goals- which are intended to reduce income poverty, as well as reduction of mortality, fertility, gender disparities, increase in basic education, and combating HIV/AIDS- these must, therefore, be the purpose of increased income, generated through microcredit. While we do not want to overload microcredit schemes with too many other services, the basis for deciding what services to add or to exclude should not be what is convenient and efficient from the point of view of the microfinance managers. From the point of view of users of microcredit, certain basic services are an essential part of combating poverty. |