Media Coverage of the State of the Microcredit Summit Campaign Report 2012

February 05, 2012

On November 10, 2011, four days before the Global Microcredit Summit 2011 held in Valladolid, Spain, Spanish Secretary of State for International Cooperation joined the Microcredit Summit Campaign in a press conference to launch the State of the Microcredit Summit Campaign Report 2012.

(Photo credit: Europa Press)

The 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 five international microfinance networks discuss how this has been a major turning point for their organizations. The report is the largest and most comprehensive annual survey on outreach of microfinance to the poor and very poor.

The Microcredit Summit Campaign and its media partners around the world put out a news release on November 10, which you can find here.

Key Points from the News Release

• 137.5 million of the world's poorest families received a microloan in 2010, affecting more than 687 million family members.
• 113.1 million poorest women reached with a microloan in 2010.
• The clients’ wisdom according to Prof Yunus: “The report tells us that when asked what they want for themselves and their families, their answers include, 'education for their children, health for their family, decent housing that keeps the rain and cold out, and regular, nutritious meals.'”

Summary of Coverage

• 29 newspapers or online news sites in 14 countries covered the launch of the State of the Microcredit Summit Campaign Report 2012 in 7 languages (English, Spanish, French, Italian, Bangla, Nepali, and Vietnamese).
• 86 websites with regional and global audiences, including Yahoo! Politics and Reuters, with a combined daily viewership of 70 million people picked up the official news release.

See the media coverage report here.

Postcard from Spain: The 2011 Global Microcredit Summit

http://www.microfinancegateway.org/p/site/m/template.rc/1.26.17926/

The Microfinance Gateway 

The Microcredit Summit Campaign's "7 steps for recovering the soul of microfinance."

With traditional Spanish dancing and music, the 2011 Global Microcredit Summit opened on a festive note to welcome the 1800 participants from over 100 countries. However, Sam Daley-Harris, outgoing director of the Microcredit Summit Campaign, acknowledged that the microfinance community has had a difficult few years. But is the news all bad? According to Professor Muhammad Yunus, “the dark cloud is nothing but a wake-up call.”

Daley-Harris challenged the audience to remember what a powerful tool microfinance is and shared his personal belief of the path forward, which he called, ‘microfinance for redemption.’ The annual “State of the Microcredit Summit Campaign Report 2012,” released the week before the Summit, does a nice job of portraying some of the key issues discussed at the Summit. The report lays out seven steps the microfinance community can take to ensure the work we are doing helps clients and their families climb out of poverty. Below are the seven steps from the report, along with a short explanation provided by the Gateway.

Step 1. Do no harm. At a minimum, microfinance institutions should protect the rights of consumers. The Smart Campaign’s Client Protection Principles are designed to do just that. The Principles have been endorsed by over 2,000 individuals and organizations and the Smart Campaign is developing tools to monitor implementation of the Principles.

Step 2. Know your client. When it comes to financial services, one size does not fit all. Recent literature, such as “Portfolios of the Poor,” emphasizes that poor people have extremely rich and complicated financial lives. To maximize impact, products need to be designed with the target client’s needs in mind.

Step 3. Encourage savings. Whether provided by a formal institution or informal savings group, savings can help people plan for the future and smooth irregular incomes.

Step 4. Promote financial literacy. Financial literacy training can help people make better financial decisions, empowering them to take control of their financial lives.

Step 5. Monitor and Reward Social Performance. It is not enough to do no harm. MFIs with an explicit social mission should turn that mission into action in a measurable manner.

Step 6. Be transformative. Taking a holistic look at your clients’ lives may reveal that they need more than just financial services. Adding non-financial services and products may increase value to clients.

Step 7. Recognize excellence. The Microcredit Summit Campaign Seal of Excellence aims to “recognize those MFIs helping their clients achieve their dreams: education for their children, health for their family, decent housing that keeps the rain and cold out, and regular, nutritious meals.”

(Photo credit:  Europa Press)