What's Happening
The Charles Stewart Mott Foundation, a sponsor of the Microcredit Summit,
announced in September, 1997 that it will sponsor the first three years of the Summit Fulfillment
Campaign. The grant of US$100,000 per year for three years (1997-99) brings the Mott
Foundation's total commitment to US$400,000. The first two sponsors of the Summit Campaign
were Citicorp Foundation and The Summit Foundation. Citicorp Foundation
committed US$100,000 to the Summit itself and US$100,000 to the Fulfillment Campaign. The
Summit Foundation made a commitment in June of US$150,000 per year for three years
(1997-99). With its earlier grants to the February Summit, The Summit Foundation's overall
commitment comes to US$495,000. We are grateful to our sponsors and to our other funders,
Bankers Trust Foundation and the Chase Manhattan Bank Foundation, for their continuing
support of the Summit's goal.
At the Second Microcredit Briefing hosted by ActInvest in Geneva on September 22,1997, the
African Develop-ment Bank (ADB) announced the African Development Fund
Micro-finance Initiative for Africa (AMINA), a two-year, US$21.45 million project. The
initiative is "part of the bank's efforts to generate income and employment for the poorest groups
in society, with special attention paid to women entrepreneurs." For more information, contact
Mr. A. Beileh at (225) 20-41-50, fax: (225) 20-49-48; or Mr. Knut Opsal at (225) 20-41-26; fax:
(225) 20-50-33; or write to ADB, 01 B.P. 1387, Abidjan 01, C“te d'Ivoire.
The Post-Microcredit Summit Symposium on July 15, 1997 in Lagos, Nigeria,
welcomed 88 attendees to discuss the Microcredit Summit, develop strategies for meeting the
Summit's goals, and foster collaborative initiatives between the private sector and NGOs.
Participants developed strategies "to generate funding for microfinance within Nigeria in order to
guarantee the sustainability of current programs and expand the sector."
On August 20, 1997 Eduardo Amadeo, Secretary of Social Development in Argentina and
Microcredit Summit Council Co-Chair, launched Fondo Fiduciario de Capital Social
(FFCS). The revolutionary US$40 million program places management of a significant
government investment in a new private sector company, FONCAP S.A., managed jointly by
people from the social sector, private sector, and government (on a minority basis). FFCS will
develop the infrastructure to reach 50,000 borrowers within five years.
Summit Corporate Council Co-Chair Tormod Hermanson of Telenor, and the
Stromme Foundation, co-hosted a microfinance conference outside Oslo, Norway on
September 25, 1997. The 65 participants, representing banking, corporations, government, and
the non-profit sector, learned about microfinance and the potential for joint ventures between
microcredit institutions and corporations.
The first Microcredit Summit Meeting of Councils will be held in New York City June
25-27, 1998. To attend, institutions must submit Institutional Action Plan Summaries.
Microcredit practitioners must turn in their Summaries by February 10, 1998; all others are due
March 10, 1998. For more information, see the announcement on page 13.
In October, 1997, the Caisse française de développement (CFD) became a member of
the Microcredit Summit Council of Donor Agencies. The Swedish Ministry for Development
Cooperation and the Swedish International Development Agency (SIDA) announced
their membership in the council in September, 1997. France and Sweden join the Department for
International Development (DfID) in the United Kingdom as the newest members of the
Donor Council.
Between September 16 and 26, Sam Daley-Harris, Director of the Microcredit Summit
Campaign, met with more than 350 development leaders and others during a six-country
tour of Europe. He discussed campaign progress and mobilized support from government
officials, NGOs, and commercial bankers in France, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom,
Switzerland, Sweden, and Norway.
MIBANCO, a for-profit, fully-regulated commercial micro-credit bank in Peru, was
launched on July 31. This initiative was promoted by the Peruvian government and President
Alberto Fujimori, Co-Chair of the Microcredit Summit Council of Heads of State and
Government, but will be capitalized and managed completely by the private sector. Building
from a current base of $US180 million, the bank expects to reach 250,000 clients by the year
2000.
In a report dated June 23, 1997, the Secretary-General of the United Nations put forward the
following recommendation to the substantive session of the Economic and Social Council
(ECOSOC), held in Geneva from June 30 to July 25, 1997: "Microcredit leaders, financial
sector specialists and key government regulators should create the necessary facilitating
frameworks and eliminate all unwarranted obstacles to linking microcredit to capital markets. In
this regard, the recommendation of the Microcredit Summit should be fully taken into
account."
