Letter from the Director
May 2001
Dear Friends of the Microcredit Summit Campaign,
October 8-12, 2000, more than 580 delegates from
39 African countries and 50 countries worldwide gathered
at the Africa Region Microcredit Summit Meeting of
Councils (ARMS) in Harare, Zimbabwe. From February 2-5,
2001, more than 660 delegates from 20 countries of Asia and
the Pacific and 32 countries worldwide gathered at the Asia
Pacific Region Microcredit Summit Meeting of Councils in
New Delhi, India. We gathered to take the next step in dealing
a deathblow to poverty in Africa, Asia, and around the world.
Global leaders met in Copenhagen, Denmark in 1995
at the Social Summit and committed to cutting absolute
poverty in half by the year 2015. Those gathered in Harare and New Delhi are at the cutting
edge of that commitment. If we are able to reach 100 million of the world's poorest families,
affecting more than 500 million family members by 2005, then we will have made major progress
toward the Social Summit's goal. Some might say we will have breathed new life into the Social
Summit's goal.
But to do that it is important that we stay true to the Microcredit Summit's four
core themes: 1) reaching the poorest, 2) reaching and empowering women, 3) building
financially self-sufficient institutions, and 4) ensuring a positive measurable impact on the lives of
clients and their families. Why are these four core themes important?
If we reach 100 million families, but few were among the poorest when they started, then
we will have failed. If we reach 100 million families, but seldom through the women of the
family, then we will have failed. If we reach 100 million families, but the institutions are weak, then
we will have failed. If we reach 100 million families, but there is little impact on the lives of
those families, then we will have failed.
We gathered in Harare and New Delhi to see to it that we do not fail.
On behalf of the entire Campaign I want to thank the ARMS organizers John Mwaniki
of IRED and Leadus Madzima of the Zimbabwe Association of Microfinance Institutions, the
meeting planner, African Incentive, the resource persons, and funders who contributed to the
Africa meeting's success. I must also thank Lalita Balakrishnan of the All-India Women's
Conference, the meeting planner, Travel Corporation of India, the resource persons, and the funders
who contributed to the Asia/Pacific meeting's success.
But more than anything it is the day-to-day work of the more than 1,100 delegates that
will bring the meetings to life over the next months and years. To them, and the families they
serve, I pay tribute.
In Partnership,
Sam Daley-Harris
Microcredit Summit Campaign Director
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