Papers Commissioned by the Microcredit Summit Campaign

The following papers were prepared for the Microcredit Summit Campaign by leaders in the field of microcredit. Select a paper below to read the executive summary, then choose the format in which to read it. These papers are available as ".pdf" files that can be saved and viewed off-line. You will need Adobe Acrobat Reader to view these files. To download Adobe Acrobat Reader for free, click here, then return to this page to download the papers. You may also read the papers directly on your web browser or download the ".doc" format for a Word document of the paper. If you have difficulty accessing these papers, please contact the Microcredit Summit Secretariat by e-mail. The papers are now available on this site in Spanish and French.

The six most recently commissioned papers were discussed in Plenary Session at the Microcredit Summit +5 and have been compiled in a book entitled Pathways Out of Poverty: Innovations in Microfinance for the Poorest Families, published by Kumarian Press in November of 2002. Copies of this book can be ordered online in English from Kumarian's website. Links to executive summaries of these papers are available below.

• Ensuring Impact: Reaching the Poorest while Building Financially Self-Sufficient Institutions, and Showing Improvement in the Lives of the Poorest Women and Their Families
  

  Anton Simanowitz
  Programme Manager, ImpAct, Institute of Development Studies at the University of Sussex




• Building Better Lives: Sustainable Integration of Microfinance with Education in Child Survival, Reproductive Health, and HIV/AIDS Prevention for the Poorest Entrepreneurs
  

  Christopher Dunford
  President, Freedom from Hunger




• Innovations from the Field: A Daringly Brief Summary of a Huge Phenomenon
  

  John K. Hatch
  Founder, FINCA International
  Sarah R. Levine
  Amanda Penn




• Empowering Women Through Microfinance
  

  Susy Cheston
  Senior Vice President, Policy and Research, Opportunity International;
  Executive Director Emeritus of the Womens' Opportunity Fund
  Lisa Kuhn
  Program Analyst, Opportunity International




• Financing Microfinance for Poverty Reduction
  

  David S. Gibbons
  Managing Director, CASHPOR Financial and Technical Services, Malaysia
  Jennifer W. Meehan
  Financial Director, CASHPOR Financial and Technical Services, Malaysia




• Policies, Regulations and Systems that Promote Sustainable Financial Services to the Poor and Poorest
  

  Women's World Banking

Commissioned for the Latin America / Caribbean Region Microcredit Summit:

• The Profile of Microfinance in Latin America in Ten Years: Vision & Characteristics Executive Summary and Full Text
  

  Maria Otero
  President and CEO of ACCION International
  Beatriz Marulanda

Previously released papers:

• Creating Autonomous National and Sub-regional Microcredit Funds Updated January 5, 2001
  

  Dr. Salehuddin Ahmed
  Managing Director, Palli Karma-Sahayak Foundation (PKSF)




• The Microcredit Summit's Challenge: Working Towards Institutional Financial Self-Sufficiency while Maintaining a Commitment to Serving the Poorest Families Updated June 2000
  

  David S. Gibbons
  Managing Director, CASHPOR Financial and Technical Services
  Jennifer W. Meehan
  Financial Advisor, CASHPOR Financial and Technical Services




• Measuring Transformation: Assessing and Improving the Impact of Microcredit
  Part I | Part II | Part III | Part IV
  

  Susy Cheston
  Executive Director, Womens Opportunity Fund
  Larry Reed
  Managing Director, Opportunity International Network
  Suzy Salib
  Program Manager, Women's Opportunity Fund
  Rodger Voorhies
  Assistant Regional Director for Africa, Opportunity International Network
  James Copestake
  Centre for Development Studies, Bath University-UK
  Md. Mustafa Kamal
  Mitzi Machado
  Trust Bank Program Coordinator, AGAPE
  Ana Laura Valazza
  Technical Advisor, Opportunity International Network




• Overcoming the Obstacles of Identifying the Poorest Families: Using Participatory Wealth Ranking (PWR), the CASHPOR House Index (CHI), and Other Measurements to Identify and Encourage the Participation of the Poorest Families, Especially the Women of Those Families Updated June 2000

  Anton Simanowitz
  Institute for Development Studies, Sussex, UK
  Ben Nkuna
  The Small Enterprise Foundation, South Africa
  Sukor Kasim
  Women Development Banking Trust, South Africa




• How Donor Funds Could Better Reach and Support Grassroots Microcredit Institutions Working Towards the Microcredit Summit's Goal and Core Themes
  

  Muhammad Yunus
  Managing Director, Grameen Bank