The World Bank estimates that 1.2 billion people live on less than $1 a day

UN Summits of the 1990s omitted microfinance as a compelling measurable goal.

At the 1997 Microcredit Summit in Washington, DC, more than 2,900 delegates gathered from 137 countries. They launched a nine-year campaign focused on this goal...

Working to ensure that 100 million of the world’s poorest families, especially the women of those families, are receiving credit for self-employment and other financial and business services by the year 2005

Three and a half years later: More than 180 Heads of State and Government agreed to Millennium Development Goals. Overarching Goal: Cut absolute poverty in half by 2015

Heads of donor agencies omit sustainable microfinance for the very poor as a pivotal intervention for cutting absolute poverty in half.

Less than 1 percent of World Bank funding goes to microfinance Even less reaches those below $1 a day

Four Core Themes Reaching the Poorest Reaching and Empowering Women Building Financially Self-Sufficient Institutions Ensuring a Positive, Measurable Impact on the Lives of Clients and their Families

Why the Poorest?

At the time of the 1997 Microcredit Summit, conventional wisdom challenged three of our core themes.

Conventional Wisdom: The poorest are too costly to identify and motivate.

Four Core Themes Reaching the Poorest Reaching and Empowering Women Building Financially Self-Sufficient Institutions Ensuring a Positive, Measurable Impact on the Lives of Clients and their Families

Four Core Themes Reaching the Poorest Reaching and Empowering Women Building Financially Self-Sufficient Institutions Ensuring a Positive, Measurable Impact on the Lives of Clients and their Families  

Microcredit institutions can not BOTH reach the poorest clients and attain financial self- sufficiency. Conventional Wisdom:

Four Core Themes Reaching the Poorest Reaching and Empowering Women Building Financially Self-Sufficient Institutions Ensuring a Positive, Measurable Impact on the Lives of Clients and their Families

Four Core Themes Reaching the Poorest Reaching and Empowering Women Building Financially Self-Sufficient Institutions Ensuring a Positive, Measurable Impact on the Lives of Clients and their Families       

Conventional Wisdom: Impact Measurements bring unjustified costs. If clients are repaying their loans, you are having a positive impact.

Four Core Themes Reaching the Poorest Reaching and Empowering Women Building Financially Self-Sufficient Institutions Ensuring a Positive, Measurable Impact on the Lives of Clients and their Families

Four Core Themes Reaching the Poorest Reaching and Empowering Women Building Financially Self-Sufficient Institutions Ensuring a Positive, Measurable Impact on the Lives of Clients and their Families        

Pathways out of Poverty, commissioned for November 2002 Microcredit Summit +5.

SHARE and CRECER underwent externally administered a.Poverty assessments b.Financial ratings c.Impact assessments

CGAP’s poverty assessment of SHARE found that 72.5 percent of entering clients lived on less than $1 a day USAID AIMS assessment found that one third of mature clients are no longer poor. In March 2002, 100 percent of SHARE’s costs were covered by interest charged and other fees.

60,000 very poor families 20,000 leaving poverty The institution is financially self-sufficient

Four Core Themes Reaching the Poorest Reaching and Empowering Women Building Financially Self-Sufficient Institutions Ensuring a Positive, Measurable Impact on the Lives of Clients and their Families        

Four Core Themes Reaching the Poorest Reaching and Empowering Women Building Financially Self-Sufficient Institutions Ensuring a Positive, Measurable Impact on the Lives of Clients and their Families

Where are we now? YearAll clientsPoorest clients As of 12/31/ institutions 13.5 million7.6 million As of 12/31/ institutions 20.9 million12.2 million As of 12/31/99 1,065 institutions 23.6 million13.8 million As of 12/31/00 1,567 institutions 30.7 million19.3 million As of 12/31/01 2,186 institutions 54.9 million26.8 million

Microcredit Summit Campaign in Asia & Africa Between March 2001 and March 2003 Campaign staff led 2 hour classrooms on Poverty Measurement Tools in… 75 cities 33 countries 2,900 practitioners

What’s Next… 3-day trainings

Launched March 2003

Asia/Pacific and Africa/Middle East Regional Meetings in 2004

What would it mean to reach 100 million poorest families? With an average family size of five people, 100 million families translates to roughly 500 million family members. The World Bank estimates that there are 1.2 billion people living in absolute poverty, under a dollar a day. Reaching 100 million families would mean reaching almost one half of those living in absolute poverty around the world.

What would it mean to reach 100 million poorest families? Tens of millions of families would have improved health and nutrition. Tens of millions of children would be able to attend school. Tens of millions of families would live in better homes. Tens of millions of women would have a higher status in the family and the community.

What would it mean to reach 100 million poorest families? We would be closer to the Millennium Summit’s goal of cutting absolute poverty in half by 2015.

What Can You Do? 1.Join the Microcredit Summit Campaign Database 2.Enlist your Institution in one of the Campaign councils 3.Take action that would help reach 100 million of the world’s poorest 4.Submit an Institutional Action Plan each year

Microcredit Summit Campaign Sponsors