About

The annual MicroNed conference was held in June 2011. Theme of the conference was "Impact of Microfinance: Taking Stock of Evidence"
You can read the conference report, including presentation slides and the impact study issued by MicroNed

MicroNed was created in 2006, as a network of the Dutch Development Finance Organisations Cordaid, Hivos, ICCO and Oxfam Novib, to cooperate on a structural basis with respect to the establishment of a specialised sector approach for microfinance. In 2008 Rabobank Foundation joined MicroNed.

Microfinance has become one of the success stories in development cooperation, because of its demonstrated potential to contribute to poverty reduction and its ability to sustain and expand operations from income earned. These days, some 1 billion of the world's poorest are served by microfinance, but the need for growth of the sector is still enormous: it is estimated that still some 900 million poor people need financial services tailored to their everyday life. Commercial banks play an increasingly important role in financing mature microfinance institutions (MFIs). However, to be able to cater for the demand for microfinance, many more microfinance initiatives are needed. Hence, there is a great need for grant funds to support emerging MFIs on their way to become mature and viable organisations. The funds should enable them to fulfil their social mission -to serve the poor-, and to expand their outreach. Development Finance Organisations (DFOs) in the North having a similar mission, and in The Netherlands, Cordaid, Hivos, Icco, Oxfam Novib and Rabobank Foundation, have an important role to play in this respect. Their cooperation with respect to microfinance, is formalised in MicroNed.

All members of MicroNed are also members of the Netherlands Platform for Microfinance. For vacancies at one of our members, or other Dutch Microfinance actors, please refer to the website of the Netherlands Platform for Microfinance (NPM).