News
Record 128 Million of World’s Poorest Received a Micro-Loan in 2009
Monday 7 March 2011
More than 128 million of the world's poorest families received a microloan in 2009-an all-time high, according to a report released March 7th by the Microcredit Summit Campaign. Simultaneously a Seal of Excellence is announced as a objective measurement and recognition for those institutions doing the most to help families lift themselves out of poverty.
Assuming an average of five persons per family, this means that loans to 128 million poorest clients affected some 641 million family members, which is greater than the combined population of the European Union and Russia.
Women entrepreneurs as smartest investments
rnOver 81 percent of the very poor who received micro-loans are women, more than 100 million people. "Microcredit has very effectively lifted millions of poor women and their families out of poverty," said U.S. Ambassador-at-Large for Global Women's Issues Melanne Verveer. Referring to the 100th Anniversary of International Women's Day she stated: "Women entrepreneurs are one of the smartest investments in microfinance. Not only have they shown strong returns in the success of their businesses, but they consistently have demonstrated high loan repayment rates and they re-invest in their families and their communities."
Seal of Excellence
The State of the Microcredit Summit Campaign Report 2011 also announced the development of a Seal of Excellence for Poverty Outreach and Transformation in Microfinance which has been under discussion for 11 months and will continue to evolve throughout this year and beyond with input from a broad range of stakeholders.
The Seal will recognize those institutions doing the most to help families lift themselves out of poverty. Acknowledging the range of critical initiatives in the microfinance field, Campaign Director Sam Daley-Harris said in a press statement: "The Seal is working to build on the Smart Campaign's client protection principles and the work of the Social Performance Task Force and is discussing ways to implement the seal that would use the systems that have already been developed for understanding the social performance of microfinance institutions." The draft concept note and a request for feedback can be found here: http://www.microcreditsummit.org.
"With such incredible growth in microfinance there is a need for some certification, some objective measurement that makes it clear to the outside world that these are the goals of those microfinance institutions that are committed to reducing poverty and these are the institutions reaching those goals," said Chuck Waterfield, founder of MicroFinance Transparency. "Efforts such as a Seal of Excellence on Poverty Outreach and Transformation are needed - and needed now."
Outreach to rural areas
"It's important to note that microfinance is so much more than just credit for microentrepreneurs," said Larry Reed, the report's author and former CEO of the Opportunity International Network. "Some of the most compelling impact data is coming from savings programs for the poor and very poor, and there is a lot of promise in outreach to rural areas, including agriculture finance and insurance, especially when integrated with other development efforts."
State of the Microcredit Summit Campaign Report 2011
