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UNITED NATIONS CAPITAL DEVELOPMENT FUND Microfinance |
Issue 18 / November 2005 |
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Editor's Note — Summing up the International Year of Microcredit 2005
In a time of turbulence, and not a little bad press for the United Nations, we hope that the International Year of Microcredit has represented the UN at its best, and served as an example of good work that is carried out here on a daily basis - work that, while not always in the headlines, touches the lives of people around the world in a meaningful way. More importantly, we hope the Year has focused global attention not only on the importance of extending financial services to the millions, and possibly billions of poor people who need them, but on how to work to achieve that goal. Our intent has been that this year will not be remembered as the International Year of Microcredit, but as the year when microfinance finally took center stage - and when the world agreed that the ultimate goal is to build inclusive financial sectors. This issue of Microfinance Matters features examples of concrete action that we expect will result in real change - in increased access to financial services for poor people over the long term. Our featured guest is UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, who delineates the UN's commitment to achieving this goal, and says: "I look forward to working with all of you to build on all that was accomplished this year to create choices and opportunities for poor people around the world". The independent Advisors Group to the Year has in turn channeled its expertise into concrete recommendations intended to guide the UN in carrying out its objectives. The Year was also designed as a catalyst for local action. In the end, more than 100 countries responded to the call of the Year, initiating a wide array of initiatives ranging from the serious work of regulatory change to celebrating microentrepreneurs by including microfinance story lines in popular soap operas - all of which represent significant strides to effecting real change at the national level over the long term. Indeed, Mr. Amando M. Tetangco Jr., Governor, Central Bank of the Philippines and Chairman, Philippine National Committee for the International Year of Microcredit contributes an editorial which provides a glimpse into the power of the process that was set in motion by the Philippine National Committee this year, promising: "We will remain untiring in our task to see this to its fruition and to make sure that our entrepreneurial poor will enjoy the benefits of a truly inclusive financial sector". The Year also sought to address major information gaps that present forbidding obstacles to the development of the microfinance industry in countries around the world. The Year's Data Project engaged the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund and others in groundbreaking efforts to address the lack of data on microfinance, which has stymied efforts to focus the attention of decision-makers on our critical issue. Finally, any year dedicated to increasing access to financial services would be woefully incomplete without including our reason for undertaking all of these efforts in the first place - the clients. The Year's Global Microentrepreneurship Awards Programme celebrated the hard work and incredible achievements of microentrepreneurs in 30 countries around the world, bringing their dedication to national and international attention. Perhaps the year's biggest success was its climax: the International Forum on Building Inclusive Financial Sectors, which gathered more than 700 representatives from more than 90 countries around the world at UN Headquarters in New York from November 7-9. The engagement of such a diverse and high-level array of actors, from the formal financial and private sectors in particular, was clear evidence in and of itself that times are changing for microfinance. Whether you choose to attribute it to the Year's efforts or not, 2005 has undoubtedly been a critical year for microfinance. From endorsements by the G8 and the UN World Summit to the increasingly active participation of major global financial institutions, all the signs indicate that microfinance is poised to graduate from insular (and some would say inbred) niche, to take its rightful place as a serious part of formal financial sectors the world over. For that, we can all be proud.
Vanessa Ward
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