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UNITED NATIONS CAPITAL DEVELOPMENT FUND Microfinance |
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Spotlight Dear Colleagues, As promised, the Year of Microcredit website is now up at http://www.yearofmicrocredit.org. In addition to helpful information on key projects and resources on microfinance, the site features events, conferences and trainings related to the Year searchable by calendar or country. Help support the Year through your donation! You can make a contribution at the Year website to help raise awareness about the power of microfinance to increase economic opportunities for people, and address the challenges in widening access to financial services through such Year projects such as the Blue Book, The Global Microentrepreneurship Awards, and National Committees. Click here to donate. You may read the Report of the Secretary-General on Preparations for the International Year of Microcredit 2005 at http://daccess-ods.un.org/TMP/5108939.html. In addition to providing details on plans from a wide range of actors from both inside and outside of the UN community, it looks at microfinance in the context of the First United Nations Decade for the Eradication of Poverty (1997-2006). The most recent addition to a growing list of celebrities promoting the International Year of Microcredit 2005 is actress Natalie Portman. Nathalie already serves as a FINCA International Ambassador of Hope and she joins the Year as a Spokesperson for 2005. "Microcredit is about giving hope. When you're talking about making loans to women whose income is less than $1 a day, you can easily make the leap to see what a microloan can make possible,” says Portman. “The women I've met in Uganda and Guatemala are so resourceful, and it's just amazing to see how, with their courage and diligence, they create small businesses with such tiny amounts of money. These women work so hard, and they manage to pay off their loans, and the first thing they do is educate and feed their kids. It's amazing that the world is not investing more in this resource." Her Royal Highness Princess Mathilde of Belgium recently accepted an invitation to be an Emissary for the Year of Microcredit 2005. On 17-18 November 2004, she will participate at the launch of the U.N. International Year of Microcredit 2005 in New York. The Princess was invited by the United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF) and the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) to promote microcredit throughout the world. In her role as an official Emissary for the Year, Princess Mathilde will focus on promoting the social impact of microfinance on the well-being of families and clients, with special attention to women. Almost fifty countries have informed the Secretariat that they are in advanced stages of designating National Committees and formulating activity plans for the Year. A workshop was recently held in Nepal on the formation of a National Committee organized by UNDP and the Centre for Micro Finance (Pvt.) Ltd. (CMF) was held to establish National Committee in Nepal that represented the government sector, the private sector, and the civil society and NGO sector. In addition to reaching a consensus on the importance of inclusive financial systems, the fifty-two participants discussed the challenges of meeting the financial needs of the rural poor. Emphasis of the Nepal National Committee activities will also be placed on the need for creating an enabling environment for the promotion and support of microfinance. In the Philippines, the National Committee is chaired by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (Central Bank of the Philippines) and is composed of key players in the field of microfinance from practitioners to policy makers and advocates. The Philippine celebration of the Year of Microcredit is anchored on the overarching objectives of building an appropriate policy environment, promoting sustainable microfinance institutions and developing responsive microfinance services that ultimately benefit clients and improve the quality of their lives. The Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (Seco) with responsAbility have organized a touring exhibition on microfinance specifically created for the Year to be shown in several Swiss Bank branches, at client events and investors fairs across Switzerland to create awareness amongst private and institutional investors for new investment opportunities in Microfinance. The exhibit of educational displays and photos will start in January 2005 and continue through November. Best regards,
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