Boxed Text: The Presentations
Box 8: Deena
Burjorjee, UNCDF/SUM
The Special
Unit for Microfinance (SUM)
is the technical unit of the United Nations Capital Development
Fund (UNCDF) and the primary technical resource of the United
Nations Development Programme in the field of microfinance. Institutionally,
UNCDF/SUM works to address gender at two levels, programmatically
and through its Learning Agenda.
At the programme
level, UNCDF promotes gender issues by supporting MFIs with a
shared vision and commitment to gender equity in their programming
and by partnering with Technical Service Providers with proven
methodologies and credible plans for translating these concepts
on the ground.
Through its Learning Agenda, SUM capitalizes on its relationships
with Technical Service Providers (TSPs) and partner MFIs to document
best practices and innovations developed in the field to ensure
that microfinance better meets the needs of women. It also disseminates
lessons learned among practitioners and other donors working to
increase the benefits of microfinance to women. Currently, its
main activity in this realm is the publication of a reference
guide on such best practices, innovations, and lessons learned.
Building on the pioneering work previously undertaken by C. Jean
Weidemann under the USAID funded Gemini Project, the guide is
meant to fill the information gap regarding the operational aspects
of gender sensitive programming in microfinance. Final publication
of the Guide is scheduled for October 2001.
As part of
the research for this publication, SUM conducted a survey of 37
MFIs identified through Internet list-servers, SUM networks and
word-of-mouth. The institutions were queried about the markets
and clients they targeted, the products and services they had
developed to serve women, their experience with female staff,
and the outcomes of their endeavors. They were also asked to describe
the economic role and position of women in their countries, in
order to gauge the types of constraints that women labor under
in different regions and that affect the success of the MFIs’
work with women. The results of the 29 institutions that responded
to the survey have been compiled in a survey report available
on SUM’s web page at www.uncdf.org/sum. The responses indicated
that these MFIs had a strong awareness of the special needs of
women clients, and were making significant progress with respect
to mainstreaming gender sensitive programming. While the survey
shows evidence of equitable access for women among these institutions,
the challenge now lies in innovating products and services that
deepen the benefits to women clients and help them grow their
businesses.
Another element in SUM’s exploration of gender and microfinance is its support of and participation in the piloting of tools that assess impact in a gender responsive manner. Currently, it is piloting the AIMS tools in Morocco and the Ivory Coast, the results of which will contribute to the further refinement of the tools. Future items on the programming and learning agenda with respect to gender include supporting partners to identify innovative products and services designed to address women’s specific needs, and documenting the operational implications of these initiatives through an ongoing series of case studies.
