International Effort Seeks Solutions to Poverty through Improved Access to Financial Services
United Nations Conference on Financial Inclusion in Africa to bring hundreds of practitioners, policy makers and bankers to Dakar
25 May 2006 - Dakar, Senegal - The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF) will host a major conference on Financial Inclusion in Africa in Dakar, Senegal to address the challenges and constraints to building inclusive financial sectors in Africa. The Conference, scheduled for 5 and 6 June 2006, will assist policy makers and other stakeholders in their efforts to assure that poor and low income people and micro and small enterprises in Africa have access to a broad range of financial products and services. The Conference will build upon recent experiences at the national level in Africa and will utilize the framework and recommendations contained in the recently published Building Inclusive Financial Sectors for Development (http://bluebook.uncdf.org). In addition, the Conference will follow-up several of the initiatives and conclusions of the UN International Year of Microcredit.
"The stark reality is that most poor people in the world still lack access to sustainable financial services, whether it is savings, credit or insurance," said UN Secretary General Kofi Annan in his statement for the Year of Microcredit. "The great challenge before us is to address the constraints that exclude people from full participation in the financial sector…. Together, we can and must build inclusive financial sectors that help people improve their lives."
Presidents Abdoulaye Wade of Senegal and Ellen Johnson Sirleaf of Liberia have both been invited to deliver keynote addresses on the opening day. Other participants include policy makers from across Africa and representatives from many banking institutions, MFIs, development agencies, the private sector, academia, and civil society.
UNCDF Executive Secretary Richard Weingarten said the Dakar Conference will focus on the issues and challenges involved in building inclusive financial sectors in Africa. "Only about 4% of the population in sub-Saharan Africa has a bank account, and the number of bank deposits per person is far below other regions," he said. In addition, only 1% of Africans has obtained a loan or other form of credit from a formal financial institution, and the number of loans per person is will below the number in other areas. We can not tackle the enormous challenges of poverty on the continent without addressing these financial constraints."
More information on the Dakar Conference is available at http://bifsa.uncdf.org.
Contact:
Danielle Benoist
Dakar
danielle.benoist@undp.org
tel.: (+221) 869 39 74 / 59
fax : (+221) 869 38 15 / 16
Hyewon Jung
New York
hyewon.jung@undp.org
tel: (+1) 212 906 6693
fax: (+1) 212 906 6479
