Microfinance Partners is defined broadly to include microfinance
providers, the private sector (financial and corporate), academia,
civil society and NGOs.
A range of groups is supporting the Year by working to both
build inclusive financial sectors and increase the public's
awareness and understanding of microcredit and microfinance. Click
here to link your organization to the website for the
International Year of Microcredit 2005.
ACCION
International
ACCION International is a private, nonprofit organization
with the mission of giving people the financial tools they
need — microenterprise loans, business training, and
other financial services — to work their way out of
poverty.
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Adie
(Association pour le Droit à l'Initiative Economique)
Adie (Association pour le Droit à l'Initiative Economique)
is a microcredit association financing and providing business
support to unemployed and people on welfare creating microenterprises.
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Alterfin
The belgian cooperative ALTERFIN is a social investor that
supports MicroFinance Institutions in developing countries,
by providing them loans and technical assistance and by taking
temporary participations in their capital.
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Colcami
COLCAMI is a specialized regional center in microfinance
training that contributes to the development of microfinance
in Latinamerica and the Caribbean.
Consultative
Group to Assist the Poor
CGAP's vision is for poor people everywhere to have permanent
access to a wide range of financial services.
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CRISIL
CRISIL is India's leading Ratings, Financial News, Risk and
Policy Advisory company.
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Deutsche
Mikrofinanz Institut
The Deutsche Mikrofinanz Institut (DMI) is the main sector
development organisation in Germany. It organises and provides
all the resources necessary for microlenders to start and
develop their activities in Germany.
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Development
Gateway
The Development Gateway Foundation builds the capacity of
microfinance institutions through its topic page of microfinance.
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European
Microfinance Network
The European Microfinance Network (EMN) was created in 2003,
thanks to the support of the European Commission and of the
French Caisse des Dépôts et Consignations (CDC).
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Développement
international Desjardins
Développement international Desjardins (DID) is a
Canadian corporation specializing in technical support and
investment in the area of community finance within developing
and emerging countries.
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The "Giordano
Dell'Amore" Foundation
The "Giordano Dell'Amore" Foundation, established
by Cariplo Foundation, aims at driving the attention and
project activities of banks, other financial institutions,
financial authorities, and co-operation agencies towards
the frontiers of finance that are critical for development
but are still neglected or misunderstood, both in the developing
countries and in the marginal sectors of developed economies.
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FINCA
International
FINCA provides financial services to the world's poorest
families so they can create their own jobs, raise household
incomes, and improve their standard of living.
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Fondazione
Risorsa Donna
The Foundation is a private non-profit organization that
aims to help women—through research, training courses
and study seminars—obtain access to capital, information,
technology and markets in various environments thereby providing
them with opportunities to develop their own knowledge and
encouraging the use of mechanisms and instruments to increase
their awareness of their potential and the importance of
their role in society both financially and socially.
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Fonkoze
Fonkoze, Haiti's largest microfinance institution, serves
over 25,000 loan clients and 50,000 depositors through 20
branches located nationwide. Fonkoze provides a mix of financial
services (loans, savings, currency exchange and money transfer)
and literacy training in business skills, development, and
reproductive health.
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Global
Development Research Center (GDRC)
The Global Development Research Center (GDRC) is a virtual
organization that carries out initiatives in spheres of environment,
urban, community, economy and information.
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Global
Partnerships
Global Partnerships is a Seattle-based nonprofit that identifies,
invests in and orchestrates business—like poverty alleviation
approaches in Central America.
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Grameen
Foundation USA (GF-USA)
Grameen Foundation USA (GF-USA) is a young, dynamic, global
organization that partners with a broad network of grassroots
microfinance institutions to empower the world's poorest
people to lift themselves out of poverty with dignity.
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Green
Microfinance
Green Microfinance (GMf™) exists because of the growing
need, ecological impacts, and opportunity to improve the
environmental performance of microenterprises globally.
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The
International Alliance for Woman (TIAW)
As a nonprofit, nonpartisan "umbrella" organization,
TIAW unites, supports, and promotes professional women and
their networks.
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International
Strategy for Disaster Reduction
The International Strategy for Disaster Reduction aims at
building disaster resilient communities.
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The
Italian Banking Association (ABI)
he Italian Banking Association (Associazione Bancaria Italiana),
is a voluntary non-profit association with over 1,000 members.
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micro.Bo
micro.Bo is a microcredit organization born in Bologna, Italy
to help
non banked people access credit in order to start microenterprises.
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MicroFinance
Network (MFN)
The MicroFinance Network (MFN) is a global association of
leading microfinance institutions committed to improving
the quality of life of the poor through the provision of
credit, savings, and other financial services.
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Microcredit
Summit Campaign
The Microcredit Summit Campaign is working to ensure that
100 million of the world’s poorest families, especially
the women of those families, are receiving credit for self-employment,
and other financial and business services by the end of 2005.
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The
Multi-Environmental Society (MESO)
MESO is a local, non-governmental organization (NGO) operating
in Tanzania, founded on the belief that economic development
and environmental conservation can be achieved simultaneously.
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NamasteDirect
NamasteDirect provides a close linkage between U.S. donors
and microcredit borrowers in Central America. We provide
funds for first-time, rural women only. Donor funds are tracked
all the way to the borrower.
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Opportunity
Internationl UK
Opportunity International UK exists to empower people and
communities in the world's poorest countries to overcome
poverty and to secure sustainable improvements in the quality
of their lives.
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PlaNet
Finance
PlaNet Finance is an international non-profit organization,
which aims to alleviate poverty by contributing to the development
of the microfinance sector.
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Responsability
ResponsAbility's vision is a world in which developing countries
are no longer considered as mere aid-recipients but as high-potential
economies with a thriving and diverse entrepreneurial base,
strongly supported by innovative microentreprises and Small
and Medium Enterprises (SMEs).
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Rural
Finance Learning Centre
The Rural Finance Learning Centre is the information gateway
for capacity building tools and distance learning training
materials to support microfinance for rural areas.
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Save
the Children
Save the Children is the leading independent organization
creating real and lasting change for children in need in
the United States and in more than 40 countries around the
world.
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Shared
Interest
Shared Interest is a nonprofit social investment fund that
for the last decade has pioneered the use of guarantees to
advance social justice and work as a catalyst for social
and economic change in South Africa.
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Triodos
Bank
Triodos Bank is a fully licensed independent Bank with branch
offices in The Netherlands, Belgium, United Kingdom and Spain.
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Unitus
Unitus is a global microfinance accelerator, providing high-impact
capital and capacity-building consulting to the highest potential
microfinance institutions (MFIs) in developing countries
worldwide.
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Women’s World Banking
Women’s World Banking (WWB) is a leader in building financial systems for low-income women and households worldwide.
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World
Council of Credit Unions, Inc
World Council of Credit Union's (WOCCU) international performance
standards and technical assistance programs help credit unions
around the world to provide microfinance services to low-income
members.
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World
Savings Banks Institute
WSBI member savings banks are intensifying their efforts
in contributing to more inclusive financial sectors.
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World
Tourism Organization
The World Tourism Organization is a UN Specialized Agency
that serves as a global forum for tourism policy issues and
a practical source of tourism know-how.
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As universities are not isolated from global events, a network
of Year of Microcredit Student Ambassadors from graduate
schools all over the world will maximize outreach to the
next generation of microfinance practitioners and development
specialists. These students are working to educate their
respective institutions through the planning of events, special
projects and symposia. Currently fifteen “Student Ambassadors” represent
many leading graduate schools including: Harvard Business
School, Solvay Business School, Audencia Nantes Graduate
School of Business and Management, Roskilde University (Copenhagen),
Stanford University, Columbia, Oxford, and the University
of Chicago. Many of the new initiatives being planned, such
as a “Global Student Microfinance Initiative” headquartered
at Yale University with links to different regions, will
last far beyond the close of the Year. For more information,
please email: christina.barrineau@undp.org
Below are some student networks focusing on microfinance:
The Cambridge Microfinance and Development Venture Capital
(MADVC) Network is an information and networking
tool for students interested in development finance
worldwide. It’s relationship with students
and faculty at top graduate schools (Harvard Business
School / Kennedy School of Government / Massachusetts
Institute of Technology / the Fletcher School) contributes
to its strength and prominence in the Boston area.
The Network disseminates information to members on
behalf of development finance practitioners through
monthly e-newsletters and through our website: http://www.microfinancenetwork.org.
To subscribe to the Network's monthly e-newsletter,
please send an email to the following address: CamMicrofinNet-subscribe@yahoogroups.com.
If you have questions or would like to get involved,
please email Bhakti b@mba2005.hbs.edu,
Deirdre dcooper@mba2005.hbs.edu,
or Regina rgalang2005@kellogg.northwestern.edu.
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The Microfinance Working Group of Columbia University is
a graduate student-led organization offering educational
and professional fora focussed on microfinance as a vehicle
of poverty alleviation as well as a tool for delivering sustainable
financial products and services to the populations traditionally
excluded from the formal financial sector. The group hosts
substantive events and lectures featuring professionals experts
from the private, government and not-for-profit microfinance
sectors that increase knowledge of best practices in microfinance,
promote the practice of microfinance to policy makers, financial
professionals, microfinance practitioners and donors. Fostering
information exchanges, microfinance initiatives and the development
of a professional network helps fulfill our goal to educate
and contribute to the development in scale and scope of sustainable
microfinance sectors. For more information please visit, http://www.sipa.columbia.edu/students/micro/index.asp
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The Stern Non-Profit Association is a NYU Stern
Business School club which seeks to address the needs of
Stern students and alumni interested in pursuing career or
volunteer opportunities in nonprofits, public management
and social enterprise by implementing activities and initiatives
to enhance and ease members' integration into the sector.
These initiatives focus on the needs of members interested
in the sector and include the establishment of a Short
Term Loan Program for students and Alumni seeking careers in non-profit
and social endeavors, Non-Profit Board opportunities, and
participation and promotion of events and activities with
a special focus on microfinance. If you wish to join the
SNPA listserve or learn more about the association please
email snpa@stern.nyu.edu,
or visit http://pages.stern.nyu.edu/~snpa/index_new.asp
Congratulations to Year of Microcredit intern Chris Kunitz
for winning the NYU
President's Service Award for his Microfinance Initiative.
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The Student Microfinance Initiative is a student-run,
international network dedicated to the promotion of microfinance
around the world. The Initiative aims to make microfinance
a sustainable industry in the long term by working on a country-by-country
basis. Currently, the SMI works with students from five countries,
Mexico, Colombia, Kenya, Dominican Republic and Tanzania.
These local students come from the leading universities of
each country and work through Student Committees to improve
the microfinancial situation of their communities by undertaking
different projects tailored to the needs of each region.
The Initiative is based in New Haven, CT (Yale University).
If you wish to join the Initiative or would like to know
more about it, please email join@sminetwork.org, or visit www.sminetwork.org.
Group initiatives, industry and career information is communicated
via our yahoo group. To join register at: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/microfinanceworkinggroup/
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Under the umbrella of the International Year of
Microcredit 2005, the NYU Microfinance Initiative creates
an environment for students, alumni and practitioners to
engage in an open dialogue about the microfinance sector;
learning more about the current and future trends and organizing
activities to promote microfinance as a tool for alleviating
poverty both locally and globally.
If you wish to join the Initiative or would like to know more
about it, please email nyumi2005@gmail.com.
Group initiatives, industry and career information is communicated
via our yahoo group. To join register at: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nyumicrofinanceinitiative.
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