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Global Microentrepreneurship Awards
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The Programme
  What is the GMA Programme?
  Objectives of the Programme
  Frequently Asked Questions about the GMA Programme
   

What is the GMA Programme?

The United Nations General Assembly has declared 2005 as the International Year of Microcredit to recognize the contribution and importance of microfinance to poverty alleviation. The International Year of Microcredit provides a significant opportunity to raise awareness about the importance of microentrepenuership and to further enhance existing programmes that support sustainable, inclusive financial sectors around the world.

To commemorate the year's launch, the United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF), the Citigroup Foundation, and the Microentrepreneurship Student Alliance (a network of students at Harvard, Yale, Northwestern, New York University, Wharton and other universities) initiated in 2004 the UNCDF Global Microentrepreneurship Awards (GMA) as one of the key events to mark the International Year of Microcredit. Building on the success of the Citigroup Foundation's Microentrepreneurship awards programmes, which were held in Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, India, and the Philippines over the past few years, the UNCDF, the Citigroup Foundation, and the Microentrepreneurship Student Alliance rallied to promote and illustrate how microfinance strengthens the entrepreneurial spirit in impoverished communities around the world. To accomplish this goal, the organizers of the 2004 GMA pilot Programme:

  • Hosted awards ceremonies celebrating outstanding low-income entrepreneurs and microfinance institutions in eight pilot countries (Afghanistan, Cambodia, the Dominican Republic, Indonesia, Mexico, Mozambique, Pakistan, and Rwanda) plus New York City; and
  • Coordinated the opening of stock exchanges around the world by selected winners of the 2004 pilot GMA Programme who symbolically and literally "rang in" the Year of Microcredit. More than 75 students, professors, and alumni from 16 universities worldwide collaborated to celebrate microentrepreneurship in this manner. Meet the winners of the 2004 pilot GMA Programme

In light of the success of the 2004 GMA pilot Programme, the 2005 Programme will be expanded from eight countries to thirty-four. To fund and manage this expansion, the United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF), the Citigroup Foundation, and the Microentrepreneurship Student Alliance have agreed to form a collaborative effort and act as the Steering Committee to implement the GMA Programme.

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Objectives of the Programme

The ultimate goal of the GMA Programme is to establish a fair and inclusive Global Microentrepreneurship Awards Programme in the majority of developing countries throughout the world by the close of 2007.

In the long-term, this will be achieved through fulfilling three broad, overarching objectives:

  1. First, the Programme seeks to raise awareness about microfinance, particularly among microentrepreneurs who could benefit from it. Highlighting award winning microenterprises may inspire the poor to start their own businesses, as well as publicize best practices in microentrepreneurship. By encouraging the poor to emulate effective products and processes, the GMA Programme aims to stimulate the creation of more sustainable microenterprises.
  2. Second, the Programme seeks to build awareness and support of microfinance within the investment and donor communities by highlighting to the world the talents and contributions of microentrepreneurs. One of the Programme's goals is to reshape the world's perception of the poor: from unfortunate victims to that of entrepreneurs capable of making valuable economic contributions to their communities.
  3. Third, the Programme aims to create the next generation of microfinance networks, comprising financial leaders, opinion shapers, students, practitioners, and communities. It is important that the members of the public sector who participate in this network build more inclusive financial sectors and lay the foundation for a flourishing microfinance industry.

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Frequently Asked Questions about the GMA Programme

What is a microentrepreneur?
Microentrepreneurs are low-income persons who own small-scale businesses, a common form of employment in many developing countries. Microentrepreneurs often provide the sole source of income to their family and may employ a small number of people in their local community.

What is microfinance?
Microfinance is the provision of a broad range of financial services such as: savings, small loans, payment services, money transfers and insurance to poor and low-income households and their microenterprises.

How can microfinance be used as a development tool?
Microfinance can be a powerful tool for poverty reduction. Accessing financing allows the poor to bolster their household income and economic stability, build assets, and reduce vulnerability. Microfinance can also stimulate the local economy through job creation, as well as the creation of demand for goods and services.

What is the International Year of Microcredit?
Since 1959, the UN has designated International Years in order to draw attention to major issues and to encourage international action to address concerns that have global importance and ramifications. The UN also designates International decades and days.

In December 1998, the UN General Assembly designated the year 2005 as the International Year of Microcredit (resolution 53/197) stating that the Year will be an important opportunity to give impetus to microfinance programmes throughout the world. The Year of Microcredit 2005 calls for building inclusive financial sectors, strengthening the powerful, but often untapped, entrepreneurial spirit existing in communities around the world and achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

Who is supporting the GMA Programme?
The Citigroup Foundation and the United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF) are jointly funding the GMA Programme. In addition to their financial support, the UNCDF is mobilizing the UN's human and intellectual capital to advance the microfinance industry, while the Citigroup Foundation is coordinating with employee volunteers in 25 countries to leverage their expertise in building local awareness of this important initiative among the public and the media.

Will there be a 2006 GMA Programme?
Yes, one of the goals of the GMA Programme is to establish a fair and inclusive Global Microentrepreneurship Awards Programme in the majority of developing countries throughout the world by the close of 2007.

Can any country host a similar awards Programme?
In conjunction with the UN's International Year of Microcredit in 2005, the goal of the GMA Programme is to increase awareness of microfinance as a tool for alleviating poverty around the world and build up the next generation of global microfinance networks. In light of these goals, if you are interested in conducting your own GMA contest in a country without an official GMA presence, we encourage you to do so. We have provided a Handbook and Guidelines for Implementation and Management of the GMA just for that purpose. Due to budget limitations, we regret that we cannot provide any funding or resources beyond the handbook and information on this website to support those efforts. We are pleased that you share our passion for microentrepreneurship and applaud your commitment to this important issue.

I would like to learn more about microfinance. Is there a course where this is offered?
The United Nations Capital Development Fund has developed a distance-learning course intended to make basic knowledge of microfinance accessible around the globe. The Microfinance Distance Learning Course explores why and how microfinance operations grow to provide financial services to poor and low-income people on a sustainable basis. The course brings together advice and best practices from successful practitioners and institutions around the world, including Latin America, Africa, Asia and the Arab States.

The course is taught through an interactive CD-ROM with accompanying workbook, reading material and an instructor's manual. Please check the UNCDF website at www.uncdf.org/english/microfinance/MFcourse.php for more information.

To learn more about microfinance click here.

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