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NEWS RELEASE
November 13, 1998
Policymakers Endorse Declaration at Microfinace Workshop in Ghana
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Declaration Outlines Strategies for Building Sustainable Rural Financial Systems for the Poor
The five-day international workshop on innovations in microfinance for the rural poor ended in Accra today with a Declaration that recognized rural sustainable microfinance institutions as "one essential tool for improving household food security, creating employment and generating rural development" and appealed to governments, financial institutions, and development organizations to "support the formation of human and social capital, and contribute to the start-up costs required for strengthening rural microfinance institutions". The declaration was adopted by 65 microfinance experts from Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe, Latin America, and North America who deliberated on issues ranging from regulation of microfinance institutions, to alternative organizational models of service delivery, to ways that make efficient, low-cost finance available to the rural poor. What made the workshop unique was the frank discussion and exchange of ideas that took place among managers of microfinance, policy makers, social scientists, and donors. The event was jointly organized by the Bank of Ghana, the German Foundation for International Development (DSE), the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), and the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD). "We recognize that this will require a comprehensive and long-term institution-building effort, including the formation of microfinance networks. This effort has to focus on the organizational capacity of microfinance institutions and a conducive regulatory framework laying out transparent and enforcable ground rules", the Declaration added. As participants prepared to go back home, there was clear sense that something concrete indeed had been gained. "There is a lot of knowledge and innovative approaches scattered all over world, and a meeting like this performs the extremely important function of sharing and consolidating ideas that helps everyone to do their jobs better, and this results in better services for the poor" said Mrs. Ruth Odera of the African Rural and Agricultural credit Association(AFRACA) that is based in Nairobi, Kenya. Among other participants was Mr. Fayzer Rahman from Bangladesh who remarked that "dialogues between a diverse group of practitioners, policy makers, and researchers such as this go a long way in clarifying the scope of microfinance in the overall poverty alleviation strategy and this is exactly what happened here". DSE is a German government foundation that provides regular fora for development policy dialogue all over the world. The Washington DC based IFPRI identifies and analyses policies for sustainable meeting of food needs of the developed world. The Rome-based IFAD, an institution within the UN system devoted to agricultural development for the poor, places microfinance prominently in its assistance to developing member countries. For more information, contact: David Gately (202)862-5679 |
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