Partners and Initiatives

Partners

The Microcredit Summit Campaign: A Project of RESULTS Educational Fund

The first Microcredit Summit Campaign was launched in 1997 with 2,900 people from 137 countries in Washington, DC. It started as a nine-year campaign to reach 100 million of the world’s poorest families, especially the women, with credit for self-employment and other financial and business services by the year 2005. In 2006, the Campaign was re-launched to 2015 with the new goals of reaching 175 million of the world’s poorest families with financial services and ensuring that 100 million families rise above the $1 a day poverty line by between 1990 and 2015.

The Campaign brings together microfinance practitioners, advocates, educational institutions, donor agencies, international financial institutions, non-governmental organizations and others involved with microfinance to promote best practices in the field, to stimulate the interchanging of knowledge, and to work toward reaching our goals.

Grameen Foundation

Grameen Foundation’s mission is to enable the poor, especially the poorest, to create a world without poverty. It a leader in the fight against poverty in sub-Saharan Africa, Asia, the Arab World, and the Americas. Since our beginning in 1997, our programs, resources and fresh ideas have helped more than 45 million poor people, mostly women and children, improve their lives. Building strong local institutions that reach even more people in the poorest communities is a cornerstone of its work. It helps microfinance institutions (MFIs), credit unions, cooperatives and poverty-focused organizations secure financing, develop strategies to attract and maintain a talented and dedicated workforce, and better track how quickly their clients are leaving poverty. Its technology initiatives focus on helping MFIs work more efficiently and serve more people and on providing new business opportunities and access for poor people.

Opportunity International

Opportunity’s mission is to provide opportunities for people in chronic poverty to transform their lives. Its strategy is to create jobs, stimulate small businesses, and strengthen communities among the poor. Its method is to work through indigenous partner organizations that provide small business loans, other financial services, training, and counsel. Opportunity’s commitment is motivated by Jesus Christ’s call to serve the poor. Its core values are respect, commitment to the poor, integrity, and stewardship. Opportunity International-U.S. strives to reach the world’s poorest people through its microenterprise development programs. Recognizing that the large majority of the world’s poorest people are women and that they contribute decisively to the well-being of their families, Opportunity makes it a priority to support programs that serve the particular needs of women.

FINCA International

FINCA International provides financial services to the world’s lowest-income entrepreneurs so they can create jobs, build assets and improve their standard of living. It targets the poorest of the working poor: those who have the least access to services such as loans, savings programs, and insurance. Its clients include women, who make up 70 percent of the world’s poor; individuals unable to find work in the formal sector; families displaced by war and internal conflict; the rural poor; and those affected by chronic poverty.

ACCION International

ACCION International is a private, nonprofit organization with the mission of giving people the financial tools they need to work their way out of poverty. By providing "micro" loans, business training and other financial services to poor men and women who start their own businesses, ACCION helps people work their way up the economic ladder, with dignity and pride.

Freedom From Hunger

Freedom from Hunger brings innovative and sustainable self-help solutions to the fight against chronic hunger and poverty. Together with local partners, we equip families with resources they need to build futures of health, hope and dignity.

Initiatives

The Financial Access Initiative

The Financial Access Initiative is a consortium of leading development economists focused on substantially expanding access to quality financial services for low-income individuals.