Micro crédit – Micro finance

Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), targeted by governments are linked to health, education and sex equality, these sectors are necessary for the reduction of poverty by half to 2015.

The year of microcredit will underline the role of microfinance in poverty reduction; develop programs in financial sectors that will hep giving a better livelihood worldwide. It will also permit the strengthening of the sector capacities to come up to customers’ expectations, it will be the occasion to increase partnerships between private and public sector, and the last but not the least in a way of popularization it will provide a simplified view of microfinance.

This initiative is going to materialized through the realization of two projects:

The project of Blue Book aimed to reduce hindrances to the construction of integrant financial sectors and also to propose an analysis on the reasons of their inaccessibility to a major group of population. After the publication of the book, it will help state members in the definition of strategies and national vision that will make possible an alignment of national financial sectors in order to achieve the MDGs

The project on data information aimed to solve the lack of basis information on microfinance. It has to establish previsions on future needs in information. Those who are available will boost the development of financial markets, and helped donators, governments, banks and medias identifying opportunities, which will lead to a larger financial access to everyone.

For more information
The official UN web site, www.yearofmicrocredit.org, which provides information about the year (projects, answers to questions…), who is involved and how to get involved. Resource on library offers a Newsletter, latest news, The Microfinance Distance Learning Course, recommended reading…

The Microfinance Gateway
www.microfinancegateway.org
The Microfinance Gateway is a public forum for the microfinance industry at large that offers a wealth of tailored services for microfinance professionals, including resource centers on specific topics in microfinance, a searchable library of electronic documents, a consultant database, a jobs listing service, a news bulletin board, and specialized discussion groups.

The Gateway is managed by the Consultative Group to Assist the Poor (CGAP www.cgap.org), a consortium of 29 donors who support microfinance, based in Washington, D.C.

It proposes the following rubrics:

Library: Online documents
www.microfinancegateway.org/section/library/
Resource Centres: thematic dossiers - analysis of Rural Microfinance questions
www.microfinancegateway.org/section/resourcecenters/
Discussion Groups: interactive exchange on fields related to development
www.microfinancegateway.org/content/discussion/
Events: Inform on past and future events
www.microfinancegateway.org/content/calendar/
Organizations: Search the Organization Directory
www.microfinancegateway.org/content/directory/
Consultants: help you finding the appropriate consultant
www.microfinancegateway.org/content/member/list
Jobs: Search the Job Board
www.microfinancegateway.org/content/jobs/

MIX Market
www.mixmarket.org
The MIX Market is a global, web-based, microfinance information platform. It provides information to sector actors and the public at large on microfinance institutions (MFIs) worldwide, public and private funds that invest in microfinance, MFI networks, raters/external evaluators, advisory firms, and governmental and regulatory agencies. The MIX Market seeks to develop a transparent information market to link MFIs worldwide with Investors and Donors and promote greater investment and information flows.

Zoom Microfinance
www.sosfaim.be/MicroFinance/zoom.htm
SOS Faim – www.sosfaim - has been working for several years in the microfinance field and supports partners involved in this sector in Africa and Latin America. As with all development tools, we have to analyze the aims, models and implementation conditions of microfinance. With this frame of mind, SOS Faim edits a bulletin called “Zoom microfinance”. You can find this publication and download it English on the website of SOS Faim.

Virtual library on microcredit
http://www.gdrc.org/icm/index.html
The Global Development Research Center (GDRC) is a virtual organization that carries out initiatives in education, research and practices, in the spheres of environment, urban, community and information, and at scales that are effective. At his beginning It was focused on just Informal Credit Markets (ICM) - in April 1995. Since then more programmes have been added, and the programme on ICM itself has become the Virtual Library on Microcredit. From the “main menu” you can access to six chapters:

Bibliography provides links to bibliographic references list on many thematic.

Documents offer full text documents and glossaries sort by thematic (practice of microcredit, broader perspective of Microfinance, evaluations and experiences, informal and traditional credit markets, microfinance and migrant remittances, and general issues on microfinance).

Case Studies provide studies, general development information and programmes in Microfinance on Latin America, Asia, Africa and Central and Eastern European Countries.

Libraries listed links to virtual libraries and other web resources in the field of microfinance.

Internet resources provides links through microfinance software and organizations ; it also provides links on how to improve the participation of women’ s access to credit (documents, strategies, tools, networks and programmes), microfinance governance, capacity building, financing microenterprises and inspiring ideas (documents, programmes, reports, business planning for microenterprises, …)

Mailing List provides links to the major newsgroups and mailing list on the issue.