Over the past three decades, microcredit has revolutionised the financial world. Microfinance institutions have long broken rules that were thought unchangeable, by offering services to the poor, lending particularly to women, giving small loans against very little collateral and all this with minimum paper work and procedures. They have proved that banks can – if they so choose – not only lend to the rich but also support small entrepreneurs and their families.
During the UN Year of Microcredit, Oikocredit makes a global effort to increase public awareness and understanding of microfinance. One of Oikocredit’s initiatives in this light is the international symposium Small loans – Great change in Bonn. This whole-day event focuses on the impact microfinance has on communities and people. It consists of a plenary morning session and smaller thematic conferences in the afternoon. The thematic conferences concentrating on the impact of microfinance cover themes such as women and microcredit, microfinancing in rural areas, how to measure the social impact of microcredit and case studies of microfinance institutions. Representatives of microfinance institutions from all over the world as well as MFI experts, UN representatives and German representatives will share their objectives for the year 2005.
For more information and to register for this event, please visit: www.oikocredit.org/microcredit.