
Global Microcredit Summit calls for alleviating poverty
Friday, 18 November 2011
FE Report
The Global Micro-credit Summit 2011 has called for alleviating poverty and reaching the MDG through micro-credit which has already proven to bear positive results around the world.
The four-day summit that concluded Thursday (November 17) in Valladoid, Spain was opened by Queen Sofia of Spain and the founder of Grameen Bank, Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammad Yunus.
Soraya Rodríguez, Span's secretary of state for development cooperation, Trinidad Jiménez, Span's minister of foreign affairs, Sam Daley-Harris, director of the World Microcredit Campaign, Juan Vicente Herrera, president of the Autonomous Government of Castilla y León, and Francisco Javier León de la Riva, mayor of Valladolid, attended the summit.
Professor Yunus in the summit said: "Micro-credit is a way of helping future generations, because they are the future."
Yunus expressed regret that crisis had forced decisions to be made that affected micro-credit. Against this backdrop of dark clouds, he argued, "micro-credit is a shining hope, creating light at the end of the tunnel."
Queen of Spain Sofia, who is also the honorary co-chair of the Microcredit Summit Campaign, said: "The world of microfinance and this Summit are absolutely necessary to achieve the United Nations' Millennium Development Goals and reduce by half the number of people living on less than one dollar a day."
The Queen said Spain has become the second largest donor [to the microfinance sector] in the world.
In her speech, Span's Minister for Foreign Affairs said Spain contributes more than any other OECD country to development cooperation, the seventh highest amount in the world. "The crisis has forced us to make decisions, but that will not affect our convictions. We must continue making effective progress toward the eradication of poverty."
Span's Secretary of State for Development Cooperation said 1.4 billion people live on less than one euro a day and among the poorest people eight out of every ten are women. Soraya Rodríguez stressed the "courage, bravery and tenacity" of Muhammad Yunus and emphasised that microfinance "opens up a window of opportunity," adding that "we need ideas and this Global Summit is a unique opportunity."
During the Summit, a photo exhibition by Daniel Mordzinski, titled "Yunus. the Banker of Dignity" was opened by Sophia, queen of Spain and Ramiro Ruiz Medrano, president of the province of Valladolid. The streets of Valladolid are displaying pictures of Professor Yunus on it.
More than two thousand delegates from more than 90 countries attended the 2011 Global Micro-credit Summit, including heads of state and government and other dignitaries. This summit provided the opportunity for microfinance practitioners, advocates, investors, donors and others committed to the Campaign's goals to assess progress, discuss challenges to achieving the goals set for 2015 Micro-credit Summit, share best practices, and accelerate innovations.
The 2011 Global Micro-credit Summit included: six cutting edge topics discussed in plenary, over 50 workshop sessions, a number of intensive day-long courses on a variety of subjects, and some 30 additional associated sessions organised by delegates.
Sessions at the Summit demonstrated that microfinance institutions could provide access to financial services and, in some cases, offer non-financial services that could contribute to improvements in the health, education and overall well-being of clients and their families.
Professor Yunus urged everyone at the Summit to start social businesses, no matter how small. He stated "Once you have your goals set, then gradually, continuously, you can start solving social problems. The Wright Brothers did not create a jet airplane right away," he said. "You must create a solution then continuously improve it."
Speaking at the concluding ceremony, Professor Yunus expressed the hope that the Global Summit in 2011 would have a positive impact in improving the microfinance field, and help achieve the Millennium Development Goals. He said the Global Summit would become a landmark in the economic and social development of the poor.
The first Global Summit was held in Washington in 1997, which had set a goal to ensure that 100 million of the world's poorest families, especially women, would receive micro-credit and other financial and business services by 2005. This target was nearly reached.
Therefore, a new campaign was launched in November of 2006, with two new goals: to work to ensure that 175 million of the poorest families receive credit for self-employment and other services, as well as working to raise the income of 100 million families above the dollar a day threshold.