NGO News Report :: In the Micro-credit Summit 2013 kicked off with an opening ceremony at Philippine International Convention Center in Manila. This is the 16th Summit organized by the Campaign, since the first Micro-credit Summit that took place in Washington DC in 1997, and continued until 11 October.
More than 1,000 participants from around the world convened at the Philippine International Convention Center (PICC) in Manila to exchange best practices, discuss policies and share experiences. The Summit Campaign of 1997 exceeded its target of reaching 100 million poorest families with micro-credit and other financial services by 2005. The 2013 Summit focuses on “Partnerships against Poverty: Government, Business, Finance and Civil Society” which seeks to broaden the movement to include other programs such as education and health and private-public partnerships as way to sustain pathways out of poverty for the millions around the world. Philippines was one of the first countries in the world to take the Grameen Bank experience and replicate it widely across south-East Asian archipelago.
Nobel Laureate Professor Muhammad Yunus, Amando Tetangco, Jr., Governor of Central Bank of the Philippines, Florencio Abad, Budget Secretary of Philippines, Syarifuddin Hasan, Ministry of Cooperatives and SMEs, Indonesia, Mila Mercado-Bunker, President, Ahon Sa Hirap, Inc and Chair of Micro-finance Council of the Philippines, Larry Reed, Director, Micro-credit Summit Campaign, USA, Karen Dávila, award-winning Filipino broadcast Journalist and television presenter were among the speakers at the opening ceremony of the summit.
“We have the ability to transform the lives of the world’s poorest,” Prof. Yunus declared. “We just need to come together. Microcredit coupled with other social business can make this happen.” He added.
World Bank president Jim Yong Kim opened the 2013 Micro-credit Summit: “Partnerships against Poverty” with a recorded statement urging the nearly 1000 delegates from 69 countries to commit themselves to the advancement of micro-finance to end extreme poverty.
The sessions of the Summit included Building the Ecosystem for Financial Inclusion while Protecting Clients, Social Businesses: Creating Solutions for Social Problems , Going the Extra Mile: From Safety Nets to Pathways out of Poverty, Reaching Deeper & Lowering Costs: The Path Ahead for Digital Services.
Delegates at the 2013 Summit will explore the different roles that micro-finance institutions, banks, payment providers, regulators, policy makers, and social development organizations can play in partnership to help in the process of ending severe poverty. Summit attendees will gain a great deal in terms of new ideas and exciting partnerships. The agenda is crafted to provide practical lessons to meet challenges and opportunities head on. It will also inspire participants to return home with a renewed commitment to reach deeper into poverty and to work together on our collective mission to eradicate extreme poverty in the near future.
Nobel Laureate Professor Muhammad Yunus will return to Bangladesh at the conclusion of the Partnerships Against Poverty Summit in Manila.
