This paper focuses on the development of microfinance in Asia and the Pacific in order to examine the development of the Microcredit Summit (MCS) campaign over the last five years and to make recommendations to improve the campaign
The paper finds that as one of the major forces behind the dissemination of microfinance theories and practices the MCS campaign has reaffirmed the relevance of microfinance to poverty alleviation, and provided some inspiring and valuable information in regards to the need to:
* Develop innovations
* Bring the commercial banking sector into microfinance
* Encourage favourable regulatory frameworks
However, the paper also finds that there have been a number of problems with the campaign, including:
* A lack of consistency due to a lack of continued funding, and the attention given to one-off meetings as opposed to a continued campaign
* The narrow focus of the campaign on a small number of agencies and organisations at the expense of a wider range of successful approaches in microfinance
The paper finds that the campaign?s target of reaching 100 million of the world's poor by 2005 is currently remote, as only 27 million have been given access to microcredit after five years of the campaign. It recommends that in order to meet the target the campaign must meet a triple need to:
* Decentralise its activities and structure, bringing it from Washington DC to the Third World
* Concentrate its efforts and rationalise its activities
* Embrace the diversity of actors and approaches in microfinance
