Fostering the Development of Micro, Small and Medium Size Enterprises

Presentation by Danielle Yariv, Grameen Foundation, USA

The Grameen Foundation USA appreciates the opportunity to participate in this forum and lauds the governments of the Americas and assembled institutions for their work to implement the Summit of the Americas mandate to foster the development of micro, small and medium enterprises.

Grameen Foundation USA is a U.S.-based, non-profit organization created to promote greater understanding of, and support for successful anti-poverty programs of the Grameen Bank and related Grameen institutions. The Foundation is working to mobilize resources, provide technical assistance, and implement projects.

In all aspects of its work, the GF-USA aims to focus the attention of donors, commercial banks, and microfinance practitioners on the importance of targeting resources for the poorest of the poor, especially rural women. The Grameen Bank and the Grameen family of institutions believe that poverty-focused sustainable microfinance is an essential element in poverty reduction and can have an immediate impact on the lives of larger numbers of the poor.

In the past few years, GF-USA has developed fruitful partnerships with commercial banks such as Citibank, Chase Manhattan Bank and Deutschbank Banker's Trust. As a result, the Foundation has mobilized over $1 million in financial support for the scaling up of microfinance institutions that have adopted the Grameen approach in South and Southeast Asia, and is providing technical assistance to microfinance programs in Mexico, the United States and the Philippines

In the next five year's, the Foundation will work to establish microfinance programs targeting the poorest in Latin America and the Caribbean and to support the expansion of those that already exist. Grameen Foundation will seek to support new and existing microfinance projects in Latin America by raising start-up and expansion funds from the public and private institutions, by providing technical assistance on the Grameen Bank approach, by working with donor agencies to ensure that the greatest amount of funds are targeted to the poorest borrowers, and by contributing to the dialogue between commercial banks and poverty-focused microfinance institutions.

The Grameen Foundation USA looks forward to finding meaningful ways to collaborate with the OAS and its partner agencies and organizations to promote the growth of the poverty-focused microfinance sector in Latin America and the Caribbean.

Thank you.