CGAP Annual Report 2009

2009 Highlights

  • CGAP developed a series of responses to the financial crisis. These responses include a virtual conference to collect and exchange information from the field, a survey of 400 MFIs across the world, and an analytical paper, “The Global Financial Crisis and Its Impact of Microfinance.”
  • Three new projects were approved as part of CGAP’s Technology Program, co-funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation: an initiative with Orange, the largest mobile network operator in West Africa, to roll out a mobile money financial product in Mali; a branchless banking service in Brazil with Banco Santander, focused on low-income clients; and a project with Eko, an agent company in India, to create an agent network to deliver savings and remittance services to new customers of State Bank of India in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh.
  • The CGAP–Ford Foundation Graduation Program, which aims to create a pathway out of poverty for the poorest of the poor, now counts nine pilots (in Ethiopia, Haiti, Honduras, India, Pakistan, Peru, and Yemen) that carefully sequence grants, assets transfers, livelihood training, and financial services. In Haiti, nearly 150 destitute women graduated from Chemen Lavi Miyo, the first households to have completed the 18 month program and moved from extreme poverty into sustainable livelihoods.
  • More than 1,400 MFIs reported to the Microfinance Information Exchange (MIX), up from 1,250 MFIs in 2008. MIX is the leading provider of business information and data services for the microfinance industry. Created by CGAP and spun off in 2002, MIX is now co-funded by CGAP, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Citigroup Foundation, Deutsche Bank Americas Foundation, MasterCard Foundation, Open Society Institute, and Rockdale Foundation.
  • CGAP, the Ford Foundation, and the Michael & Susan Dell Foundation launched the Social Performance Transparency Awards. Thanks to this initiative, more than 150 MFIs have reported on their social performance to MIX, using a common set of social performance indicators developed by the Social Performance Task Force.
  • The Information Systems Program, a joint partnership between CGAP and the European Union, helped finance 39 MFIs to conduct assessments of their information systems and conducted consumer reviews of 15 microfinance MIS software programs.
  • CGAP provided advice on laws or policy reforms affecting microfinance in 17 countries: Algeria, Bangladesh, Burundi, Egypt, India, Iraq, Kosovo, Liberia, Malawi, Nepal, Nigeria, Palestinian Territory, Russia, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Sri Lanka, and Turkmenistan.
  • CGAP conducted 22 country-specific and region-specific policy consultations and awareness-building events in 18 countries: Algeria, Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, Colombia, Haiti, Democratic Republic of Congo, Egypt, Guinea, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Maldives, Nicaragua, Nigeria, Russia, Rwanda, Sri Lanka, and Vietnam.
  • CGAP completed the first-ever Global Microfinance Funder Survey of cross-border funding in microfinance. The 54 funders participating in the survey had a total of $11.7 billion committed to microfinance as of December 2007. The six largest funders, accounting for more than half of all the funding combined, were the Asian Development Bank, KfW, the World Bank, IFAD, IFC, and EBRD.
  • CGAP’s 2009 Survey of Microfinance Investment Vehicles (MIVs) provided an overview of the specialized private equity funds that have emerged over the past few years and are attracting a broad range of socially oriented investors. Fifty-eight MIVs, representing 86% of assets under management, participated in the survey. In collaboration with a working group of investors and microfinance networks, CGAP developed environmental, social, and governance indicators that MIVs will report on next year.
  • Eleven funders (AECID, AFD, AfDB, EC, GTZ, IFAD, IFC, ILO, MIF, SDC, and UNCDF) participated in the second round of the SmartAid for Microfinance Index, a tool that measures how well funders are set up to support microfinance. Participating agencies receive a report with a score, an analysis of its strengths and weaknesses, and recommendations for improvements.
  • CGAP provided tailored advisory services to 12 funding agencies, ranging from advising on microfinance strategies, reviewing new projects or initiatives, and facilitating the development of core performance indicators for microfinance projects. We also offered five week-long training courses for the staff of funding agencies.