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The Microfinance Consensus Guidelines are developed by CGAP in cooperation with other organizations working in microfinance. They are intended to establish standards and accepted terms and definitions in microfinance. These guidelines are published in final form only after consensus is reached among players across the whole spectrum of the industry.
This 2007 edition of CGAP's Microfinance Investment Vehicle (MIV) Disclosure Guidelines is the result of 18 months of extensive consultation and a consensus
building process among 35 industry and capital market experts, organized by CGAP. CGAP is continuously improving the MIV Disclosure Guidelines. The 2008
edition will include a more developed social performance section.
(Originally published under the title: "Building Inclusive Financial Systems: Donor Guidelines on Good Practice Microfinance", December 2004)
The Good Practice Guidelines for Funders of Microfinance provide practical guidance for donor staff on how to best interact with, and support, the various actors in microfinance. Through a highly participatory process, including comments from 20 CGAP member donors and 10 other civil society organizations and individuals, the authors sought to balance all views in updating the Good Practice Guidelines.
These guidelines embody the working consensus of CGAP donor members on how donors can support deposit services in microfinance. The paper examines what the poor seek from savings and other deposit services, and analyzes the potential of different financial institutions to offer these services. It reviews the financial and institutional capacity requirements needed, such as operating environments, costs and pricing, market orientation, and the depth of outreach of a deposit services provider are examined.
The Disclosure Guidelines represent the consensus of CGAP's 28 member donors on MFI financial reporting requirements. The guidelines do not prescribe accounting policies or any particular format for financial reporting. Rather, they indicate the minimum information that should be included in MFI financial reports, regardless of how that information is presented. It reflects revisions based on field testing, which concluded in 2002.
Because sustainable microfinance is a key element in creating solid financial
markets in developing countries, CGAP's donor members developed and endorsed
these Key Principles of Microfinance. The G8 also endorsed these principles at
their June 2004 Summit in Sea Island, Georgia, USA, as part of their commitment
to expanding the access of microfinance.
Captured here is broad consensus on many principles of good practice in regulation and supervision of microfinance. The guidelines summarizes these principles for government regulators and others engaged in moving microfinance into the formal financial sector.
This guideline puts forward standard definitions for selected financial terms, commonly used and subject to confusion, and suggests a standard method of calculating certain financial ratios. The consensus on these terms is the result of a project intitated by Damian von Stauffenberg of MicroRate with Alternative Credit Techniques, CGAP, IDB, M-Cril, MicroBanking Bulletin, PlaNet Finance, the SEEP Network and SEEP Financial Services Working Group, and USAID.
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