Better Aid for Access to Finance
2nd High-Level Meeting on
Aid Effectiveness in Microfinance
20 October 2006, Paris, France

The second high-level meeting of CGAP members, Better Aid for Access to Finance, gathered leaders of the development community, including 16 heads of agency and 13 top managers in Paris on 20 October 2006. Chaired by Jean-Michel Severino (AFD) and Kemal Derviş (UNDP), the discussion centered on an often-neglected aspect of aid quality - the internal management systems of development agencies. CGAP members are committed to improving the way they work because they know that more aid is meaningful only if it is spent more effectively. Or in the words of one donor staff: "Change starts at home."

The day was characterized by lively and productive discussions and agency heads committed to four actionable steps in the Compact for Better Aid for Access to Finance:

• Measuring the quality of aid management (reporting to a new Quality of Aid Management for Microfinance Index);
• Implementing the Good Practice Guidelines for Funders of Microfinance;
• Improving field-level coordination; and
• Exploring how best to partner with the private sector.

For more information about the meeting, please see links on the left. More information on CGAP's aid effectiveness initiative can be found on the DIRECT (CGAP Donor Information Resource Center).