Site menu:

Colombia
Latin America-Caribbean Regional Microcredit Summit in Cartagena

Professor H. I. Latifee, Mr. Philip Sansone, Professor Yunus and Mr. Vidar Jorgensen
at the Grameen Global Network (GGN) Associated Session


The Latin America - Caribbean Regional Microcredit Summit was held in Cartagena, Colombia on June 8 - 10, 2009. The summit was jointly hosted by the Microcredit Summit Campaign (MSC) and Banca de las Oportunidades. It offered 5 plenary sessions, 21 workshop sessions and 8 associated sessions. About 1000 delegates from 35 countries took part at the summit.

The purpose of the summit was to stimulate practitioners and other stakeholders in using microfinance to end global poverty and encourage them to achieve the goal of Microcredit Summit set for 2015. The summit was graced by the presence of distinguished delegates including Colombian President Alvaro Uribe, Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Professor Muhammad Yunus, Mr. Alejandro Toledo, Former President of Peru and microfinance leaders from around the world.

The audience was inspired by the speech of Professor Muhammad Yunus at the plenary session on "The Future of Microfinance: Short-Term and Long-Term Expansion in the Face of the Financial Crisis and Fluctuating Food and Fuel Costs". Professor Yunus thanked Mr. Alejandro Toledo for not just being a ceremonial figure at the Summit and in support of the Campaign, but an actual national leader who has become a champion of the cause of reaching and empowering the poorest. He told that reduced level of donor dependancy and continued technological innovation is what the microfinance institutions should be prepared for, if they are to achieve the goal of reaching 175 million poor families by 2015. He also emphasized on paying attention to the next generation and the need for integration of health and education into microfinanc programs.

Mr. Alejandro Toledo, President Alvaro Uribe and Professor Yunus at the Opening Ceremony of the Microcredit Summit in Cartagena
Based on the expertise and experience of Grameen replication worldwide, Professor H. I. Latifee, Managing Director of Grameen Trust talked about "Lessons Learned in Improving Replicability of Successful Microfinance Programs - How Can the Best Models 'Travel' Better?", which was highly appreciated by the audience, who were interested to learn more about Grameen replicability worldwide.

At the summit, Grameen Trust organized an associated session under the banner of Grameen Global Network (GGN) on "Grameen in Latin America: Experience Sharing". In this session, among others Mr. Vidar Jorgensen, President, Grameen America, Mr. Philip Sansone, President and Executive Director, Whole Planet Foundation, Mr. Farid Uddin, Project Director, Asociacion Costa Rica Grameen (ACRG) and Mr. Alomgir Hossain, Director, Banrural Grameen Microfinanzas, Guatemala, shared their experiences of setting up and implementing successful Grameen type microcredit programs in the Americas. They exchanged their views with the participants, who were impressed by the sustainable operation of Grameen in North and South America.

Report by : Senti Chakma