From 23 to 25 June 2010, the European Microfinance Network (EMN) and the Community Development Financial Association (cdfa) organised their first Annual Joint Conference in London.
During this major event which took place within the framework of the 2010 European Year for Combating Poverty and Social Exclusion, EMN and the cdfa welcomed around 350 participants, including practitioners, bankers, researchers, investors, local government and European Commission representatives.
In her keynote address, Marie Donnelly, European Commission, stressed that microfinance and community finance is a crucial instrument to reduce poverty in Europe: “Microfinance is a way to harness the entrepreneurial skills of socially excluded people and help them work their way into gainful employment. Various schemes have been developed at EU level to try and support the microfinance sector in making this possible. This is a valuable contribution to the work of the European Year for Combating Poverty and Social Exclusion”.
The conference gave the participants a unique opportunity to reflect on the following main challenges of the microfinance sector:
Qredits, a Dutch microcredit foundation has been selected among five finalists from across Europe as the winner of the European Good Practices Microfinance Award. When asked how microfinance could contribute to combating poverty, the winners stressed the importance of empowering people and strengthening the level of self-confidence. Microfinance can vitally support civic engagement as it largely focuses on those who are socially excluded and have limited access to other financial services. Qredits believes that its project has won because it combines traditional services and IT solutions which can be replicated in other European countries.
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