Events and Meetings
The APPG hosts regular meetings for Parliamentarians and interested parties to discuss pertinent issues.
Upcoming meetings
A selection of past meetings and events are highlighted below:
July 2010: Annual General Meeting
The APPG on Microfinance held its first meeting of the new Parliament on 6 July 2010 where Officers of the group were appointed. Annette Brooke, MP for Mid Dorset and North Poole was re-elected as the Chair of the group, while three other Members of Parliament were elected as Officers of the APPG including Vice Chair Kerry McCarthy, MP for Bristol East; Vice Chair Stephen Lloyd, MP for Eastbourne and Willingdon; and Treasurer Robert Syms, MP for Poole.
Our guest speaker, Wilson Moleni, from Opportunity International Bank of Malawi (OIBM) explained his views on how microfinance has transformed lives in Malawi through OIBM’s efforts to scale down the banking model and adapt it to meet the needs of poor people. The first branch was set up in Lilongwe in 2003 and was funded by DFID. Now, more than 277,000 people are reached with savings and loan products across Malawi. Mr Moleni showed a short video which exemplified OIBM’s operations and achievements.
Aaron Oxley, Director of RESULTS UK gave an overview of the field of microfinance, highlighting some of the challenges currently faced by the sector as well as many of the opportunities. He mentioned that microfinance organisations have proven that it is possible to serve the poor successfully whilst being sustainable and highlighted the need for more public-private partnerships to build on the relative strengths of the different sectors. Aaron stated that we need to acknowledge that the profit motive is firmly imbedded in the microfinance industry and the APPG must press to ensure there is still an adequate focus on providing financial services to the poor as a tool to assist them in their escape from poverty. He also proposed that the APPG could look at how it can support innovation around technology and new product lines in microsavings and insurance. To see Aaron's presentation click here.
The meeting was concluded by a Q&A session and a debate on the issues raised by the speakers as well as more general microfinance trends. A more detailed summary of the meeting and participant list is available here.
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December 2009: Harnessing the power of Microfinance in Africa: challenges and opportunities
The APPG held a high level roundtable meeting bringing Parliamentarians together with experienced microfinance professionals and academics to discuss the promise and challenges of microfinance in Africa.
Francis Pelekamoyo, former Governor of the Reserve Bank of Malawi and current Chairman of Opportunity International (Africa) opened the discussion, followed by a presentation from Gareth Thomas MP, Minister of State for International Development, on a new capacity-building fund for microfinance in Africa that is being designed by the Department for International Development (DFID).
Participants at the meeting advised DFID to build social goals such as poverty-reduction and empowerment into the structure of the new fund. For more details you can read the minutes of the meeting.
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September 2009: Annette Brooke visits India with Five Talents
Annette Brooke MP, Chair of the APPG on Microfinance, was invited by Five Talents to visit microfinance programmes in Chennai. She reported that the trip was "one of the most interesting and informative" she had ever been on. Annette visited a number of villages that were badly affected by the 2004 tsunami and saw how groups of women support each other to save money and use small loans to support income-generating activities. For more information about the trip, click here.
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July 2009: AGM
The AGM of the APPG was held, at which the officers of the group were re-elected, and the group's finances and future business were discussed. Minutes of the meeting are available here.
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April 2009: 100 million of the world's poorest reached with microcredit
In 1997 the Microcredit Summit Campaign launched a campaign to provide key financial services to over 100 million of the world's poorest people. On 27th January 2009, it announced that this groundbreaking milestone had been reached, with over 106 million people recieving microcredit by 2007.
Sam Daley-Harris, Founder and Director of the Campaign addressed a meeting of the APPG to discuss this remarkable achievment.
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November 2008: Round-table discussion on the commercialisation of microfinance
The APPG on Microfinance/Microcredit held its first roundtable breakfast meeting bringing together leading microfinance specialists from the commercial and social sector, representatives from DFID, key academics and Parliamentarians. Participants at the event discussed whether or not the growing commercialisation of microfinance is threatening to undermine its original social vision.
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July 2008: Microfinance in the Islamic World
The APPG on Microfinance/Microcredit held a meeting to discuss Microfinance in the Islamic world. To lead the discussions we were joined by Sir Iqbal Sacranie and Abyan Ahmed of Muslim Aid and by Mufti Barkatulla and Fezal Khan Boodhoo, both experts on Islamic Financial Institutions.
To see the excellent powerpoint presentation given by Abyan Ahmed please click here. For accompanying explanatory notes, click here.
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April 2008: Microfinance: a commercial or social endeavour?
The APPG's first meeting of 2008 looked at whether the growing commercialisation of microfinance is threatening to undermine its original social vision. See minutes here.
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March 2007: Females First: the impact of microfinance on gender equality
Joint meeting with the APPG on Sex Equality looked at case studies from three continents. See minutes here.
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January 2007: Microfinance in the context of globalisation: making change work for the poor
See minutes here.
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October 2006: Challenging the Frontiers of Poverty Reduction: targeting the ultra Poor
Joint meeting with the Microfinance Club of London.