ABSTRACT
By proclaiming 2005 as the International Year of Microcredit, the General Assembly of the United Nations requested that “the Year’s observance be a special occasion for giving impetus to microcredit programs throughout the world.”2 This was in response to microcredit occupying a commanding position in economic development and purposive social change as evidenced by its continuing growth terms of volume, geographical coverage, and influence over social, economic and political processes. The 1997 Micro Credit Summit, held in Washington DC, adopted a resolution to reach 100 million of the world’s poorest families, especially the women of families with credit for selfemployment, and other financial and business services by the year 2005. Globally, the poorest of the poor include 1.2 billion people who live on less than US$1 a day, adjusted for purchasing power parity. As of December 2002, microcredit institutions had reached, approximately, over 67 million clients, 41,594,778 of whom were among the poorest when obtaining their first loan. Of these clients, 79 percent, that is 37,677,0880 in numbers, were women. Assuming an average of five persons per family, by the end of the year 2002, microcredit had reached 41.6 million clients and impacted 208 million family members.3 In addition, according to the United Nations, in 1998 there were about 3000 microcredit institutions in developing countries.4 In order to reach 100 million of the poorest by 2005, the movement will need to have a 38 percent growth rate per year. Currently, the growth rate averages just under 37 percent per year.5 Its coverage has included both developing and developed countries and recorded the highest expansion in regions where the poorest countries are located (see Table 1.1).
