The Foundation
     

Mission and Activity

Our mission is to activate and catalyze the skills and resources of Italian Actors to develop projects and methods of intervention in the microfinance sector, both in industrialized and developing countries, that comply with consolidated best practices and will contribute significantly to the development and innovation of the microfinance sector.



  
 

The Foundation’s activities are divided into 5 areas::

  1. Generation and dissemination of ideas, best practices and operational models
  2. Platform for the exchange and matching of ideas, projects and financing for Italian operators aimed to promote cooperation among the Italian Actors of the sector
  3. Technical and operational support for platforms and working groups on relevant topics of microfinance
  4. Support to the design or to specific phases of a project intended as services provided to actors willing to promote projects in the field of microfinance, with particular focus on packages of services tailored for donors (e.g. bank foundations) interested in microfinance
  5. Design and coordination of particularly innovative projects with high systemic relevance.

The main lines of activity are:

 

Organization of periodic workshops on specific topics of microfinance.

The aim is the definition of operative ideas and concrete project skills that put Italian Actors in contact with the best practices and with the most advanced experiences at the international level. They are characterized by:

  • a strongly operative perspective: not academic seminars, but workshops aimed at the generation of concrete operative ideas
  • presentations by sectoral experts (Italians or from abroad) to outline the state-of-the-art and the trends of specific topics and/or to illustrate their experience in the implementation of microfinance projects
  • participation of a limited number of attendants (20/30 people, on invitation only), representing Italian Actors already working in the field or potentially interested.

Matching Support and Projects Development

The Foundation provides support services for:

  • Identification of possible partners for projects. Interesting project proposals will be assisted in the search of partners and financing
  • Design and planning of microfinance interventions.

Projects Coordination

In selected cases the Foundation fosters and coordinates projects directly, generally in partnership with other Actors. In those cases the Foundation does not act as direct manager of project activities, but it deals with the identification, design and general coordination phases of the project implementation process.

 

This kind of intervention is carried out only in precise cases and focuses on:

  • particularly innovative projects and projects with high systemic relevance
  • projects developed in partnership with the founders, Fondazione Cariplo and Fondazione CRT.

Annual Conference and Microfinance Award

Every year the Foundation sponsors Microfinance Best Practices Awards generally associated to conferences organized by European networks or to events realized in Italy by the Foundation itself.

 

Services for Donors

The Foundation provides customized support services to donors interested in the sector to facilitate their intervention. In particular, the Foundation is concerned with:

  • the definition of areas of interest and projects frameworks that correspond to the donors’ needs
  • the identification of prospective institutions for the implementation process
  • the endorsement of the project with the partners, and the identification of objectives and checking methods
  • the monitoring of implementation process and performance.

Complementary Activities are:

‘Contact Point’ for European networks

The Foundation acts as a contact point and an operative reference for some European networks, such as EMN or e-MFP.

 

Establishment of Thematic Observatories

The Foundation supports the estalishment of thematic observatories with the involvement of external partners.

 

Database of Actors

The Foundation supervises the creation and the constant updating of an Italian Actors database classified by role played, activity and geographical area of operations.

 

Dissemination of Documents

The Foundation selects, disseminates and presents documents on microfinance through its website and newsletter. Relevant documents are translated into Italian.

 

Lobbying with Donors

The Foundation lobbies to bring about interest in microfinance and to spread the knowledge about microfinance activities.

 

Newsletter

The Foundation publishes a periodic institutional newsletter distributed to its e-mail mailing-list as an instrument of communication and information. The newsletter is open to the news of activities carried out by Italian Actors. The Foundation updates frequently its website with flash news regarding the most important events of the sector.

 

Press Review

The Foundation publishes a press review of the vast majority of national newspapers and of the principal web-magazine about microfinance issues.

 

Website

The Foundation’s website and the portal www.microfinanza-italia.org are strategic tools for the communication and diffusion of the above-mentioned activities. On their pages a series of activities are developed:

  • working groups or action groups managed by actors interest to specific issues
  • ad hoc trainings for the microfinance sector, even in partnership with other actors
  • exchange and sharing of experiences among actors in the field of microfinance.

Premises for Seminars

The Foundation offers its premises to the different actors of the sector for the organization of seminars on microfinance.

 

Organizational and Technical Support

The Foundation intends to provide technical and organizational support to those relevant Italian Actors with scarce resources.

  
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