Events

The First Edition of the “Microfinance, Innovation and Sustainability” Award is coming to an end. 70 organisations sent their applications. Recently, shortlisted institutions have been communicated: 5 for each category: Italy, Europe, International, and 3 institutions that have been given a special mention. Each award winner will receive €50,000 € for the creation of new projects or to go towards the core costs of the existing services. The award ceremony will be held on June 4th during the 6th European Microfinance Network – EMN Annual Conference that will bring the most important actors in the microfinance industry to Italy .

Milan, May 15th 2009. The Microfinance Best Practices selection phase for the First Edition of the “Microfinance, Innovation and Sustainability” is over. The Awards were promoted by the Giordano Dell’Amore Foundation in partnership with the European Microfinance Network,  and with the support of Fondazione Cariplo and Intesa Sanpaolo.
The deadline for applications was a few months ago. 70 institutions submitted their applications; 13 applied for the Italy Award, 43 for the Europe Award and 43 for the International Award. The Award Committee, consisting of experts on Microfinance, Social Economics, Cooperation and Development, selected five experiences for each category, considering innovation, sustainability, impact and transferability as fundamental criteria.

The final winners will be selected among  the finalists and given their awards in the occasion of the 6th EMN Annual Conference 2009, organised in collaboration with the Giordano Dell’Amore Foundation in Milan on June 4th and 5th 2009. During this event, EMN, the leading professional network in the region, will welcome around 300 participants including bankers, researchers, practitioners, investors, local government and European Commission representatives, policy makers, the private sector and the media. Important Italian authorities, such as the mayor of Milan Letizia Moratti, the governor of Regione Lombardia Roberto Formigoni, the president of ACRI Giuseppe Guzzetti and the president of the Italian Microfinance Network (RITMI) Daniele Ciravegna.

300 people from 30 different countries are expected to attend. The conference, entitled “Microfinance and its growth in Europe: consequences, challenges, opportunities” will be held in Italy for the first time, after the previous events in Nice, Berlin, Budapest, Barcelona, and Brussels. Interesting European experiences will be presented covering various topics such as governance of microfinance institutions, new products and services, socio-economic impact and many more, which will be discussed in workshops and fringe meetings.

The winners will be announced at 6:00 pm on 4th June. The single award winner will receive €50,000 for the creation of new projects or to go towards core costs of the existing services.
The fifteen finalist institutions, selected by the Award Committee, are:
Italy Award: Atas Onlus, Trento, Associazione Diakonia Onlus, Vicenza, MAG, Verona, micro.Bo, Bologna, PerMicro, Turin
Europe Award: ACAF, Spain, Adie, France, Faer INF, Romania, Fejer Enterprise Agency, Hungary, PerMicro, Italy
International Award: Apoyo Integral, El Salvador, Cooperativa de Ahorro y Credito Jardin Azuayo, Ecuador, Fundacion Pro Vivienda Social, Argentina, K-Rep Fedha Services LTD, Kenya, Tamweelcom, Jordan.

“We are particularly pleased that this initiative has been so well received by microfinance companies throughout the world who have joined in large numbers and by the European Microfinance Network which decided to collaborate with the Foundation in establishing the Europe award” said Federico Manzoni, President of Giordano Dell’Amore Foundation.

The aim of this award is not only to select best practices in this field, but also to open up a debate on these subjects and to reflect on microfinance methodologies, instruments and social impact.

Microfinance is a growing sector worldwide. In 2007, almost 160 million poor people were reached, most of them received loans for the first time in their lives. Demand is estimated to be at around US$ 275 billion and more than 1 billion people need to have access to specific services for their financial needs.
Microfinance has also became an important tool in Italy. In the last few years many initiatives started but the sector still presents weaknesses, although it is in constant evolution.

From many years the Giordano Dell’Amore Foundation has been involved in the support of the ethic financial sector and has decided to underline the importance of these instruments. The creation of a discussion on these topics can also be useful in defining a microcredit model to be implemented in order to solve problems in Italy, where, unfortunately, poverty represents a reality that we have to face.