Role of Microcredit and Microfinance in the Eradication of Poverty

A/RES/63/229View PDF

Who created this mandate?

A Resolution of the General Assembly, under agenda item 53aImplementation of the 2nd United Nations Decade for the Eradication of Poverty (2008-2017), published in 2008.

What other versions does this mandate have?

3 versions · 2005–2009

2009A/RES/63/229Role of microcredit and microfinance in the eradication of povertyLatestCompare with previous version
2007A/RES/61/214Role of microcredit and microfinance in the eradication of povertyCompare with previous version
2005A/RES/59/246Role of microcredit and microfinance in the eradication of poverty

Versions are identified automatically by matching titles within the same organ (~97% accuracy on a manual audit).

Who cites this mandate in the budget?

1 entity

Extracted automatically from each entity’s budget submission.

What subjects does this mandate have?

9 topics

Capacity Building Data Collection Empowerment Financial Institutions Financial Services Gender Equality Microcredit Poverty Mitigation Public Sector

Which reports were submitted under this mandate?

1 report of the Secretary-General submitted under this mandate, 2010.

2010A/65/267Role of microcredit and microfinance in the eradication of poverty report of the Secretary-General

Identified automatically from the metadata in each report’s UN Digital Library catalogue record.

What does this mandate say?

14 operative paragraphs

Takes note of the report of the Secretary-General;

Welcomes the successful observance of the International Year of Microcredit, 2005, which constituted a special occasion to raise awareness and share best practices and lessons learned on microcredit and microfinance;

Recognizes that access to microfinance and microcredit can contribute to the achievement of the goals and targets of major United Nations conferences and summits in the economic and social fields, including those contained in the United Nations Millennium Declaration, in particular the goals relating to poverty eradication, gender equality and the empowerment of women;

Underlines the need for greater access to microfinance, including microcredit, in developing countries, in particular for small farmers, which can contribute to increased agricultural productivity and rural development;

Also underlines the importance of strengthening domestic financial sectors as a source of capital by making them inclusive, thus expanding access to financial services;

Recognizes that microfinance has experienced tremendous growth in the number of people served and the diversity of financial services offered, and that, along with the growth in numbers served as well as products and services offered, there has also been a large increase in the number of public and private microfinance providers, all of which share the common characteristic of providing financial services to poor and socio-economically vulnerable people, as well as micro-entrepreneurs who would not normally be served, or are underserved, by traditional financial institutions;

Notes that, despite progress, there is still lack of relevant statistical data on inclusive financial sectors, in particular microcredit and microfinance programmes, in particular at the national and regional levels, and in this regard invites the international community, in particular the donor community, to support developing countries in collecting and preserving necessary statistical data and information on this issue, specifically on defining and measuring access to financial services and products at the country level and measuring the type, quality and usage of such services and products over time;

Calls upon Member States, the United Nations system and other relevant stakeholders to fully maximize the role of microfinance instruments, including microcredit for poverty eradication and especially for the empowerment of women and rural populations, and to ensure that best practices in the microfinance sector are widely disseminated;

Invites Member States, the United Nations system, the Bretton Woods institutions, regional development banks and other relevant stakeholders to support, financially and technically, in a coordinated manner, the efforts of developing countries in capacity-building for microcredit and microfinance institutions to expand their products and services, including by improving their policy and regulatory framework;

Invites Member States to consider adopting policies to facilitate the expansion of microcredit and microfinance institutions in order to service the large unmet demand among poor people for financial services, including the identification and development of mechanisms to promote access to sustainable financial services, the removal of institutional and regulatory obstacles, the promotion of financial literacy and the provision of incentives to microfinance institutions that meet national standards for delivering sound financial services to the poor;

Encourages Member States to adopt coherent financial regulatory frameworks, including in consultation with microfinance providers, that can effectively protect the stability of their national financial systems and increase access of the poor and microenterprises and small enterprises to financial services, and also to protect consumers, in particular the poor, and in this regard invites the development partners to support the efforts of developing countries in the promotion of entrepreneurship development programmes, including for microenterprises and small and medium-sized enterprises;

Recognizes that the current financial crisis can adversely impact financial flows to microcredit and microfinance institutions as well as the services that they provide to the poor, and emphasizes that such instruments should be protected, as appropriate, from potential credit deficiency;

Decides to devote one plenary meeting at its sixty-fifth session to the consideration of the outcome of and follow-up to the International Year of Microcredit, with a view to broadening and deepening the discussion about microcredit and microfinance and inclusive financial sectors;

Requests the Secretary-General to submit to the General Assembly at its sixty-fifth session a report on the implementation of the present resolution, under the item entitled “Eradication of poverty and other development issues”.

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