The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) as the Facilitating Agency for the Microfinance Community is pleased to provide an impartial platform to microfinance practitioners to share experiences, lessons and knowledge from this sector. We hope that the Community will contribute to collective efforts to reduce poverty by increasing access of the poor to financial services.

UNDP, through its Poverty Reduction programme, shares several concerns and goals with the Microfinance Community. We both recognise that access to financial products and services is becoming increasingly important in strengthening the livelihoods of the poor. Our common aim is to reach financial services to the poor and excluded such as women, Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes. For this, UNDP also encourages experimentation, innovation and upscaling of financial products and services that address the livelihood related needs of the poor.

Through our engagement with this Community, we endeavour to encourage knowledge sharing among MFIs, NGOs, the government and client representatives, to improve the outreach and impact of financial products and services on the poor. We also look ahead to discussions on solutions to challenges faced by practitioners at the grassroots and policy levels, to encourage greater financial inclusion. At the same time, UNDP continues to be guided by the Global UN Advisory Group on Inclusive Financial Sectors, on global best practices and innovations towards the establishment of inclusive financial sectors.

It is our vision that through the Microfinance Community, a wide range of stakeholders will come together to address the challenges of providing effective and sustainable financial services that meet the needs of the poor, excluded and marginalised. We look forward to your active participation, and to making our larger goal of cutting poverty in half by 2015 a reality.