Full Report

REACHING DOWN AND SCALING UP: Meeting 

the Microenterprise Development Challenge

U.S. Agency for International Development

Microenterprise Results Reporting for 1997
Partners in

Microenterprise

Development

A & L Business Center

Abkhazeti

ACCION

ACCION/GAIM

ACDI/Georgia

ACDI/VOCA/Cape Verde

ACLAM

ACLEDA/Cambodia

ACME

ACOPACC DE R. L.

ACP/Peru

ACTIONAID

Activists for Social 

Alternatives (ASA)

ADAC

ADEL MORAZAN

ADEX

ADRA

ADRA/Armenia

ADRA/OFASA/Peru

Africare/Guinea Bissau

Africare/Mozambique

Africare/Senegal

Agrobased Industries 

and Technology

Ahon Sa Hirap Inc. (ASHI)

AID

Aid to Artisans

Aid-to-Artisans/Ghana

Al Majmoua

Alalay Sa Kaunlaran 

Sa Gitnang Luzon

Albert Luthuli Local

Business Support Center

Alexandria BusinessAsso. ABA

Alliance of MicroEnterprise 

Development

ALTERNATIVA

ANACAFE

Antique Development 

Foundation, Inc.

APEMIPE

Appropriate 

Technology International

ApproTEC

Arab Bank

ARAWIWA

Archdiocese of Cebu

Archdiocese of Jaro

Arun Reah Organization

ASA

Asia Foundation

Asikhutulisane Savings

& Credit Coop

ASOBAGRI

Asociacion de Des Comunitario

ASODENIC

ASODERI

Assiut Business Association 

(ASBA)

Association for Social 

Advancement (ASA)

Associacion Soya de Nicaragua

Association Pour 

La Cooperation

ATI/Benin

Bachteshikha

Banco BANEX

Banco Empresarial

Banco Solidario/Ecuador

BancoSol

Bandevi Savings and

Credit Cooperative

Bangladesh Agri. Working 

People's Association

Bangladesh Small and 

Cottage Industries

Bank of Jordan

Banque de l'Union Haitienne

Banque Intercontinentale

BGS

Bhairavi Savings and

Credit Cooperative

BRAC -Bangladesh 

Rural Advancement

Brakwa-Bremen Rural Bank

BSCU

Bukidnon Integrated 

Network of House

Buklod Center

Bulgarian American 

Enterprise Fund

Business and 

Communication Center

CAEB

Caja Rural de Ahorro y 

Credito Cruz de

CAM Centro de Apoyo 

a la Microempresa

Cambodian Women 

for Progress

CANEF

Capiz Women Inc.

Caprivi Arts & Culture 

Assoc (CACA)

Carana

CARE/Armenia

CARE/El Salvador

CARE/Ethiopia

CARE/Georgia

CARE/Guatemala

CARE/Mozambique

CARE/Peru

CARE/Philippines

Caribbean Handicrafts

CARITAS

CARITAS Jinotega

CARITAS Liban

CARITAS Matagalpa

CARITAS-COBIS

CECI/BANDESA

CECI/Nepal

CENCA

Center for Agriculture 

and Rural Development

Center for Citizen Initiative

Center for Community 

Development

Center for Community

Transformation Inc.

Center for Environmental 

Center for Management 

and Productivity

Center for Social 

Awakening Campaign

Central Asia American 

Enterprise Fund/Asian 

Crossroads

Centre for Mass in Science 

(CMES)

Centre for Self-Help 

Development

Centro de Apoyo de las Micro 

y Pequenas

Centro de Investigacion Edu y

CEPES-Centro Peruano

de Estudios Sociales

CESIDE

Chaitanya

CHC Cambodian Health 

Committee

Chemonics

Child Welfare Society

CIDIAG

CIRES Comite de 

Intergracion y Recon.

CIRNMA - Centro de 

Investigacion de Rec. Nat. y

Citizens Democracy Corp

Club de Madres Virgen 

del Carmen

Club Maria Reiche

CLUSA/Mozambique

CNCAS

Colegio Cristo Rey

Community Business Services

Community Welfare 

Development Society

CONACAP

CONAP

CONCERN

Conservation International

Constanta

Coop 15 de Abril Ltda

Coop 23 de Julio LTDA

Coop 29 de Octubre LTDA

Coop Atuntaqui LTDA

Coop Carchi Ltda

Coop Chone Ltda

Coop Comercio Ltda

Coop Cotocollao Ltda

Coop Erco Ltda

Coop Finan Sihuatehuacan

Coop Financiera Avance 

(ACACESPA)

Coop Financiera Dinanmica 

(ACCOVI)

Coop Financiera El Esfuerzo 

(ACACME)

Coop Financiera Favorita 

(ACOPACTO)

Coop Financiera Nuevo Siglo 

(ACAYCCOMAC)

Coop Financiera Principal 

(ACACEMERSA)

Coop Financiera Progreso 

(ACACYPAC)

Coop Financiera Solidez Total

Coop Financiera Unica 

(ACAOMET)

Coop Financiera UNIDAD 

(ACODJAR)

Coop Financiera Union 

(ACACU)

Coop Financiera UNO

Coop La Merced Ltda

Coop Nacional Ltda

Coop Oscus LTDA

Coop Progreso Ltda

Coop Sagrario Ltda

Coop San Francisco Ltda

Coop Tulcan Ltda

Cooperative Bank/Uganda

Cooperative Housing 

Foundation/Guatemala

Cooperative Housing 

Foundation/Jordan

Corpomicro

COSEDA Community

Small Enterprise

Counterpart

COVOL

CRECER/El Salvador

Credit Guarantee Corporation

Credit Union Empowerment

Credito e Inversiones

CRESA

CRS/Benin

CRS/Cambodia

CRS/Ecuador

CRS/El Salvador

CRS/Ethiopia

CRS/Gambia

CRS/Guatemala

CRS/Haiti

CRS/Indonesia

CRS/Lebanon

CRS/Nicaragua

CRS/Peru

CRS/Philippines

CRS/Senegal

Cubucare Associations

DAI

DAI/Haiti

DAI/Kenya

Dale View

DDJ

Development Associates Inc

Development Projects 

Services Center

Diocese of Borongas

Diocese of Calapan

Diocese of Dumaguete

Diocese of Gumaca

Diocese of Iligan

Diocese of Legazpi

Diocese of Lucena

Diocese of Mati

Diocese of San Pablo

Diocese of Sorsogon

Diocese of Tagbilaran

Dominican Rehabilitation

DTC

Dushtha Shasthya Kendra 

(DSK)

Dzelzcelnieks KS

EDAPROSPO

EDPYME CREDINPET

EDUCA

Edyficar

Egyptian Small Enterprise 

Development Foundation

EJMDA

El Majmoua

EMED

Emprender

ENLACE/Ecuador

FAMA

Familia y Medio Ambiente

Family Welfare Center

Faso Jugui

Faulu/Africa

Faulu/Ethiopia

Faulu/Kenya

Faulu/Uganda

FED (Fundacion Ecuatoriana)

FEDECACES

FFH/CRECER/Bolivia

FFH/FOCCAS/Uganda

FFH/FUCEC/Togo

FFH/Honduras

FFH/Kafo Jiginew/Mali

FFH/Nyesigiso/Mali

FFH/RCPB/Burkina Faso

FIE/Bolivia

FINCA International

FINCA/Armenia

FINCA/Azerbaijan

FINCA/Costa Rica

FINCA/Dominican Republic

FINCA/Ecuador

FINCA/Georgia

FINCA/Guatemala

FINCA/Honduras

FINCA/Kyrgyzstan

FINCA/Malawi

FINCA/Mexico

FINCA/Nicaragua

FINCA/Peru

FINCA/Tanzania

FINCA/Uganda

First Polish Credit Union

FODEPE

FOGAPI

FOMMI

Foncap

FONDESPOIR

Fondesurco

Food for the Hungry

Foundation for Development

Foundation for Educational 

Evolution

FREED

Freedom from Hunger

Friends of Womens 

World Banking

FUCARE/Ecuador

FUNADEH/Honduras

Fundacion Agrocapital

Fundacion Alternativa

Fundacion Covelo

Fundacion Jose Niebrowski

Fundacion Leon 2000

FUNDAP/PROSEM

FUNDAPRO

FUNDENUSE

Fundusz Micro

FUSADAR

Gano Kallyan Trust

Genesis Empresarial/FUNTEC

Genesis/El Salvador

Geo. Arts Culture Center

Gerry Roxas Foundation 

Development

Get Ahead Financial Services

GKF

Glassmakers Credit Union

GOP National Credit Council 

Grameen Bank Eastern

Grameen Trust

Green Pastures Savings 

& Credit

H.A. Moznosti

Haitian Development 

Foundation

Harerge Catholic Secretariat

Harvard Institute for 

International Development0

Heifer Project

Helen Keller International

Hermandad de Honduras

HORTEXA

HRDA Clark Atlanta University

Human Service Association

Hurgada Foundation

IDEA Cooperatives

IDEAS

IDESI

IESC

ILO

Impumelelo Savings & 

Credit Coop

continued on inside back cover
Reaching Down and Scaling Up:

Meeting the Microenterprise

Development Challenge

U.S. Agency for International Development

Microenterprise Results Reporting for 1997

September 1998

i
iii

Table of Contents

Acronyms

Key Accomplishments

Introduction 1

Microenterprise Development and Outreach to the Poor 3

The USAID Microenterprise Initiative 4

USAID Supports Microenterprise Development 6

Delivering Services 6

Improving Policies and Regulations 9

Building the Microenterprise Development Field 10

Emerging Trends in the Microfinance Field 11

USAID’s Microenterprise Funding 14

Trends in Microenterprise Funding 14

Use of Funds 14

Poverty Lending 16

Findings from the Financial Institutions Survey 17

Overview of Lending Programs 17

Selecting Development Partners 22

The Need for Safe Savings Instruments 23

Annex A: Microenterprise Results Reporting 25

Annex B: Sources of Microenterprise Funding 29

Annex C: GNP Per Capita and Poverty Loan Size in Selected 

USAID-Assisted Countries 33

Annex D: Africa: A Closer Look 35

Annex E: Europe and the New Independent States: A Closer Look 39

Annex F: Centrally Funded USAID Programs Supporting Microenterprise

Development 43

Annex G: Summary of USAID Microenterprise Funding by Country, 

1991-1998 45

This report was prepared by Elizabeth Hunt and Catherine Neill, under the direction of

Katharine McKee, Director, USAID’s Office of Microenterprise Development.
v

Key Accomplishments

Helping poor entrepreneurs start and build viable, productive businesses

— commonly known as microenterprise development — is a key element of

the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) economic

growth strategy. These small or microbusinesses provide vital income, assets,

and jobs for the poor. Millions of entrepreneurs around the world are running

successful microenterprises; they have created a better life for their families,

and many are no longer poor.

USAID has been a worldwide leader in microenterprise development, a

leadership role strongly supported by the American people and the U.S.

Congress. This report describes USAID’s progress in 1997 toward meeting

the commitments made in the Agency’s Microenterprise Initiative, launched

in 1994 and renewed in June 1997. It also highlights USAID’s priorities for

microenterprise programs and emerging issues in the field. 

Microenterprise development involves providing both financial and

non-financial services. These services support disadvantaged entrepreneurs

who lack access to credit, safe savings vehicles, and business development services.

As a result of USAID’s investment in microfinance, by the end of 19971:

■ A record 1.4 million poor clients had active loans from USAIDsupported institutions, up 47 percent from the end of 1996.2 The loans

were valued at $645 million, an increase of 113 percent from 1996.

Through USAID-supported microfinance programs, most of these entrepreneurs gained access to reasonable and convenient financial services

for the first time, enabling them to capitalize on economic opportunities

and embark on a path toward prosperity.

■ 67 percent of active loans were “poverty loans,” i.e., loans at or below

$300 for the Africa, Latin America and Caribbean (LAC), and Asia and

Near East (ANE) regions, and at or below $1,000 for the Europe and the

1 Data reported are for fiscal year 1997. 

2 The institutions that reported data were those with active funding agreements with USAID. This includes institutions that received funding in 1997 and

those that received prior-year funding and still had active agreements with USAID in 1997. The subset of microfinance institutions that received 1997 obligations reported 1,292,028 active loans at the end of 1997, an increase of 31 percent over the total reported at the end of 1996.

Note: The Microenterprise Results Reporting (MRR) activity, which collects and analyzes the data for this report, uses a proxy of one loan to represent one client,

since most programs do not provide clients with more than one loan at a time. 
vi

operational expenses of and technical assistance to microfinance institutions. Slightly less than 70 percent

of overall microenterprise funding

supported credit provision and

other microfinance activities.

■ The average annual growth in the

number of clients served by USAIDsupported financial institutions was

150 percent. 

■ The Agency ensures that the microfinance organizations it supports have

a credible plan for achieving full

financial sustainability within seven

years. A survey of microfinance

awardees found that 26 percent of

those reporting already are covering

all their financial and operational

expenses, putting them on the road

to financial independence and the

end of donor support. This will permit scarce development resources to

be channeled to new institutions and

needs.

■ In 1997, 481 institutions received

USAID funding, either directly or

through an umbrella grant to an

intermediary organization. This

brings the total number of microenterprise development institutions

with active funding agreements to

613.

■ Of these partners, U.S. private voluntary organizations (PVOs) comprised 22 percent, local non-governmental organizations (NGOs)

48 percent, and credit union organizations 14 percent. 

New Independent States (ENI)

region. Poverty lending received 68

percent of microfinance funding, up

from 58 percent in 1996.

■ There were 2.1 million clients participating in the savings programs of

USAID-supported institutions. The

clients had $372.8 million in savings,

an impressive accomplishment for

poor families, particularly those living on the margin of survival. 

■ Women were two-thirds of the total

client base.

■ The average repayment rate for the

lending programs was 94.8 percent.

1997 was also a record year for

USAID funding investments in microenterprise development. The Agency continued its role as the leading grant donor

worldwide. In 1997, USAID recorded the

following accomplishments:

■ A total of $165.1 million in funding

support for microenterprise development.3 Estimated 1998 funding is

$144.0 million. Since 1994, when

USAID first announced its

Microenterprise Initiative, microenterprise funding has increased slowly,

despite cutbacks in overall Agency

funding.

■ Microenterprise development funding by USAID missions and central

offices supported both financial and

non-financial services in 62 countries. “Financial funding”4 includes

monies for loan capital, and related

3Of this amount, $14.1 million was carryover of FY ’96 funds and $18.9 million was a one-time endowment to Fundusz Mikro by the Polish American Enterprise

Fund. 4The term “financial” is used rather than “credit” to reflect the fact that many microfinance programs provide financial services beyond credit, such as savings and insurance. To reflect this broader scope of services, “microfinance” is emerging as the preferred term in the field of microenterprise development. 
vii

Acronyms

ACLEDA Association of Cambodian Local Economic Development

Agencies

ANE Asia and the Near East Region (USAID)

ATAG Aid to Artisans/Ghana 

BHR/PVC Bureau for Humanitarian Response/Office of Private and

Voluntary Cooperation

CCB Cambodia Community Building

CGAP Consultative Group to Assist the Poorest

CRS Catholic Relief Services

DA Development Assistance

ENI Europe and New Independent States Region (USAID)

ESF Economic Support Funds

FATEN Palestinian Corporation for Microcredit and Development

FFH Freedom from Hunger

FSA Freedom Support Act

FY Fiscal Year

GDP Gross Domestic Product

GNP Gross National Product

GGLS Group Guaranteed Lending and Savings 

IBRD International Bank for Reconstruction and Development 

(i.e., the World Bank) 

IDB Inter-American Development Bank 

IFC International Finance Commission of the International

Monetary Fund

IGP Implementation Grant Program

LAC Latin America and the Caribbean Region (USAID)

MRR Microenterprise Results Reporting

NGO Non-Governmental Organization 

NOA New Obligating Authority

PRIME Program for Innovative Microenterprise Expansion

PVC Office of Private and Voluntary Cooperation

PVO Private Voluntary Organization

SAI Special Assistance Initiative

UNDP United Nations Development Program

USAID United States Agency for International Development

WOCCU World Council of Credit Unions
viii
Around the world, millions of poor entrepreneurs are building better

lives for themselves and their families by starting and expanding tiny businesses or “microenterprises.” USAID has stood behind their initiative, hard

work, and dreams of prosperity and dignity, through its funding of microenterprise development. For over a decade, Agency funds totaling more than 

$1 billion have supported hundreds of partner organizations in dozens of

countries that provide microenterprise development services to the poor.

Microenterprise development has emerged as a priority for the Agency

because of its power to contribute to the key goals of U.S. development aid.

Poor families launch microenterprises to improve their economic status,

achieve higher and more secure incomes, and build savings and other assets

as a cushion against natural disasters, illness or death, and other crises. As

these enterprising households pull themselves out of poverty, they can

improve their access to safe drinking water and more nutritious food, improve

their housing, and educate their children. In most countries, women own the

majority of microenterprises, and as their income, assets, and entrepreneurial

success grows, the women become empowered to make decisions that

strengthen their families, businesses and communities.

The benefits of successful microenterprise development extend to the

broader society. In both transition economies and the developing world,

microenterprises play an important role in economic growth and job creation

for those unable to find employment in the formal sector. Through microenterprise development, the poor can become business owners, build assets, and

invest in their community’s well-being, contributing to an “economic democracy.” This route has proven to be a vital ingredient in building vibrant civil

societies and thriving democracies around the world. Thus, investment in successful microenterprise development pays dividends across the U.S. development agenda.

The enterprising individuals described in this report hail from many different places, including Cambodia, Bolivia, Ecuador, El Salvador, Ghana,

Honduras, Latvia, Mali, Nepal, Uganda, and the West Bank. They all share

common traits: They are succeeding due to their hard work, determination,

and willingness to take risks, often in the face of daunting challenges. They

represent the more than 1.5 million entrepreneurs worldwide who benefited

from access to USAID-funded services in 1997. 

Another common factor in these entrepreneurs’ success has been their

access to reliable support, both financial and non-financial, from USAID’s

microenterprise development partners. Not only have these 

Introduction
preneurs. An impressive array of

microfinance institutions worldwide

are balancing these goals, and, in

some countries, commercial institutions are also beginning to show an

interest in this market. This report

highlights some promising examples

of these trends. 

■ A microloan is rarely sufficient to

help a poor entrepreneur build a successful business and escape poverty.

Access to other financial services

(such as savings and insurance) and

non-financial services (such as more

productive technologies, improved

market access, and increased technical and managerial skills) plays an

important role in building sustainable

microenterprises. This report illustrates how USAID’s partners are

seeking to provide cost-effective,

non-credit services. Also included are

examples of successful USAIDassisted efforts to create a more

enabling policy environment for

poor microentrepreneurs and the

institutions that serve them.

■ USAID and its partners continue to

learn much about the challenge of

sustainability for microenterprise

development organizations. The

report shares our partners’ experience

in balancing poverty outreach with

the bottom line. Also included are

descriptions of how USAID and its

partners are approaching microenterprise development in the Africa

region and the ENI region, two

regions with less well-developed

microenterprise development sectors

that face particular challenges.

2

committed organizations reached out to

the truly poor and disadvantaged entrepreneurs who lack access to credit, safe

savings vehicles, and business development services, they are also committed to

building sound, sustainable institutions

with “staying power” to provide services

tailored to their clients’ changing needs.

USAID and its partners believe that it is

only by tackling these challenges in tandem, reaching out to the very poor and

building sustainable institutions, that

microenterprise development can reach its

full potential of helping millions of poor

families pull themselves out of poverty.

Last year’s report, “Small Loans

Making a World of Difference,” focused

particularly on the challenge of reaching

the entrepreneurs most in need through

poverty-lending institutions. While

describing the continued progress in

poverty lending, this year’s report has a

broader focus: the challenge of helping

large numbers of microentrepreneurs succeed over time. 

Several valuable lessons have

emerged from experience in the microenterprise development field. 

■ It is possible to design financially

viable microcredit programs that

serve large numbers of poor entreReaching Down and Scaling Up

Opportunity International photo
U.S. Agency for International Development Microenterprise Results Reporting for 1997

World Relief/Cambodia: Charp Sok

Charp Sok had a lot weighing her down two years ago. Her husband’s job, cutting wood for someone else, brought in only enough

money for them to eat rice and water twice a day; their only other

food was the vegetable greens that grow wild around them.

Today, the family has their own home and land and eats three

meals a day. 

Two years ago, when World Relief first began helping poor

women in her neighborhood start a community bank, Sok wanted

to join. The other women, who were a little better off than Sok, felt

that her extreme poverty made her too high a risk. But a World

Relief staff member felt more confident about Sok’s determination

and ability than did her neighbors. He brought Sok together with

some other very poor women and helped them to form a village

bank. 

When Sok got her first loan of $20, she bought the materials for

a cart. She purchased a supply of wood from the rubber tree plantation and hauled it back in her cart. Her family worked hard to

saw and chop the wood; then she sold it as firewood in the market. Sok never missed a weekly loan repayment, and she’s now on

her sixth loan. Her business has gradually expanded so that the

family now uses two carts to haul all the wood back and forth. The

business brings in about $3.50 a day in profits. 

Source: World Relief.

3

Microenterprise Development

and Outreach to the Poor

USAID defines a “microenterprise” as

a firm with a total of 10 or fewer employees. Many microenterprises involve only

one person, the owner-operator or

“microentrepreneur.” In some cases, a

microenterprise employs the owner and

unpaid family workers; in other cases,

there are paid employees. Few microenterprises are formally registered, or taxed.

Most are found in the informal or unregulated sector and are often itinerant businesses. A minority of microenterprises

grow into small or medium-sized businesses; most remain tiny in size yet are

critical to the family’s economic livelihood. 

Typical microentrepreneurs are vendors working on the street, in market

stalls, or out of their homes. They may

produce handmade items or provide services such as simple repairs and dressmaking. They are involved in food processing

and tiny agro-processing operations such

as rice husking, and other usually lowtechnology, labor-intensive activities.5

USAID uses a second defining characteristic of microenterprises: the low level of

assets and income of the business and its owner.

Within this group, special efforts are made

to serve those facing socioeconomic disadvantages, such as women in developing

countries. These women often have severe

economic constraints and are among the

microentrepreneurs who depend most

heavily on income from microenterprises

for survival. As a result, female entrepreneurs are a group of special concern to

USAID.

Thus, by policy, USAID targets its

5As a matter of USAID policy, lending for agricultural production credit per se is not classified as microcredit. However, in rural areas many households engage

in multiple farming and microenterprise activities, making a complete separation difficult. The most effective lenders to microenterprises generally do not attempt

to restrict the use of funds by borrowers. 

World Relief/Jon Warren photo
USAID launched its 1994 Microenterprise

Initiative, the Agency accepted this standard (pegged to 1994 dollars), although

not without some reservations as to its

applicability across all regions and

economies.7 With increased funding of

microenterprise support activities in the

ENI region, USAID established a $1,000

ceiling for poverty loans in that region. 

The USAID Microenterprise

Initiative

To focus increased attention within

the Agency on microenterprise development and to highlight its work for a wider

audience, USAID launched its

Microenterprise Initiative in June 1994.

Three years later, in June 1997, USAID

renewed the Microenterprise Initiative in

a ceremony attended by numerous

Members of Congress and First Lady

Hillary Rodham Clinton. 

With the Microenterprise Initiative,

USAID has committed to:

(1) Maintain women and the poor as its

primary emphases, particularly

through support for poverty lending; 

(2) Help implementing organizations

reach greater numbers of people; 

(3) Support institutional sustainability

and financial self-sufficiency among

implementing organizations; and, 

(4) Seek improved partnerships with

local organizations. 

4

support to microenterprises owned and

operated by the poor.6 In practice, each

USAID mission then attempts to identify

who and where the poor are, and develops

a strategy to target these individuals and

communities for microenterprise development services. 

Growing field experience suggests

that, rather than denying services to the

non-poor, successful microenterprise programs tailor their services to fit the specific needs of the poor, thereby attracting

the targeted clientele. This approach

includes offering small loans and using

“collateral substitutes” such as group guarantees rather than formal collateral to

encourage repayment. 

To have a rough proxy for targeting

microcredit to the poor, microfinance

practitioners, policy makers and donors in

the late 1980’s established a loan size of

$300 as an upper boundary for loans to

the poor, i.e., “poverty loans.” When

Reaching Down and Scaling Up

6Identifying the poor is not easy because it depends on the existence of national census data which many governments do not have the resources to collect.

The LAC Bureau, for example, adheres to definitions of poverty used by the World Bank and the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), where extreme poverty

is defined as having income of $1 or less per day and moderate poverty is income of up to $2 per day. Not surprisingly, countries with the worst poverty often

have the worst data, or none at all. Seven LAC countries — Bolivia, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guyana, Haiti, Nicaragua and Paraguay — have no national data available. 7A number of key microfinance players have become concerned about the limitations of the $300 standard in the face of variation in national economies, the

expansion of successful clients’ credit needs, and inflation. Leading members of the microfinance community including USAID are beginning to explore alternatives. To illustrate one option under consideration, Annex C compares the per capita GNP in many countries where USAID programs operate, to the relevant

poverty lending amount ($300 or $1,000). 

Save the Children photo
U.S. Agency for International Development Microenterprise Results Reporting for 1997

The ENI Bureau pledged to help

increase the capacity of the region’s newly

established microenterprise institutions,

foster regional exchanges and networking

among practitioners, encourage the

Enterprise Funds to establish or expand

microlending programs, charge regional

policy reform projects with examining the

policy and regulatory problems affecting

microenterprises and microfinance institutions, and train additional ENI staff in

microenterprise program design. (See

Annexes D and E for details on microenterprise programs in Africa and ENI.) 

In addition, the renewal of the

Initiative included a number of ambitious

quantitative targets for the Agency and its

awardees.

■ At least half of all microenterprise

clients of the institutions that USAID

supports will be women. 

■ At least half of all the USAID funds

supporting microfinance institutions

will go to poverty lending.

■ At least two-thirds of the clients of

USAID-supported microfinance

institutions will receive loans of less

than $300. 

■ The average repayment rates for

microfinance institutions receiving

USAID support will be 95 percent or

above. 

■ Every USAID-supported microfinance organization will have a plan

to reach full financial sustainability in

a reasonable period of time. 

In addition, USAID has set a target

of 15 percent per year growth in the number of clients receiving services. 

As discussed above, USAID substantially met or surpassed all of these targets

in 1997. 

As part of the renewal of the

Microenterprise Initiative, the Agency

identified the Africa and ENI regions as

areas of special emphasis in building the

microenterprise field. Toward that end,

the Africa Bureau has pledged to intensify

the dialogue between its field missions

and practitioners to identify on-theground opportunities, give increased

attention to capacity-building for

microenterprise development institutions,

and heighten efforts to ensure that larger

policy reform activities include the alleviation of legal and policy biases that hinder

microentrepreneurs and/or microenterprise assistance institutions. 

5

FINCA photo
USAID Supports Microenterprise

Development

To fulfill the goals of the

Microenterprise Initiative, USAID’s strategy has been to:

(1) Improve the performance and outreach of organizations that directly

deliver financial services and nonfinancial assistance to microenterprises, and, 

(2) Improve the policy and market environments where microenterprises

operate. 

USAID is also making investments to

build knowledge, skills, and capacity in

the microenterprise development field.

Key elements of the USAID strategy are

summarized below:

Delivering Services

USAID has invested in many different approaches and types of institutions,

including business associations, cooperatives, credit unions, finance companies

and other for-profit companies, government agencies, NGOs, PVOs, and

research institutions.

FINANCIAL SERVICES

Two-thirds of USAID funding supports the provision of financial services to

poor microentrepreneurs. Financial services include credit, safe savings mechanisms, insurance products and other services. Experience has shown that, if each

is available, at any given moment more

people, including the very poor, will use

savings vehicles than need access to

credit. 

USAID’s approach has been to foster

the development of viable financial insti6

WOCCU/Latvia: Janis Vorza

For Janis Vorza in Latvia, the reorganization of the Soviet farming

and monetary systems meant unemployment and the gutting of his

savings from extraordinarily high inflation. Needing a loan to start

life anew and support his large family, Janis went to commercial

banks but was denied financing because he lacked collateral. 

Then Janis went to his credit union, Ligatnes Druva, and received a

$1,000 loan to purchase a chain saw. He hired two other people

and started a small business in the wood industry, supplying lumber to builders. As his business grew, Janis repaid his first loan and

took out two more loans from his credit union to buy a car and a

van to transport his employees to work. 

Today, six credit unions in Latvia serve over 4,500 members. The

credit unions’ assets are more than $700,000, and their loans

exceed $670,000. The loans meet the basic finance needs of

members with average loans across the six credit unions ranging

from $240 to $946. 

Source: WOCCU

Reaching Down and Scaling Up

WOCCU photo
U.S. Agency for International Development Microenterprise Results Reporting for 1997

Katalysis North/South Development

Partnership/Honduras: Luisa Zelaya

When Luisa Zelaya started a small business in Honduras selling

household goods, she had no assets or capital. She financed her

purchases by borrowing from loan sharks who charged exorbitant

daily interest rates, rates so high that they ate up most of her profits, and kept her on the margin of survival despite her dawn-to-dusk

efforts. 

Then Luisa joined a Community Bank started by the Organization

for Women’s Enterprise Development (Organizacion de Desarrollo

Empresarial Femenino or ODEF). As a community bank member,

Luisa received a loan of $68, business training, and support from

other women. With this help, she opened a fish stand in Lima’s

busy marketplace. Netting more and more sales, Luisa now

employs three people (including her husband) and expanded her

product line to include vegetables, fruit, and natural medicines. 

ODEF is a leading microfinance institution in Honduras and a member of the Katalysis North/South Development Partnership. Luisa is

one of over 20,000 microentrepreneurs served by the Katalysis

Partnership.

Source: Katalysis

tutions offering unsubsidized,8 high-quality financial services to poor microentrepreneurs. 

USAID has had a longstanding relationship with national credit union movements. Where local credit unions are

strong, they have large numbers of members and correspondingly large loan portfolios. USAID has provided support to

strengthen credit unions’ capacity to meet

the microfinance needs of the poor.

PVOs and NGOs are also well-established microfinance partners with USAID.

USAID’s current portfolio includes hundreds of U.S. PVOS and local NGOs that

provide microcredit and other financial

services. Many institutions that worked

traditionally with USAID in disaster relief

and food aid programs recently have

entered the microfinance arena. 

As the original pioneers in delivering

microcredit have succeeded in providing

cost-effective services to large numbers of

poor clients, some NGOs are seriously

pursuing options for additional services,

such as providing savings to the general

public, insurance, leasing arrangements,

and debit cards. The provision of these

services poses new challenges. Accepting

deposits from the general public, for

example, likely will increase regulation by

national banking authorities. 

BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT SERVICES

Sometimes getting a loan is only the

first step for a microentrepreneur. If a new

entrepreneur does not understand basic

accounting, sales, or marketing, she will

have a hard time growing her business and

boosting her income over time. A number

of microenterprise sectoral studies stress

the importance of non-financial con7

Katalysis Partnership photo by Colleen Donvan

8A financial institution is said to be providing financial services on a “subsidized” basis if the interest and fees collected from clients for those services fail to

cover the institution’s full long-run costs. An institution is expected to operate with sufficient efficiency, management skill, and a price structure to reach a significant scale and fully cover all operational and financial costs, including inflation, within seven years of initiating operations.
straints on the growth and prosperity of

microenterprises.9 For many active

microentrepreneurs, inadequate business

management and marketing skills, and

limited knowledge of improved production techniques and market opportunities

pose more serious barriers to growth than

the lack of credit. 

To meet these needs, many microenterprise development programs offer a

variety of non-financial services to entrepreneurs. Effective organizations, working

directly with microentrepreneurs, will tailor their business development services to

client needs. Non-financial services may

be offered on a stand-alone basis or as part

of a larger package that includes credit. 

Some organizations are working to

develop new marketing channels or to

introduce improved technologies. The

challenge in providing business development services to microenterprises is to

develop methodologies that can be costeffective and sustainable. USAID prefers

funding experimental programs that may

lead to improvements both in cost recovery and service delivery. For example, a

recent grant supports a direct electronic

link between poor microentrepreneurs in

Guatemala and the Philippines with overseas markets and product design services.

However structured, business development services must be driven by market

demand.

8

Market Development and Training in Ghana

The USAID/Ghana mission supports Aid to Artisans/Ghana

(ATAG), a local affiliate of the U.S.-based PVO. ATAG promotes

the development of entrepreneurial, technical, and marketing skills

of microentrepreneurs who produce export-quality handcrafted

products such as wood carvings and brass objects. ATAG works

to help Ghanaian microentrepreneurs develop new product lines

suitable for the international market and to increase export sales of

Ghanaian crafts by fostering links between producers and foreign

buyers. In 1997, ATAG linked rural artisans with a large foreign

buyer, MARMAXX, which purchased over $1.2 million of handcrafted products. More than 100 artisans including 40 women

participated in production for the MARMAXX order. 

Source: USAID Ghana

Reaching Down and Scaling Up

9See, for example, the USAID-sponsored GEMINI (Growth and Equity through Microenterprise Investments and Institutions) technical report series of

microenterprise surveys in Africa, in particular, Technical Reports 14, 16, 24, 25, and 46. Technical Report No. 75, “Micro and Small Scale Enterprise in Kenya:

Results of the 1993 National Baseline Survey,” states that Kenyan microentrepreneurs view the lack of access to markets and inputs as greater constraints than

lack of access to capital. 

Krofofrom Brass Makers Enter New Markets

In the small village of Krofofrom, where

there is no electricity, artisans have a long

tradition of making brass objects for their

country’s tribal leaders. They use lost-wax

casting and recycled brass techniques

from the last century. As local demand for

their work decreased, however, unemployment rose and the youth began to

leave Krofofrom for the cities. ATAG,

under USAID’s Trade and Investment

Program, was invited to work with the artisans. Together they quickly developed

new product lines of candle holders, napkin rings, art objects, and decorative components for wood products. Now U.S.

importers have added the Ghanaian artisans’ work to existing product lines. For example, the Gumps catalog recently featured a Ghanaian votive candle holder. Today,

there is full employment among the artisans in Krofofrom, and entrepreneurs from the village are traveling to international markets to

sell their products.

Source: Aid to Artisans

AID TO ARTISANS photo
U.S. Agency for International Development Microenterprise Results Reporting for 1997

Banco Solidario/Ecuador: Emma Lagla Correa

What seems to be the problem? Your nerves? Low energy? An

ulcer? Your love life? Evil spirits? Emma Lagla Correa has an herbal

cure. 

Coming from a long line of herbal practitioners, Emma opened

an herbal shop in Ecuador. To get her business started, Emma borrowed $880 from moneylenders, which she secured with her

apartment. The interest was 10 percent a month, but she had to

pay $17 every day. With sales of only $22 a day, she did not

have much left for feeding and clothing her four children. 

One day Emma heard a radio advertisement for Banco Solidario,

an ACCION affiliate in Ecuador. Emma immediately applied for a

loan, and in eight days she received a loan which she used to pay

off the moneylender. This loan had an affordable interest rate, and

from then on, Emma was never late in her payments. Two subsequent loans helped her build inventory and sales. The business is

now providing stable support for Emma and her family. 

Source: ACCION

GUIDING PRINCIPLES FOR SERVICE DELIVERY

USAID considers that an effective

service or program is only successful if it

reaches a significant number of people.

This belief is shared by many practitioners

who have honed their methodologies to

address the needs of a larger clientele.

Microlenders have standardized service

units, cut costs, and facilitated expansion

of lending services. By demonstrating the

effectiveness of their outreach strategy,

they are more likely to attain donor funding on a large scale, permitting the organization to serve even greater numbers of

clients. This volume of lending, in turn,

not only covers the lending program’s

costs but generates a profit and the possibility of self-financing growth. This is full

sustainability. USAID’s strategy is to build

the sustainability of its development partners so as to stretch scarce funding

resources. 

The USAID strategy also considers

that people’s willingness to pay for services is a direct indication of the value

they place on those services. The institutions that survive this “market test” will

have the best chance of achieving full sustainability. USAID encourages competition among providers as a means of promoting efficiency and reducing costs of

services to poor customers.

Improving Policies and Regulations

Frequently, USAID’s limited

resources can have the greatest effect at

the policy level. To this end, a number of

USAID missions have focused on policy

reform. Inflation management, agricultural policy, utilities regulations, and trade

and exchange rate policies are some areas

where USAID is working to achieve more

rapid, sustainable economic growth in the

developing world. Improvements in the

economic arena will tend to benefit both

microenterprise owners and their employ9

ACCION photo by Jessica Boyatt
10

ees, through stronger growth in product

demand and by providing the impetus for

the creation of higher-paying jobs.

Financial and non-financial policies

and regulations affect microenterprises.

Typically, the financial policies are

national in scope, while the non-financial

policies are more local in nature. On the

financial front, often the most beneficial

policy intervention for microenterprises is

the removal of outdated financial laws and

regulations that unintentionally work

against the efficient provision of microfinance services. In addition, the removal of

interest rate restrictions can benefit the

microenterprise sector. These restrictions

set artificial limits on loan pricing and can

severely limit the ability of microfinance

institutions to provide services on a sustainable basis. Another potentially counterproductive policy is requiring banks to

channel a specified share of their lending

to small and microenterprises. Such

restrictions frequently lead to poorly

designed programs and methodologies

that undermine the strength of legitimate

microfinance players. 

Non-financial policy constraints on

microenterprises are no less important,

and USAID has supported policy and

regulatory reform to address these barriers. The following list illustrates how nonfinancial policies affect microenterprises.

■ Poorly defined access to space in

urban markets exposes vendors to

harassment by police and other vendors. 

■ Inheritance and property laws prevent women from obtaining title to

business property.

■ Discretionary allocation of foreign

exchange and import licenses

inhibits small and micro-scale firms

from gaining access to imported

inputs.

Reaching Down and Scaling Up

Building the Microenterprise

Development Field

To maximize its resources and to

extend its outreach to poor entrepreneurs,

USAID: 

■ Develops strategic partnerships with

implementing partners and other

donors to leverage additional

resources for microenterprise development activities;

■ Strengthens the institutions that deliver

services to clients, helping them expand

their outreach and increase their financial sustainability; and,

■ Promotes the development of effective methodologies, collaborative

research, evaluation and monitoring

tools, and documentation on

microenterprise practices, both successes and failures. 

As a leader in supporting “best practices” efforts worldwide, USAID is working to accelerate the learning curve. For

example, the Agency sponsors innovative

training activities designed to increase the

number of people trained in microenterprise development. 

The Agency is also engaged actively

in the search for better poverty yardsticks

and in conducting field-based analysis of

the impact of microenterprise development programs on the poor. USAID has

been an active participant in the worldwide dialogue on these issues that was set

in motion by the 1997 Microcredit

Summit. 

Finally, as a lead funder in the sector,

the Agency has helped spearhead donor

cooperation initiatives including the creation of the Consultative Group to Assist

the Poorest (CGAP), which is housed at

the World Bank and now numbers 27 multilateral and bilateral donors in its membership.
U.S. Agency for International Development Microenterprise Results Reporting for 1997

COUNTRY PROFILE: Financial Services in Cambodia

In Cambodia, USAID sponsors three complementary initiatives. The

first, undertaken with the United Nations Development Program

(UNDP) and the International Finance Commission (IFC) of the

International Monetary Fund, provides technical assistance and

training support to transform the Association of Cambodian Local

Economic Development Agencies (ACLEDA), the leading national

microfinance institution, into a commercial bank. ACLEDA has

expanded rapidly and currently provides credit services, though

33 branches, to almost 50,000 clients, the majority of whom are

women.

The second involves Catholic Relief Services (CRS), which plans

over the next five years to transform its village banking program

into a wholesale lending institution. A subsidiary corporate structure will provide financial and non-financial services to NGOs. This

will allow the CRS poverty lending program to expand its scope

from 5,000 to 25,000 women, working with 10 local partner

institutions. 

The third initiative is World Relief’s Gateway II program, an integrated credit, savings, maternal and child health, and community

organizing program that teams up with a local organization,

Cambodia Community Building (CCB). To date, they have established nearly 300 community banks that serve the financial needs

of over 8,000 women living in squatter slums in Phnom Penh and

in rural areas. Another 500 village banks serving 15,000 clients

are projected by the year 2000, when CCB plans to be selffinancing. 

Source: USAID/Cambodia

USAID’s Microenterprise Development Office and other Washington-based

bureaus and offices initiate and fund a large

portion of the Agency’s “field-building”

work. Annex F summarizes USAID central

offices’ microenterprise development activities. 

Emerging Trends in the Microfinance

Field 

NGOS AND THE MICROCREDIT REVOLUTION

Many microfinance institutions began

by pioneering or adapting methodologies

for providing the poor with small, timely,

accessible, and relatively inexpensive business loans. With maturity, some microfinance organizations have realized full profitability; many others will likely reach

profitability soon. NGO microfinance

organizations are achieving this important

goal through a variety of strategies. Some

have achieved profitability and large-scale

operations solely by providing very small

loans; others have chosen to provide a mixture of loan sizes. 

Many village banking programs, for

instance, are electing not to “graduate”

clients to other programs or banks that

provide larger loans; instead, they are

opening separate group solidarity or individual loan windows for clients who have

prospered and have growing financial

needs. Generally, they restrict these windows to their own long-term clients who

are established as good credit risks. This

approach serves both the clients, who prefer to remain with the organization, and

the organization, which can operate more

profitably with a mixed portfolio of larger

and smaller loans. In addition, the more

profitable larger loans cross-subsidize the

smaller ones.10

11

10PRODEM, for example, is a Bolivian NGO with an explicit policy of cross-subsidizing smaller loans by maintaining a portfolio of larger loans. The smallest loan size is $47, the largest $4,664. Many credit unions also tend to have a mixed clientele ranging from the very poor to the working class. The strategy of

extending loans of different sizes can reduce risk to the lender, promote portfolio diversity, and help modulate cashflow. 
establishing new rules and standards for

effective, appropriate, and prudent regulation of microfinance institutions that want

to accept deposits from the general public.

In Bolivia, Ecuador, Ethiopia, Honduras,

and Peru, for example, this type of regulatory activity is moving ahead with USAID

involvement. 

COMMERCIAL BANKS: THE NEW KID

ON THE BLOCK

In the past, commercial banks

showed little interest in working with

small accounts or poor borrowers. The

success of the NGO and credit union

lending programs with poor customers has

not gone unnoticed by commercial

bankers, however. In recent years, large

commercial banks, building on methodologies pioneered by private non-profits,

have been entering the market by opening

microloan windows and offering products

aimed at the smallest enterprises. More are

expected to follow, either as direct lenders

or by wholesaling loan capital to specialized microfinance institutions. This trend

offers the potential to expand greatly

microfinance services available to poor

entrepreneurs. 

To meet the growing interest among

commercial bankers, in 1998 USAID sponsored two seminars in Chile and Kenya. In

April, USAID sponsored a conference in

Santiago, Chile, for Latin American commercial bankers who are actively entering

the microcredit market. It drew representatives from 16 banks in 10 countries. These

banks had a combined outreach of over

300,000 microfinance clients and a loan

portfolio of about $450 million. To reach

this new market, the banks are focusing on

operational issues that will help them

reduce transaction costs; many are using

computer technology to facilitate this

process. They are also hiring staff trained

by NGOs to assist them. 

12

THE SAVINGS

CHALLENGE TO

INSTITUTIONS

Considerable

evidence exists

that the poor, and

especially microentrepreneurs, place a

high value on

access to safe, convenient, and liquid

savings deposit

facilities. Savings

facilities require

different methods

and mechanisms

than credit, and

many microfinance institutions

are finding that

successfully adding

deposit services is

a complex undertaking. 

While credit unions are designed

with the express purpose of helping their

members save, many NGOs have been

restricted in their savings activities. In

most countries, NGOs are not regulated

as financial institutions and are not permitted to mobilize savings from the general public. A number of NGOs are now

ready to become more formal, regulated

institutions that can accept deposits. A

very few of these former NGOs have

become fully licensed banks. USAID

actively supports the transition of NGO

microfinance institutions that seek to

expand their range of services and “graduate” to the ranks of formal financial institutions. 

For many other microfinance institutions, regulatory changes are under way

that will affect their ability to do business.

Discussions with governmental authorities

involved with banking supervision are

Reaching Down and Scaling Up

World Education photo by

Kathryn Matchett
U.S. Agency for International Development Microenterprise Results Reporting for 1997

Policy and Regulatory Reform in Honduras

The USAID/Honduras mission has contributed to the strengthening

of the indigenous microfinance sector for a number of years. In

addition, several USAID-supported institutions are actively

engaged in a national-level policy dialogue focusing on microfinance issues. For example, the Covelo Foundation drafted a regulatory framework that will permit qualified PVOs to mobilize capital from the public. When approved by Congress, this framework

will require that the National Bank and Insurance Commission provide prudential supervision of these PVOs to protect the depositors

as well as the institutions.

Interest from commercial players is

not limited to Latin America. A similar

conference in May, in Nairobi, Kenya,

attracted over 100 bankers, microfinance

practitioners, and financial policy makers

from a dozen anglophone African countries. The discussion was on the potential

for commercially viable microfinance services in Africa. More seminars are planned

for the next two years.

13

Opportunity Inetrnational photo
USAID’S Microenterprise

Funding

From this point forward in this

report, the focus is on the information collected for 1997 on USAID’s programs and

the achievements of its microfinance partners. The originating USAID field mission

or office provided the funding data. 

Trends in Microenterprise Funding

USAID’s strong commitment to

microenterprise development is clear.

Historical funding trends are rising

despite reductions in overall Agency funding and without earmarked funds for economic growth. 

USAID substantially exceeded its

1997 targets for microenterprise funding. In

the Microenterprise Initiative, USAID committed to spending at least $120 million for

1997. Overall funding in 1997 was $165.1

million, a 48 percent increase over the 1996

funding level of $111.4 million. $33 million

of 1997 funding was “carryover” and a onetime investment by the Polish American

Enterprise Fund. 

Because funding in 1996 was lower

than expected due to the late receipt of

Agency funding, it may be more appropriate to average the past two years; this results

in an average of $138.2 million per year for

1996 and 1997. The average places annual

funding well above the pledge of $120 million.

The current 1998 estimate is roughly

$144 million. 

Use of Funds

All USAID bureaus, with the exception of the Africa Bureau, are spending

more than two-thirds of their funds to promote sustainable financial programs for

microenterprises. 

14 Reaching Down and Scaling Up

TABLE 1: Microenterprise Funding by USAID Bureau,

1997, Millions of Dollars

Credit Programs Non-Credit Programs Total

Amount Percent Amount Percent Amount Percent

Africa Bureau 8.7 34 17.0 66 25.7 100

Asia/Near

East Bureau 28.8 78 8.1 22 36.9 100

Europe/NIS Bureau 34.8 77 10.6 23 45.4 100

Latin America/

Caribbean Bureau 14.5 72 5.6 28 20.1 100

Central Bureaus 26.9 73 10.0 27 36.9 100

Total 113.7 69 51.3 31 165.0 100

FIGURE 1: Ten Years of USAID Microenterprise

Funding, 1988-1997 (actuals) 
U.S. Agency for International Development Microenterprise Results Reporting for 1997

The Africa Bureau warrants special

mention because it used a greater proportion

of its funds to promote non-financial assistance to microenterprises. The Bureau is

funding support for productivity-enhancing

skills training for microentrepreneurs, market development, and policy reform. A number of U.S.-based PVOs, including

TechnoServe, Volunteers in Technical

Assistance, World Education, and Africare,

are involved in providing these non-financial services in Africa.

With Central Bureau funding allocated

to the regions, the distribution of USAID

funds changes to the proportions shown in

Table 2.

The Office of Private and Voluntary

Cooperation in USAID’s Bureau for

Humanitarian Response (BHR/PVC) has

provided significant funding to U.S.-based

PVOs for financial programs in Africa. In

addition, the Africa Bureau has funded the

African Revitalization Project to rebuild and

strengthen a number of credit unions. The

Microenterprise Development Office’s

PRIME and IGP grant mechanisms have also

supported financial programs in Africa.11

The microenterprise development picture in Africa is changing. In recent years,

there has been an international awakening

of interest, and many African governments

are becoming supportive of microenterprise

services. With a more promising policy

environment, many missions in Africa are

nurturing nascent financial services programs, both through direct mission funding

and in conjunction with BHR/PVC. Some of

these programs are taking off with great

rapidity. While the provision of non-financial business services is likely to continue as

a mission emphasis in the Africa region,

financial services will play an increasing role

in many USAID field missions’ microenterprise portfolios.

15

TABLE 2: Microenterprise Funding by Region of

Utilization, 1997, Millions of Dollars

Credit Programs Non-Credit Programs Total

Amount Percent Amount Percent Amount Percent

Africa 20.0 53 18.0 47 38.0 100

Asia/Near East 34.5 81 8.3 19 42.8 100

Europe/NIS 34.9 77 10.6 23 45.5 100

Latin America/

Caribbean 23.3 80 6.0 20 29.3 100

North America 1.0 11 8.4 89 9.4 100

Total 113.7 69 51.3 31 165.0 100

11Among the African microfinance programs receiving funding from central funding sources are: CARE/AVFS/Ethiopia, CRS/Senegal, FINCA/Uganda, Food

for the Hungry/Faulu (Kenya), Freedom from Hunger (Mali, Ghana, Uganda, Burkina Faso), Opportunity International/Zambuko Trust (Zimbabwe), Save the

Children (Ethiopia and Mozambique), World Relief (Burkina Faso, Mozambique, and Rwanda), and World Vision (Uganda and Tanzania).
Poverty Lending

Table 3 presents 1997 funding to

institutions engaged in poverty lending.

Funding for poverty lending has increased

from 54 percent in 1996 to 86 percent in

1997 for the ANE region and from 15 percent in 1996 to 31 percent in 1997 for the

ENI region. Overall USAID funding for

poverty lending went from 58 percent of

credit funding in 1996 to 68 percent in

1997. 

16 Reaching Down and Scaling Up

TABLE 3: Percentage of USAID Funds Committed to

Poverty Lending by Region,1997

Percent of

Total Credit Programs Credit 

Microenterprise Funding

Funding Amount Percent of for Poverty

(US$ millions) (US$ millions) Total Lending

Africa 25.7 8.7 34 85

Asia/Near East 36.9 28.8 78 86

Europe/NIS 45.4 34.8 77 31

Latin America 20.1 14.5 72 42

Central Bureaus 36.9 26.9 73 72

Total 165.0 113.7 69 68

FINCA/Uganda: Balidawa Robinah

Balidawa Robinah is a woman competing successfully in a man’s

business — brickmaking. Robinah learned the trade through watching her husband, but used her own initiative to start the business,

after she realized how marketable bricks were. Robinah is the sole

proprietor. Placing her manufacturing site beside a road has

attracted business for Robinah and making a high-quality brick has

helped her compete with other brickmakers. As a result, she not

only sells lots of bricks, she has been able to hire two employees

to assist her in the business. 

Before she became a FINCA client, Robinah could make only

1,000 -1,500 bricks at a time. By investing her FINCA loans in

raw materials, Robinah now makes 5,000 bricks at a time, earning about $200 per 40 bricks. After expenses, she turns a profit

of $40. These profits have helped her to pay school fees for her

seven children. 

Source: FINCA 

FINCA photo
U.S. Agency for International Development Microenterprise Results Reporting for 1997

FIGURE 2. USAID-Supported Microfinance

Institutions Responding to 1997 Survey

Findings from the Financial

Institutions Survey

Over the spring and summer of 1998,

USAID missions distributed a questionnaire to the financial institutions with

which they have active funding agreements, and 295 institutions responded.12

In this year’s survey 71 percent of the

institutions with funding for microfinance

reported, an increase from 53 percent in

1996. In analyzing the data, eight different types of organizations reported delivering financial services: banks; business

associations; cooperatives and credit

unions; finance companies and other “for

profit” companies; government agencies;

NGOs; PVOs; and an “other” category,

which included several research institutions. Ten institutions reported engaging

in the delivery of both financial and nonfinancial services.

Overview of Lending Programs

Figure 3 and Table 4 below demonstrate some of the regional differences

among USAID-funded programs in 1997. 

INCREASE IN ACTIVE LOANS

USAID’s partner institutions

reported a total of 1,447,297 active loans

at the end of 1997, and roughly the same

number of clients. This represents an

increase of 465,643 loans or a 47 percent

increase over the 981,654 active loans

reported at the end of 1996. This major

increase reflects the successful outreach

programs of USAID’s partner institutions.

Both the LAC and ANE regions have

noticeably larger numbers of clients than

either Africa or the ENI regions. For this

survey, 117 institutions from the LAC

17

FIGURE 3. NUMBER OF CLIENTS REACHED BY

REGION, 1997

12See Annex A for details on the data collection methodology. 
region and 86 institutions from the ANE

region reported data on their lending

activities. USAID received completed

questionnaires from 60 African programs

for 1997; many of these programs are

newer and thus smaller than the more

established efforts in the LAC and ANE

regions. In the ENI region, 29 institutions

responded. One reason for this relatively

low number is that USAID activity in the

ENI region is more recent. In addition,

and for somewhat different reasons, the

institutional capacity to provide microfinance services is less well developed in the

Africa and ENI regions than elsewhere.

GROWTH IN LOAN PORTFOLIOS

In terms of the lending volume or the

value of the active portfolio, the amount

reported was $645.0 million, an increase

of more than $200 million in 1997. The

LAC programs are by far the largest, and

is older and more well established than

most programs in the other regions. There

is also a relatively large number of credit

unions reporting from the LAC region.

They tend to have many members and a

wide range in the size of the loans outstanding; as such, they contribute a large

number of relatively larger loans. 

In the LAC region, there is a history

of USAID support for microfinance development, including regulatory and banking

sector reform and longstanding support to

leading PVOs, such as ACCION’s work

with solidarity group lending and FINCA’s

pioneering efforts in developing village

banking. Both methodologies involve

increasing loan sizes with repeat loans.

This strategy coupled with aggressive

expansion has meant dramatic portfolio

growth over time.

In the ANE region, there is also a

number of well established programs. The

high volume of loans is due to a combination of factors: Egypt is home to several

18

TABLE 4. Active Portfolio for Lending Institutions

1997

Total Percent

Loans of Total

(U.S.$ millions) Portfolio

Africa 29.4 4.6

Asia/Near East 116.3 18.0

Europe/NIS 12.3 1.9

Latin America 487.1 75.5

Total 645.1 100.0

Reaching Down and Scaling Up

CRS/El Salvador: Tereso Granados

When an earthquake hit San Salvador in 1986, Don Tereso lost

his home and his possessions; in addition, many in his family were

seriously injured and unable to work. To gain an income, Don

Tereso used a small amount of money to set up a tortilla business.

The business was surviving, but it was not until a local community

bank was inaugurated that Don Tereso received a loan to expand.

With this loan, his business is thriving, and he was able to expand

into propane gas distribution in his community. 

Don Tereso is now the treasurer of the “New Victory” community

bank and a firm believer in microentrepreneurship. He believes that

three factors contribute to his ongoing success: the training he

received, special attention to his clients, and quality products.

Source: Catholic Relief Services
U.S. Agency for International Development Microenterprise Results Reporting for 1997

Freedom from Hunger/Kafo Jiginew/Mali: Kadia

Cisse

Kadia Cisse is a participant in Kafo Jiginew’s “Credit with

Education” program sponsored by Freedom from Hunger. She

came from Koury, a town on the border of Mali and Burkina Faso,

and has three daughters. 

Kadia says, “One year ago, thanks to the assistance of a Kafo

Jiginew field agent, I joined a credit association with 32 members.

Together, the association members received a group loan from

which each individual member took a loan of $43. When I

received this sum, I bought a large sack of millet and increased my

production of moni (enriched millet porridge, a Malian staple).

Within a few days my profits increased many times over. I had no

problem making my weekly payments. I was able to purchase

clothes for my children, as they had been wearing nothing but

rags.” 

In the second four-month cycle, Kadia received a loan of $65,

and in the third cycle, a loan of $87. Today, Kadia can easily buy

two sacks of millet and earn much more money. She has also

become treasurer of her credit association.

Source: Freedom from Hunger

successful programs, almost all with average loan sizes between $500 and $1,000;

Bangladesh and Cambodia have institutions with over 50,000 borrowers, so that

even with small loans, the portfolios are

between $5 million and $8 million; and Sri

Lanka’s credit unions account for more

than $38 million (and 280,000 clients).

ANE is also the site of several highly successful microfinance institutions that no

longer require USAID support. In achieving this level of success, they have provided an important marker for the field’s

development.

The relatively smaller scale of the

loan portfolios in Africa and the ENI

region graphically illustrate why USAID

identified these regions for priority attention when the Agency renewed the

Microenterprise Initiative in 1997. Both

19

Freedom from Hunger photo by Jan Kingsbury

TABLE 5. Average Loan Size and Percentage of

Women Clients, 1997

Average Percentage

Loan Size of Women

(U.S.$) Clients

Africa 176 85

Asia/Near East 190 68

Eastern Europe/NIS 703 66

Latin America/Caribbean 746 62

Worldwide 445 67
regions have large populations dependent

on microenterprises for survival and both

offer promising opportunities to build

financial and human capital. Investments

in microenterprise development capacity

tailored to each region’s economic circumstances are likely to yield rich dividends.

Annexes D and E describe recent Agency

efforts to realize this potential.

AVERAGE LOAN SIZE

The data on average loan size also

reveal differences among the regions. In

this case, the ENI region joins the LAC

region at the high end of the spectrum,

and the institutions in the Africa and ANE

regions cluster together at the lower end,

a pattern also seen in 1996. 

In both Africa and Asia, where average loan sizes are smaller, many USAIDsupported programs are quite new. More

than a few are seeking to replicate the

model of Bangladesh’s Grameen Bank. 

Average loan size in the ENI region

has decreased from $1,104 in 1996 to

$703 in 1997, reflecting the growing

emphasis in the ENI region on outreach to

poorer clients.

In Latin America, the higher average

loan size is linked to the maturity of many

institutions, and data from a large number

of credit unions with a typically wider

range of loan sizes. The case study of

Bolivia illustrates how the higher average

loan size of many LAC programs obscures

the fact that many large institutions also

have large numbers of very small loans.

The larger loans cross-subsidize smaller

loans, as noted earlier. In addition, with

these more mature microfinance institutions, over time a significant number of

clients have progressed from small loans

to large ones as their businesses have

grown.

20

The Case of Bolivia 

The most sophisticated country in the Americas in the area of

microenterprise, Bolivia illustrates how different methodologies and

types of institutions each play a part in serving the poor. Eight

USAID-supported financial institutions reported microfinance data

for 1997. Reporting were credit unions, one of the very few commercial banks in the world devoted exclusively to microfinance, a

finance company, and five non-profit organizations. One non-profit

is in the process of becoming a regulated financial institution and

two others are also on track to do so. The smallest loan size for the

institutions ranges from $19 to $187, the largest loan size from

$287 to $30,000. 

The eight institutions reported 222,415 microenterprise loans outstanding. This represents 24 percent coverage of a total potential

market estimated by local researchers at 925,000 people. Since

most of these organizations are growing rapidly, there should be a

marked increase in market penetration in the next few years. 

While the combined average loan size of these Bolivian microfinance institutions is $1,177, this number disguises the fact that just

a few institutions are serving a very large number of poor people.

Of the 222,415 microenterprise loans reported, 31 percent or

68,067 were loans in amounts of $300 or less.

BancoSol, the commercial bank, provided poverty loans to almost

25,000 clients. Two NGOs, CRECER and Promujer, have village

banking programs, which together provide poverty loans to

19,000 clients. A third NGO, PRODEM, uses a solidarity group

methodology and reported 14,351 poverty loans for 1997.

Finally the credit unions, often overlooked as microenterprise

lenders, reported 10,130 poverty loans. 

Reaching Down and Scaling Up
U.S. Agency for International Development Microenterprise Results Reporting for 1997

WOMEN AS CLIENTS

All regions report that women comprised more than 50 percent of the clients

receiving services, fulfilling the

Microenterprise Initiative’s pledge on gender. Programs in Africa report by far the

highest percentage of women clients: 85

percent. The other three regions surpassed the 50 percent mark by a solid margin: 68 percent in ANE; 66 percent in

ENI; 62 percent in LAC. 

RURAL VS. URBAN CLIENTS

Microfinance programs also vary by

region in the location of clients served.

The majority of clients in microfinance

programs in the ANE and Africa regions

live in rural areas, while the majority in

the LAC and ENI regions reside in urban

areas. Worldwide, 52 percent of clients of

USAID-supported microfinance institutions reside in rural areas. 

SMALL LOANS FOR POOR CLIENTS

USAID continues its strong support

of “poverty lending” programs; these programs have a significant portion of their

portfolio devoted to small loans, as Table

6 illustrates. This data is presented based

on the program’s location rather than by

funding source.

Among African institutions, 89 percent of their loans are in amounts of $300

or less. The ENI region, where poverty

loans are $1,000 or less, is next highest at

83 percent, while the ANE region

reported 76 percent of its loans were in

the poverty lending range. The microfinance programs in all geographical

regions have more than half of total loans

in poverty loans. When looked at on a

worldwide scale, over two-thirds of all

loans are poverty loans. 

21

FIGURE 4. Location of Clients: Rural vs. Urban

Setting

TABLE 6. Poverty Loans by Region, 19971

Total Poverty Poverty Poverty

Micro Loans Loans as Loans as

Loans % of Total % of

(thousands) (thousands) Loans Portfolio

Africa 151.2 135.2 89 70.1

Asia/Near East 554.4 424.0 76 46.0

Europe/NIS 13.7 11.4 83 31.6

Latin America 615.3 327.8 53 13.1

Total 1,334.6 898.4 67 21.3

1Includes only those institutions reporting their poverty lending activities.
TABLE 8. Sustainability of Institutions Supported by

USAID, Percent

Not yet Operational Fully

Sustainable Sustainability Sustainable Total

Africa 72 7 21 100

Asia/Near East 72 4 24 100

Europe/NIS 61 7 32 100

Latin America/ 57 13 30 100 Caribbean

Total 65 9 26 100

Selecting Development Partners

USAID chooses its development

partners through competitive review.

Implementing institutions are evaluated

both in terms of outreach to target groups

and projected sustainability. These two

criteria together, outreach and sustainability, can ensure permanent or at least longterm access to services for large numbers

of the poor. Award agreements incorporate quantitative and qualitative performance targets tailored to these two factors. 

Investments in training and capacitybuilding support the objective of achieving quality in service delivery, as does

conscientious monitoring of awardees’

performance and timely help when problems arise. In all cases, institutions are

expected to operate using sound financial

management practices. 

PORTFOLIO QUALITY

Two measures of progress toward sustainability are repayment rates and degree

of financial self-sufficiency. Repayment

rates13 for USAID-supported institutions

are expected to be 95 percent or higher.

Table 7 shows the repayment rates for institutions reporting 1997 data. Loan loss rate,

or the average of losses over several years

as a percentage of active loans, is a second

measure of portfolio quality. 

PROGRESS TOWARD FULL SELF-SUFFICIENCY

USAID expects microfinance institutions to move beyond dependence on outside subsidies to self-sufficiency over time.

USAID-supported institutions are required to have a credible plan for achieving full financial self-sufficiency within

22 Reaching Down and Scaling Up

13The repayment rate used here is based on the amounts of unpaid loan balances with payments outstanding for 90 days. Since a portion of these unpaid balances often are repaid subsequently, this measure overstates non-repayment.

TABLE 7. Average Repayment and Loan Loss Rates

for Microcredit Institutions by Region, 1997

Repayment Loan Loss

Rate Rate

% %

Africa 95.0 2.5

Asia/Near East 95.9 0.7

Europe/NIS 93.6 1.0

Latin America/Caribbean 93.9 2.4

World 94.8 1.8
U.S. Agency for International Development Microenterprise Results Reporting for 1997

seven years of initial funding.14 Prior to full

financial self-sufficiency, an organization

should reach operational sustainability,

whereby client revenues are sufficient to

cover all administrative costs, including loan

losses.

Need for Safe Savings Instruments 

The number of savers in USAID-supported institutions exceeds the number of

borrowers. The total amount of savings is

currently considerably less than the loan

portfolio, however. As more microfinance

institutions become regulated and are able

to offer liquid savings instruments and competitive interest rates on deposits, this number is expected to soar. Historically, where

poor communities have both options available, savings surpass loans by a considerable

margin. 

CECI/Nepal: Kaushila Chand

Kaushila Chand is 27 years old and has a 10-year--

old daughter. Her husband left her seven years ago.

Through the Women’s Economic Empowerment

Project with USAID/Nepal support, a savings and

credit group was started in Kaushila’s village by the

Canadian Center for International Studies and

Cooperation. Kaushila took the little money she had

from raising goats, joined the savings and credit

group, and invested her earnings. Kaushila took a

loan from the group to buy a few goods from the

market to sell in her village. 

Kaushila continued to invest her earnings in new

activities, such as buying improved breed goats to

raise and growing vegetables to sell in the off-season. The money Kaushila is making from her vegetables, goats, and shop is ensuring her daughter’s education, which is a priority for Kaushila.

Seeing her initiative and active interest, the group

elected her chairperson of the savings and credit

committee. Since she became chairperson, she

has seen the value of being able to read and

write, and wants her daughter to be educated.

Source: USAID/Nepal

23

TABLE 9. Number of Savings Members and Savings

Amounts by Region, 1997

Number of Savings Savings Amounts

Members (U.S.$ millions)

(thousands)

Africa 145.0 20.0

Asia/Near East 1,008.0 92.5

Europe/NIS 17.5 3.5

Latin America/Caribbean 948.8 256.8

Total 2,119.3 372.8

USAID photo

14Full financial sustainability refers to the case where an institution is able to fully finance the cost of all its operations, including the cost of obtaining funds

and allowing for inflation, with client revenues. 
ANNEX A

Microenterprise Results Reporting (MRR)15

Methodology

The MRR team collected the data in this report from USAID officers

and microenterprise program staff. USAID officers reported 1997 funding

and then disseminated a questionnaire to all microfinance institutions and

umbrella organizations receiving funding for microfinance activities.16

Programs supported by BHR/PVC and the Global Bureau’s Office of

Microenterprise Development reported data on their activities directly to the

MRR team. The Statistical Annex contains the 1997 MRR Questionnaire. 

An important change to the database on USAID-supported microenterprise programs has been the addition of details on all of USAID’s active portfolio

(i.e., organizations with active funding agreements), regardless of the year of

funding. This addition provides a more complete picture of USAID investments in microenterprise development worldwide than could be presented in

last year’s report.

In 1996, a total of 310 institutions received funds for either the support

of finance programs or for providing non-financial services. In 1997, 481

institutions received assistance for either financial or non-financial activities.

In addition, USAID funds were provided to 28 mission activities to be subobligated to institutions at a later date. Because a portion of the 1997 funds

had not yet been sub-obligated with specific institutions at the time of reporting, the total number of implementing entities is under-reported. 

This year’s data collection reflects a substantial increase in the reporting

rate and number of implementing institutions. The number of institutions

providing data for 1997 is 295. Of that number a subset, 257, received funding in 1997. The number of institutions reporting data is a subset of the total

number of institutions that have received funds for financial programs. (See

Tables 10 and 11 below.) 

In 1996, of the 243 institutions that received funding for financial programs, 128 provided data on their operations. Thus, the 1996 findings on

25

15USAID has had a system for tracking its microenterprise support efforts since 1989. The current MRR activity, managed by Weidemann Associates Inc., has been responsible for collecting data from USAID-supported institutions for the past two years. 16Microenterprise funding data are for fiscal year 1997. Institutional data may be for either fiscal year 1997 or

the calendar year.
26 Reaching Down and Scaling Up

TABLE 10. Microenterprise Institutions Funded in 1997 by Type

Total Obligations Credit Obligations Non-Credit 

Obligations

Amount Number Amount Number Amount Number

($000’s) ($000’s) ($000’s)

Banks 5,124 19 5,124 19 0 0

Business Assocs. 2,288 17 500 9 1,788 9

Consulting Firms 7,089 11 3,069 5 4,020 7

Coops/Credit Unions 9,428 79 9,068 78 360 1

ForProfits/Finance Cos. 38,302 9 38,102 9 200 1

Gov. Agencies 423 2 163 1 260 1

NGOs 16,386 221 12,412 166 3,974 58

Other Institutions1 8,026 20 3,588 7 4,438 14

PVOs 56,444 103 31,813 59 24,631 44

USAID2 21,562 28 10,001 10 11,561 21

Total3 165,072 509 113,840 363 51,232 156

1Includes institutions that do not fit into other categories, such as research institutions and UN organizations such as the ILO. 2Mission projects that have not yet committed funds to particular institutions, Mission support activities on behalf of microenterprises, and the technical assistance

and support activities of the office of G/EGAD/MD.

3Note that the total of all institutions does not equal the number for credit and non-credit institutions, as 10 institutions received funds for both types of activities. 
U.S. Agency for International Development Microenterprise Results Reporting for 1997

TABLE 11. Microenterprise Institutions in 1997

Survey by Type

Type All Reporting

Institutions Data1

Banks 20 16

Business Assocs. 19 8

Consulting Firms 12 0

Coops/Credit Unions 83 77

ForProfits/Finance Cos. 17 11

Gov. Agencies 7 1

NGOs 296 128

Other Institutions 23 2

PVOs 136 51

USAID 38 1

Total 651 295

microfinance institutions reflect data from

53 percent of those with credit funding. In

1997, 71 percent of the institutions with

credit obligations reported data. This

improved response rate is encouraging.17 

There continues to be room for

improvement in the data collection

process. One area for further refinement is

poverty lending data reporting. While the

universe of institutions submitting microfinance data for this report was 295, only

238 institutions provided data on poverty

loans.18 A number of institutions that are

not accustomed to USAID reporting

requirements have begun to implement

systems that will allow them to report on

loans in amounts less than $300 (or

$1,000 in the ENI) for the first time. As a

result, a steady improvement is expected

in both data quality and accuracy as

reported by institutions that have an

ongoing relationship with USAID.

However, for institutions new to USAID

funding, there will always be some whose

systems are not prepared initially to handle this request.

27

17In any given year, some financial institutions have no data to report as yet because the program activity is new. In other cases, data pertaining to the lending activities of a number of local implementing institutions are bundled under a single umbrella. Hence the number of total institutions will always be larger than

the number shown reporting data. 18One institution not included in the poverty lending numbers, Fundusz Mikro, received funds of $18.9 million in 1997. If it were included, this extraordinarily large obligation provided through the Polish American Enterprise Fund to a single institution would overshadow all the other activities in the ENI region.

Since this funding constitutes a large up-front investment aimed at enhancing Fundusz Mikro’s ability to serve smaller customers, inclusion of the pre-award averages would distort the results for this awardee and the entire survey. Data reported by Fundusz Mikro in subsequent years will provide a more accurate picture of

the clients reached with USAID support.

1Institutions funded for microfinance activities only.
ANNEX B

Sources of Microenterprise Funding

Appropriated Accounts

USAID operates with a number of distinct funding accounts determined

by the USAID administration and/or Congress. These include:

■ Development Assistance (DA) to be used for long-term development objectives worldwide and often containing substantial Congressionally mandated earmarks (specific uses); 

■ Economic Support Funds (ESF), an account for which the State Department

determines the level an individual country receives based on special economic, political or military significance, after which USAID is responsible for programming the funds for development; 

■ Special Assistance Initiatives (SAI), an account used for specific areas of current foreign policy interest, most recently the Central and Eastern

European countries, including the Baltic States, under the Support for

Eastern European Democracy Act (1989); and,

■ Freedom Support Act (FSA), an account established in 1992 to fund activity

in the New Independent States.

The amount these accounts have contributed to microenterprise funding

since 1990 are shown in the table below.

29

TABLE 12. Sources of USAID Funds for Microenterprise by Appropriation Account, Millions of Dollars

Fund 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997

DA1 44.6 40.2 61.3 51.6 51.1 77.5 72.9 83.3

ESF 9.6 43.2 34.4 18.2 31.6 22.9 16.1 24.5

Local 21.0 30.2 30.6 23.6 16.6 13.0 12.2 11.8 Currency

FSA 21.9 5.7 5.4 20.6

SAI 2.6 16.2 14.4 4.7 24.8

Total 75.42 113.6 126.3 96.0 137.4 133.5 111.4 165.0

1Development Assistance (DA) Funds include the Development Fund for Africa (DFA).

2Total does not add up because data on fund accounts not available for Colombia and Oman. 
grammed between the host country

government and USAID. This was

most common in Latin America,

where some $4 billion in ESF was

deployed over the course of the midand late 1980’s, the large majority of

which was used for balance-of-payments assistance. This generated a

large amount of local currency that

was still being drawn down in the

1990’s after the actual ESF assistance

level dropped. 

b. PL-480: Under Titles II and III of the

Agricultural Trade Development and

Assistance Act of 1954, (Public Law

480 as amended) agricultural commodities are donated to least developed countries. The revenue generated by the sale of such commodities

has been utilized for economic development activities. Among the uses

prescribed for local sales proceeds

are activities that promote increased

access to food through programs

designed to boost employment and

incomes, such as microenterprise

development programs. In accordance with utilization plans

approved by USAID, a number of

Title II cooperating sponsors have

applied funds toward microenterprise

development activities. 

30 Reaching Down and Scaling Up

The New Obligating Authority for

1997 vs. Other Sources 

New Obligating Authority (NOA)

money is that which is appropriated by

Congress in a given year. It may be made

available to the Agency for use over one

year, over two years, or for an unspecified

length of time, in which case it is referred

to as “no year” money. The most common

case is for the money to be available for

two years. USAID generally tries to obligate as much of the money as possible in the

first year of availability; however, especially

if the appropriation authority comes late in

the fiscal year, money may be “carried over”

and obligated in the second year. Another

source of “older” money is deobligation followed by reobligation of funds for a different purpose.

Local Currency

In addition to the accounts appropriated by Congress, USAID missions or

PVOs may have local currency available

which can be used to finance microenterprise work. This source is particularly

appropriate for capitalizing loan portfolios and covering operating costs paid in

local currency. Only expenditures are

reported for local currency, since obligations, as such, do not exist. (There is no

local currency in the ENI region.) Local

currency is generated from two sources: 

a. Balance-of-Payments Support: In

certain instances, a foreign government receives ESF to use for balanceof-payments support, in exchange for

macroeconomic reforms. Where

inflation is not an issue, local currency is often generated against the

value of the additional dollars in the

economy. While this type of local

currency is owned by the host country, it has often been jointly pro-
U.S. Agency for International Development Microenterprise Results Reporting for 1997

In Figure 5, USAID microenterprise

development funding is shown as 1) dollar

funding newly authorized for first use in

1997, 2) appropriated dollar funds carried

forward from 1996 or reobligated, and 3)

local currency. 

Approximately $33 million of 1997

funding is carryover from 1996. A total of

$22 million of this is in the ENI region

alone, of which $18.9 million is the funding for Fundusz Mikro, a large and successful microfinance organization established in Poland by the Polish American

Enterprise Fund. 

Local currency constitutes $11.8 million of the 1997 funding, and represents a

3 percent decrease from the previous year.

This is a 61 percent decrease from 1992,

the high point for local currency utilization in recent years. The amounts estimated for local currency expenditures in

1998 and 1999 are $19 million and $23

million, respectively.

31

FIGURE 5. Funding of Microenterprise Activity

Showing New Obligating Authority, Local Currency

and Carryover or Reobligations (U.S.$, Thousands)
U.S. Agency for International Development Microenterprise Results Reporting for 1997 33

ANNEX C
34 Reaching Down and Scaling Up
Annex D

Africa: A Closer Look

Africa is a priority region for microenterprise development as identified

in the renewal of the USAID Microenterprise Initiative. USAID missions in

Africa manage a variety of microenterprise development programs that offer

financial and/or non-financial services and are often targeted to a rural clientele. The following is an overview of these programs:

■ In Africa, microenterprise development has often followed disaster relief

programs or conflict. In Mozambique and Ethiopia, for example, as the

local situation stabilized, initial revolving credit funds were followed by

larger-scale credit programs financed by monetized PL-480 food aid. 

■ The delivery of non-financial services to microentrepreneurs is a focus

area for many missions. In Ghana and Zimbabwe, where USAID missions principally fund non-financial activities, they have also identified

lack of access to business credit as a major constraint. 

■ USAID missions in Uganda, Kenya, Guinea, and South Africa are funding complementary financial and non-financial activities. 

■ A number of missions also have microfinance programs funded by

USAID/Washington that will likely be scaling up in the future. 

■ Numerous African missions are working to improve the policy environment for private enterprise, microentrepreneurs, and the organizations

that are providing microfinance services. 

Africa Bureau Programs19

■ Uganda

USAID/Uganda places microenterprise work under its strategic objective of “increased rural household income” and works through the successful

PRESTO (Private Enterprise Support, Training and Organizational

Development) Project. Designed to address the need of entrepreneurs for

secure credit and savings services, PRESTO established its Center for

Microenterprise Finance (CMF). 

35

19These country program descriptions came from overviews provided by mission personnel or were obtained from the mission’s “Results Review and

Resource Request.”
four components, each managed by an

NGO or a private firm.

1. The Financing Growth component is

designed to build the capacity of

local microfinance organizations and

create linkages to the private sector.

Managed by Development

Alternatives, Inc., this activity

includes a consultant database, a

resource center, a staff training program for local institutions, institutional assessments to help the organizations assess their own strengths

and weaknesses, and a monitoring

and evaluation component.

2. The Non-Financial Marketing,

Technology Development, and

Business Skills component focuses on

agricultural microenterprises and is

managed by Approtec and

Technoserve.

3. The Policy and Regulatory

Restrictions component, managed by

the International Center for

Economic Growth, is designed to

identify and change restrictive laws

and regulations. 

4. Finally, a limited grant component

provides assistance to local microenterprise institutions to strengthen

services and outreach.

In 1997, USAID/Kenya obligated $1

million for microfinance activities and

$1.9 million for non-financial microenterprise activities. In addition, part of a

$533,000 grant by BHR/PVC to Freedom

from Hunger will be used in Kenya. 

■ Ghana

USAID/Ghana works with microenterprises under its objective to “increase

private sector growth.” The mission’s

overall private sector program focuses on

policy reform related to trade and invest36 Reaching Down and Scaling Up

The CMF is a training center and an

information clearinghouse for NGOs and

banks involved with microfinance. In

three years, the CMF has successfully supported new NGO finance programs affiliated with FINCA, Food for the Hungry,

Freedom from Hunger, PRIDE/Africa, and

World Vision; by the end of 1997, these

programs alone were serving some 17,000

clients. Furthermore, the CMF has been

instrumental in assisting the Uganda

Cooperative Bank to establish a successful

microfinance unit. The CMF also provides

technical support to some 15 NGOs and

banks for sustainable financial service

delivery. USAID/Uganda reports that in

1997 13,808 new borrowers and 19,313

new savers were recruited, up from 5,270

and 7,500, respectively, in 1996. The

CMF design concept is being explored by

other Africa missions as a model for accelerating microenterprise and microfinance

development.

The PRESTO non-financial component is a Local Industries Facility for

Training and Technology, assisting microand small entrepreneurs to gain access to

more profitable markets through trade

fairs, workshops, and industry networking.

USAID/Uganda has provided $8.6

million in funding to PRESTO in the past

three years. This has been complemented

by an additional $2 million from the centrally funded PRIME Fund and $1 million

from BHR/PVC through its Matching

Grant program with Food for the

Hungry/Faulu, Freedom from Hunger,

FINCA, and World Vision/MED-Net.

■ Kenya

The goal of USAID’s four-year

Micro-PED project is to increase microenterprise employment in Kenya by creating

100,000 jobs annually through microenterprise development. The project has
U.S. Agency for International Development Microenterprise Results Reporting for 1997

vides business advisory services to micro

businesses that are linked with a growing

number of farm producer associations. 

World Relief pioneered village banking in Mozambique with funding from

BHR/PVC in 1995, and recently received

approval for an FY 98 grant. The program

has 4,900 clients and a quarter-million

dollar loan portfolio, making it the largest

microfinance program in the country. 

BHR/PVC is also funding an extension of a Mennonite Economic

Development Associates (MEDA) small

business credit program in peri-urban

areas.

In 1997, the mission and BHR/PVR

obligated just under $3 million for nonfinancial microenterprise activities. 

■ Zimbabwe

USAID/Zimbabwe has focused on

the microenterprise policy environment

to achieve broader local ownership of

business and housing assets. The mission

aims to: 

1. Increase microbusinesses’ access to

capital by testing microfinance models across different target markets

and modes of operation.

2. Foster growth of a national microfinance industry by developing a policy environment that encourages

microfinance development and

expansion, “best practices” to ensure

operational and financial sustainability, and increased professionalism in

the industry through training and

research.

3. Coordinate the efforts of the major

donors to avoid duplication, share

lessons learned, assure the presence

of clear, consistent donor policies,

and support mechanisms for microfinance growth. 

ment. The mission also promotes the

growth of private sector-led non-traditional exports through the microenterprise sector. A recent review of mission

accomplishments reported that “USAIDassisted microenterprises engaged in

agribusiness and handicraft production

generated revenues of over $2 million in

1997, which represented a 200 percent

increase over 1996 levels.” 

USAID/Ghana obligated $4.5 million for non-financial activities in 1997. In

addition, $100,000 was obligated under

the USAID/Washington PRIME project in

support of WOCCU. BHR/PVC obligated $133,000 for Freedom from

Hunger/Ghana. 

■ Mozambique:

USAID/Mozambique has recently

become involved in enterprise and finance

development, as the country recuperates

from a long and devastating civil war.

At an April 1998 national workshop,

a working group of donors and practitioners analyzed the framework for promoting microfinance development in

Mozambique. An Action Plan was

adopted and is being promoted under the

rural development agency, with World

Bank and USAID sponsorship. The mission is working with banks, government

agencies, its PVO partners, and other

donors to see how it can best support an

improved policy and regulatory environment for microenterprise growth.

The mission funded a grant to the

Cooperative League of the USA to

develop a network of economically viable

and democratically-managed rural enterprises in the agricultural province of

Nampula. CARE, Africare, and World

Vision collaborated in the promotion of

agricultural technologies, notably edibleoil presses. In addition, Technoserve pro37
Poverty, a local CRS-funded institution, to develop a detailed business

plan for consideration by interested

donors, including USAID. 

USAID/Zimbabwe is in the process

of phasing out, and obligated $35,000 for

microenterprise development in 1997, a

considerable decline from its usual annual

level of about $500,000 over the past

decade. In addition, BHR/PVC provided

$125,000 to Opportunity International in

1997 for work with its Zimbabwean affiliate, Zambuko Trust. 

38

USAID/Zimbabwe has supported: 

1. The development of the

Zimbabwean Association of

Microfinance Institutions (ZAMFI), a

practitioner’s body designed to

encourage adoption of microfinance

best practices by the membership

and advocate that the Government

of Zimbabwe create a legislative

environment conducive to the development of a sustainable microfinance

sector

2. The Masvingo Credit Against

Reaching Down and Scaling Up
Annex E

Europe and the New Independent States: A Closer Look20

The ENI, like Africa, is a priority region identified in the renewal of the

Microenterprise Initiative. USAID’s ENI missions fund microenterprise development programs that offer financial and non-financial services; however,

these programs differ from other USAID regions. In some parts of the region,

economies and physical infrastructure are more developed. In addition, the

ENI programs have a different origin. The SEED (Support for Eastern

European Democracy) and the FSA (Freedom Support Act) acts were passed

in 1989 and 1992, respectively, by the U.S. Congress to provide U.S. assistance in the political and economic transition after the collapse of communism in the Soviet Bloc countries.21

Under the SEED and FSA acts, activities have focused primarily on three

areas: economic restructuring (including privatization of large state-owned

industries); strengthening democratic institutions; and improving the quality

of life. To date, more than 70 percent of program funding has been allocated

to economic restructuring. 

On the basis of most social and educational indicators, Central and

Eastern Europe (CEE) could be classified as a “developed” region, with GNP

per capita significantly higher than that of most USAID-supported countries.

Therefore, while the activity mix in Europe has included both non-financial

and financial microenterprise development activities, the specific programs

reflect the different setting. 

In contrast, many countries in the New Independent States (NIS) are

poorer and more similar to the countries where USAID has traditionally

worked. Given this situation, USAID is pulling out of the wealthier countries

in the ENI region and shifting its efforts toward the poorer NIS countries. In

those countries with continuing programs, an emphasis on traditional development programming will likely lead to additional support of microenterprise

development. 

39

20The USAID Eastern Europe region encompasses: Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Slovenia, Croatia,

Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (Serbia and Montenegro), Albania, Macedonia, and Romania. The New Independent States

encompass: Armenia, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Moldova, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan.

21Monies appropriated under the SEED Special Assistance Initiative and the FSA are appropriated funds for use only in Central and Eastern Europe

and the NIS. Furthermore, very little funding from the DA account and none from the ESF account have been used in this region.
The Opportunity International (OI)

credit program, the most mature of the

USAID/Russia-supported programs, provides small-scale credit (loans up to

$1,500) to women-owned micro-businesses through group lending. By developing Russian NGO partners, OI has pioneered womens’ cooperative lending programs and small credit programs in western Russia and developed successful business incubator and leasing programs in

Nizhny Novgorod and Rostov. The credit

programs have lent more than 2,000

loans/leases to Russian entrepreneurs; 87

percent of the borrowers are women; and

the programs are estimated to have created more than 1,200 jobs. Building on its

successful track record, OI received additional funding from sources such as the

United Nations, CGAP, Mott Foundation,

British Know-How Fund, and private

investors. 

■ Poland 

The Polish American Enterprise Fund

(PAEF) founded Fundusz Mikro in October

1994 to extend loans to the microenterprise community; PAEF set aside $20 million from its funds for loan capital, most of

which was transferred to Fundusz Mikro in

1997 as lending began to take off. USAID

also provided $4 million for operating

expenses. The target clients were enterprises with up to five employees. From the

beginning, Fundusz Mikro set out to

employ best practices and reach full financial sustainability within six years. By the

end of the third year, September 1997,

Fundusz Mikro had reached 50 percent of

its sustainability goal.

The program has expanded rapidly

since its first full year of operations (1995-

1996). In 1996, Fundusz Mikro opened 12

branches, followed by another 12 in 1997.

By the end of 1997, 80 percent of the 6,000

clients were being served using a group sol40

U.S. assistance in the ENI economic

sector began when the U.S. Congress

established the independent Enterprise

Funds for several CEE countries at the end

of the 1980’s. The Enterprise Funds invest

in local institutions to promote enterprise

development. Although the Enterprise

Funds are generally focused on larger

enterprises, many have opened special

windows for small and microenterprises,

often in partnership with NGOs. An

example is the Polish American Enterprise

Fund’s creation of Fundusz Mikro (see

below), which is providing loans to

microentrepreneurs. Enterprise Funds in

several other countries have established

relationships with affiliates of

Opportunity International and FINCA.

Greater Loan Sizes: Given the ENI’s

level of economic development, especially

in Central and Eastern Europe, loan sizes

are generally larger than in the traditional

USAID regions. USAID has established a

microenterprise loan ceiling of $10,000

for reporting purposes. 

Higher Poverty Lending Cap: For

the ENI region, the poverty lending cap

was also increased to $1,000. 

Larger Job Creation: While the ENI

clients of USAID-supported microenterprise development organizations are fewer

than in other regions, evidence to date

indicates that ENI microenterprises often

generate proportionately higher levels of

employment than elsewhere. Fundusz

Mikro in Poland, for example, reported

that after three years of operations it had

served 6,000 clients resulting in 3,000 new

jobs within those businesses. 

The following is an overview of

selected ENI programs:

■ Russia

USAID-funded pilot microfinance

programs are showing good results in

Russia. 

Reaching Down and Scaling Up
U.S. Agency for International Development Microenterprise Results Reporting for 1997

FINCA also provides small business management training to its clients, who are

primarily women. Average loan size is

$100. To date, more than $2 million in

loans have been extended to clients under

the original USAID grant. With the

growth of a client savings pool—now

larger than the loan portion of the original

USAID grant—another $2.5 million in

loans have been made. Now in year three,

for every $1,069 in loans from the grant,

an additional $1,822 is loaned from the

savings pool. 

On the legislative side, the Kyrgyz

Parliament passed two significant commercial laws, both written with USAID

assistance. The Foreign Investment Law

encourages foreign investment with protections from unreasonable government

interference. The Bankruptcy Law streamlines procedures to liquidate failed businesses, permits entry of new market participants, and provides an opportunity for

reorganized competitive businesses to get

a fresh start. 

idarity methodology with four or more

borrowers to a group. In 1998, the program

will have 35 branches.

Fundusz Mikro is planning new products, including services for its most successful clients and products targeted to poorer

clients. The program’s annual report states

that “we believe our parallel development

both upwards and downwards will effectively balance the respective social and

economic considerations.”

■ Kyrgyzstan

USAID funded the development of

credit facilities and supported policy

changes that affect microenterprise development in Kyrgyzstan. 

FINCA has been very successful with

its microfinance program, which uses a

village banking/group lending methodology. FINCA serves more than 6,500

clients who are organized into 550 groups

and, by the end of the project, will be

operating in all the oblasts of the country.

41
43

Annex F

Centrally Funded USAID Programs Supporting

Microenterprise Development

The Office of Microenterprise Development (G/EGAD/MD) was created to provide in-house technical resources and funding for collaborative

ventures between USAID and private partners in the microenterprise field. To

achieve these objectives, the Office uses several mechanisms. MicroServe is

an activity designed to increase the capacity of USAID missions and USAID

personnel by providing access to short-term technical assistance in microenterprise development. Through the PRIME Fund, USAID provides co-financing to USAID missions to improve the quality of and increase mission support to microenterprise programs

The Office of Microenterprise Development also manages the

Implementation Grant Program (IGP); the IGP provides grants to U.S. PVOs

and other multicountry organizations. The Office selects the organizations

through a competitive process. The IGP aims to accelerate the growth

process of local implementing organizations so that they can reach large

numbers of clients. In the case of microfinance institutions, the emphasis is on

becoming profitable; for other business services, the goal is to reach the maximum cost recovery possible using known methodologies. 

The IGP is designed to complement and closely coordinate with the

BHR/PVC Matching Grant Program. BHR/PVC has had a long and distinguished role in helping U.S.-based PVOs in all sectors strengthen their ability to deliver services. Many of the PVOs working in microenterprise development first partnered with USAID through BHR’s Matching Grant Program.

For example, the Matching Grant Program supported Freedom From Hunger’s

(FFH) transformation from a PVO focused on food security to one that combines microlending with health, nutrition and business education. This eightyear evolution required a new board of directors, new staff, and a new set of

methodological tools. The Matching Grant Program enabled FFH to develop

new systems, build existing staff capacity, use consulting services during the

transformation, evaluate progress over time, and, finally, share its success

story with other PVOs.

The Office of Microenterprise Development also funds and coordinates

two activities that focus on research and dissemination of new knowledge 

and successful practices in the sector. Each involves a wide variety of 

collaborators. 
44 Reaching Down and Scaling Up

date were recently tested with clients of

ODEF (a Honduran affiliate of Katalysis)

and those of the village banking window

of Kafo Jiginew (a joint undertaking

between a Malian credit union and

Freedom from Hunger).

In addition to these activities, the

Office manages a series of linkage activities that are designed to foster greater

involvement in microenterprise development on the part of other entities and

increase donor coordination. These

include an agreement with the Peace

Corps to expand microenterprise work,

support to interdonor activities, such as

CGAP, and cooperative activities undertaken with other donors, such as the InterAmerican Development Bank. The Office

also collaborates with other USAID

offices on topics of mutual interest. 

On the capacity-building front, the

Agency has been instrumental in developing, with the Economics Institute, a summer training program in Boulder,

Colorado, which provides two to six

weeks of intensive training for professionals involved in the delivery of microfinance services. Similiar training was provided in Warsaw for new practitioners in

the ENI.

Finally, the Office manages the MRR

system that collects microenterprise funding information from USAID offices in

the United States and overseas, and produces an annual report on USAID-supported microenterprise activities.

■ Microenterprise Best Practices (MBP)

is a training, research, and information exchange project that is facilitating a continuing expansion of the

microenterprise knowledge base.

With a core research agenda and a

sub-grant facility to encourage “best

practices” in the field, MBP works

through a consortium of technical

consultants and practitioners. It is

also intended to help improve the

design and implementation of

USAID-supported projects. 

■ AIMS (Assessing the Impact of

Microenterprise Services), a research

and technical assistance program, is

contributing to a greater understanding of how microenterprise services

improve the businesses and welfare

of microentrepreneurs, households,

and communities over time. A primary objective is to develop low-cost

tools that practitioners can use to

measure the impact of their services

on beneficiaries. This program also

involves a consortium of technical

consultants, academics, and PVO/

NGO representatives.

The AIMS tools will permit practitioners to assess not only their programs’

effects on clients, but also clients’ level of

satisfaction with products and services.

Information gathered on clients’ credit use

will provide additional insight into their

overall strategy for maximizing household

income and improving their economic

and social welfare. The tools developed to
U.S. Agency for International Development Microenterprise Results Reporting for 1997 45

ANNEX G
46 Reaching Down and Scaling Up
INDEPCO

Institute for 

Development Research

Institute for International

Institute for Liberty 

and Democracy

Institute of Cultural Affairs

Institute of Private Enterprise 

Development/Guyana

Instituto para el Desarrollo 

Hondureno

Instituto Tecnologico de 

Santo Domingo

Integrated Development 

Foundation (IDF)

Integrated Holistic Approach

Integrated Rural Development

Inter-American 

Development Bank

Internat'l Fertilizer 

Development Center

International Center for 

Economic Growth

International Orthodox 

Christian Charities

IRIS/Nepal

Janasewak Savings and 

Credit Cooperative

Janashakthi/Sri Lanka

JIGI

Jigiyaso

Jordanian Women's 

Development Society(JWDS)

Kabalikat para sa Maunlad

na Buhay, Inc.

Kahublagan Sang Panimalay 

Foundation,

KATALYSIS North/South 

Development

KATALYSIS/BEST/Belize

KATALYSIS/CDRO

KATALYSIS/ODEF/Honduras

Khuohuka

Kingston Cooperative 

Credit Union

KREP/Kenya

Kusile Savings & Credit Coop

KwaZulu Training Trust

La Voz de la Mujer

Lake Mburo

Ligatnes Druva

Lodgecom

LOL/Dairy Farming

Los Andes

Lower Pra Rural Bank

Lubane Savings & Credit Coop

Lukhotse S.C.C.S.

MAG Training Centre

MAGA

Mahila Upakhar Munch (MUM)

Mahila Vikasa

Malarani Savings and 

Credit Group

Management Systems 

International

Mansoura Foundation

Marano Upliftment 

Foundation, Inc.

Masvingo-Credit 

Against Poverty

MCC

McFarlane Associate

MEDA

MEDA/CHISPA

MEDA/Phakama Economic 

Development Co.(PRT) Ltd

Medical Credit Union

Medunsa Organisation 

for Disabled

Mercados Emergentes

Mhlume Workers Coop Society

Micro Enterprise Network 

of NGOs

MILAMDEC

Mitra Karya East Java (MIKEJ)

Mount Ayliff Dev.

Movimiento Manuela Ramos

MUDE - Asociacion de Mujeres 

en Desarrollo

Mujeres en Desarrollo

Multicredit Bank

Mushroom Women

NACHALA Foundation

Nandom Rural Bank

Nation's Trust

National Bank for Development 

(NBD)

National Development 

Foundation of Jamaica

National Savings 

Bank/Madagascar

National Union of 

Eritrean Women

National Council of 

Negro Women, Inc

Nazareth Children's Center

& Integrated

Near East Foundation

Negro Women for 

Tomorrow Foundation

Nepal Community

Development Center

Nepal National Dalit

Social Welfare

Network of Small Scale 

Savings and Credit

NIRDHAN

NIRMALGRAM

Nsoatreman Rural Bank

NTF/Senegal

Nyae Nyae Farmers Cooperative

OEF de El Salvador

Office of the 

Presidential Assistant

OI/Albania

OI/Croatia/NOA

OI/Indonesia

OI/Novy Soyuz

OI/Perspective

OI/Philippines

OI/Russia

OI/SEED/S.Africa

OI/Soprichastnost

OI/Vozmozhnost

OIC International

OMAES

Opportunity International

ORES

Organization for Mothers 

and Infants

PACT/Nepal

PACT/Peru

PADI

Page-Poverty Alleviation

Pakruojis Farmers Credit Union

Palli Karma Sahayak Foundation

Palli Progoty Sahayak Samity

Passion Fruit Growers

Peace Corps

Pearl S. Buck Foundation

People's Institute for 

Development

Peoplink/Guatemala

Peoplink/Philippines

Pietermaritzburg 

Business Support

PLAN/HG

PPC

PRADIPAN

PRIDE/Africa

PRIDE/Guinea

PRISMA

Private Sector Foundation

PRODEM

Project Dungganon (PD)

Project Hope/Ecuador

Project Hope/Honduras

PROMUC

ProMujer/Bolivia

ProMujer/Nicaragua

PROPEMI - FUSADES

PROSHIKA

Proyecto Centro Maya

PSBF-Angeles

PSBF-Cebu

PSBF-Manila

PSBF-Olongapo

PVO/Mozambique

PWOFOD

Quebo Associations

Quitafine Associations

RDA

RDRS

REDES

RMCDP

Rodale Institute

ROVA

Rural Credit Union Program

Rural Development Center 

for Cambodia

Rural Development Organization

(RDO)

Rural Finance Facility

Rural Financial Markets

Rural Reconstruction Center

Rutec

Salesians Institute

Samaj Bikash Samithi

Samaj Sewa Women Savings 

and Credit

SANASA Federation

SANGAMITRA/MYRADA

Saphunila Savings

& Credit Coop

Sartawi

Save/Armenia

Save/Azerbaijan

Save/Bangladesh

Save/Egypt

Save/El Salvador

Save/Ethiopia

Save/Georgia

Save/Haiti

Save/Jordan

Save/Lebanon

Save/Mali

Save/Mali -group

Save/Mozambique

Save/Nepal

Save/West Bank

SEA

SECID

Seed Capital Guarantee 

Fund/Ecuador

SEEP Network

Servipro

SETU

SEWA

SEWA/Nepal

Sewela Savings & Credit 

Coop Society

SHALE

SHARE

Share/Guatemala

Sharkia Business Association 

for Community Development 

(SBACD)

Sibonglo Savings & Credit 

Coop Society

Sinapi Aba Trust

Sisebenza Nawe Business 

Development Network

Sissian Business Center

Siyakhula Savings and 

Credit Coop Society

Siyembili Savins and Credit

Small Enterprise Development 

Assoc. Port Said

SNAT SCCS

SNF-UNIDAD de Bancos 

Del Progresso

Society For Promotion of Health,

Education & Rural Social 

Awareness Center

Society for Rural Improvement 

(SRI)

Society for Social Service

Sohag CDA

SOLIDARIDAD - CESS

South Asia Research 

Society (SARS)

South Cross Business 

Development Trust

SOYNICA

SRIZONY

St. Joseph Community Center

Superintendency 

of Banks/Bolivia

Support Activities for 

Poor Producers of

Svay Rieng Community 

Development Project

TACF

Taurene Credit Union

Technology Initiative 

for the Private Sector

TechnoServe

Technoserve/Ghana

TechnoServe/Kenya

TechnoServe/Mozambique

Thangamara Mohila Sabuj 

Sangha

Thekwini Business 

Development Centre

TSPI Development Corporation

TURBO Systems/ Action 

for Enterprise

UCC/Cambodia

UDDIPAN

UGAFODE/Uganda

Uganda Flower Growers

Uganda Multipurpose Training 

& Export Association

Uganda Vanilla Assoc.

UMCOR (United Methodists)

UNDP

University Research Corp. 

International

UNRWA - Income Generation 

Office/Gaza

UPAKAAR

Uswag Development 

Foundation, Inc.

Veselava Credit Union

Vievio Taupa

Village Institute of Social Action 

(VISA)

VITA Volunteers in 

Technical Assistance

VITA/Al Amana/Morocco

VITA/Benin

VITA/Guinea

VITA/South Africa

VOCA/ACDI/Romania

VOCA/Azerbaijan

VOCA/Georgia

VOCA/Kazakstan Community 

Loan Fund

Volkhov International Education 

Foundation

Weidemann Associates

Weidemann/Jamaica

WOCCU

WOCCU/ARP

WOCCU/Bolivia

WOCCU/Ecuador

WOCCU/Ghana

WOCCU/Kenya

WOCCU/Malawi

WOCCU/Mozambique

WOCCU/Niger

WOCCU/Romania

WOCCU/Swaziland

WOCCU/Uganda

WOCCU/Zimbabwe

Women’s Health Improvement

Women in Rural Enterprise 

Development

Women's Development 

Association

Women's Enterprise 

Development Program

Women's Welfare & 

Environment Save Center

Wonji Catholic Church

Workers Bank

Working Capital Russia

World Education/Mali

World Education/Ntinga

World Education/PIEC

World Relief Corporation

World Vision Relief & 

Development, Inc

World Vision/Armenia

World Vision/Azerbaijan

World Vision/Georgia

World Vision/Mozambique

WRC/Burkina Faso

WRC/Cambodia

WRC/Honduras

WRC/Mozambique

WRC/Rwanda

WSU Small Business Centers

WV/ASODECO/Peru

WV/CAPA/Romania

WV/MED-Net/Uganda

WV/SEDA/Tanzania

WWBG/MASU

Yakan Integrated Resource 

Development

YMCA

Youth Charitable Organizations

Zambia Association of Chambers

of Commerce

Zambuko Trust

Zimbabwe Association of 

Microfinance

continued from inside front cover
U.S. Agency for 

International Development

Washington, DC 20523

The USAID 

microenterprise 

web site, www.mip.org,

contains the latest

microenterprise research

and reports, and 

links to other informative 

microenterprise web sites.

Photograph: 

Jon Warren, 

World Relief