(i) by striking ‘‘microfinance and mi-
croenterprise institutions’’ and inserting 
‘‘financial intermediaries’’; 
(ii) by striking ‘‘microfinance and mi-
croenterprise clients’’ and inserting ‘‘micro, 
small and medium-sized enterprises’’; and 
(iii) by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end; 
(E) in paragraph (4)— 
(i) by striking ‘‘microfinance and mi-
croenterprise clients and institutions’’ and 
inserting ‘‘micro, small and medium-sized 
enterprises, financial intermediaries, and 
capital markets’’; and 
(ii) by striking ‘‘the poor and very 
poor.’’ and inserting ‘‘the poor and very 
poor, especially women;’’; and 
(F) by adding at the end the following: 
‘‘(5) assistance for the purpose of promoting 
the economic empowerment of women, including 
through increased access to financial resources and 
improving property rights, inheritance rights, and 
other legal protections; and 
‘‘(6) assistance for the purpose of scaling up 
evidence-based graduation approaches, which include 
targeting the very poor and households in ultra-pov-
erty, consumption support, promotion of savings, 
skills training, and asset transfers.’’. 
(2) In subsection (b)— 
(A) in paragraph (1) to read as follows: 
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—There is authorized to be 
established within the Agency an office to support 
the Agency’s efforts to broaden and deepen local fi-
nancial markets, expand access to appropriate finan-
cial products and services, and support the develop-
ment of micro, small and medium-sized enterprises. 
The Office shall be headed by a Director who shall 
possess technical expertise and ability to offer lead-
ership in the field of financial sector development.’’; 
(B) in paragraph (2)— 
(i) in subparagraph (B)— 
(I) by striking ‘‘USE
OF
CEN-
TRAL FUNDING MECHANISMS.—’’ and 
all that follows through ‘‘In order to 
ensure’’ and inserting ‘‘USE OF CEN-
TRAL
FUNDING
MECHANISMS.—In 
order to ensure’’; 
(II) by striking ‘‘the office shall’’ 
and all that follows through ‘‘and 
other practitioners’’ and inserting 
‘‘the office shall provide coordination
and support for field-implemented 
programs, including through targeted 
core support for micro, small and me-
dium-sized enterprises and local finan-
cial markets’’; and 
(III) by striking clause (ii); 
(ii) in subparagraph (C)— 
(I) by inserting ‘‘, particularly by 
protecting the use and funding of 
local organizations in countries in 
which the Agency invests,’’ after ‘‘and 
sustainability’’; and 
(II) by inserting ‘‘, especially 
women’’ after ‘‘the poor and very 
poor’’; and 
(C) by striking paragraph (3). 
(3) In subsection (c)— 
(A) by striking ‘‘all microenterprise re-
sources’’ and inserting ‘‘all micro, small and 
medium-sized enterprise resources’’; and 
(B) by striking ‘‘clients who are very 
poor.’’ and all that follows and inserting ‘‘activi-
ties that reach the very poor, and 50 percent of 
all small and medium-sized enterprise resources 
shall be targeted to activities that reach enter-
prises owned, managed, and controlled by 
women.’’. 
(c) MONITORING SYSTEM.—Section 253(b) of the 
Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2211b(b)) is 
amended— 
(1) in paragraph (1), by inserting ‘‘, including 
goals on a gender disaggregated basis, such as im-
provements in employment, access to financial serv-
ices, enterprise development, earnings and control 
over income, and property and land rights,’’ after 
‘‘performance goals’’; 
(2) in paragraph (2), by striking ‘‘include per-
formance indicators’’ and all that follows through 
‘‘the achievement’’ and inserting ‘‘incorporate Agen-
cy planning and reporting processes and indicators 
to measure or assess the achievement’’; and 
(3) by striking paragraph (4). 
(d) POVERTY MEASUREMENT METHODS.—Section 
254 of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 
2211c) is amended to read as follows: 
‘‘SEC. 254. POVERTY MEASUREMENT METHODS. 
‘‘The Administrator of the Agency, in consultation 
with financial intermediaries and other appropriate orga-
nizations, should have in place at least one method for
implementing partners to use to assess poverty levels of 
their current incoming or prospective clients.’’. 
(e) ADDITIONAL AUTHORITIES.—Section 255 of the 
Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2211d) is 
amended— 
(1) by striking ‘‘assistance for microenterprise 
development assistance’’ and inserting ‘‘development 
assistance for micro, small and medium-sized enter-
prises’’; and 
(2) by striking ‘‘and, to the extent applicable’’ 
and all that follows and inserting a period. 
(f) MICROENTERPRISE DEVELOPMENT CREDITS.— 
Section 256 of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 (22 
U.S.C. 2212) is amended— 
(1) in the section heading, by striking ‘‘MICRO-
ENTERPRISE DEVELOPMENT CREDITS’’ and in-
serting ‘‘DEVELOPMENT CREDITS FOR MICRO, 
SMALL AND MEDIUM-SIZED ENTERPRISES’’; 
(2) in subsection (a)— 
(A) in paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘micro- 
and small enterprises’’ and inserting ‘‘micro, 
small and medium-sized enterprises’’; and 
(B) in paragraph (2), by striking ‘‘micro-
enterprises’’ and inserting ‘‘micro, small and 
medium-sized enterprises’’;
(3) in subsection (b), in the matter preceding 
paragraph (1), by inserting ‘‘and other financial 
services’’ after ‘‘credit’’; 
(4) by striking ‘‘microenterprise households’’ 
each place it appears and inserting ‘‘micro, small 
and medium-sized enterprises and households’’; and 
(5) by striking ‘‘microfinance institutions’’ each 
place it appears and inserting ‘‘financial inter-
mediaries’’. 
(g) UNITED STATES MICROFINANCE LOAN FACIL-
ITY.—Section 257 of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 
(22 U.S.C. 2213) is amended— 
(1) in subsection (a), by striking ‘‘United 
States-supported microfinance institutions’’ and in-
serting ‘‘United States-supported financial inter-
mediaries’’; and 
(2) in subsection (b)— 
(A) by striking ‘‘United States-supported 
microfinance institutions’’ each place it appears 
and inserting ‘‘United States-supported finan-
cial intermediaries’’; and 
(B) in paragraph (2), by striking ‘‘micro-
finance institutions’’ and inserting ‘‘financial 
intermediaries’’.
(h) CONTENTS OF REPORT.—Subsection (b) of sec-
tion 258 of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 
2214) is amended to read as follows: 
‘‘(b) CONTENTS.—To the extent practicable, the re-
port should contain the following: 
‘‘(1) Information about assistance provided 
under section 252, including— 
‘‘(A) the amount of each grant or other 
form of assistance; 
‘‘(B) the name and type of each inter-
mediary and implementing partner organization 
receiving assistance; 
‘‘(C) the name of each country receiving 
assistance; and 
‘‘(D) the methodology used to ensure com-
pliance with the targeted assistance require-
ments in subsection (c) of such section. 
‘‘(2) The percentage of assistance provided 
under section 252 disaggregated by income level, in-
cluding for the very poor, and gender. 
‘‘(3) The estimated number of individuals that 
received assistance provided under section 252 
disaggregated by income level, including for the very 
poor, and gender, and by type of assistance, includ-
ing loans, training, and business development serv-
ices. 
‘‘(4) The results of the monitoring system re-
quired under section 253. 
‘‘(5) Information about any method in place to 
assess poverty levels under section 254.’’. 
(i) DEFINITIONS.—Section 259 of the Foreign As-
sistance Act of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2214a) is amended— 
(1) in paragraph (3), by striking ‘‘Committee 
on International Relations’’ and inserting ‘‘Com-
mittee on Foreign Affairs’’; 
(2) in paragraph (4), by striking ‘‘microenter-
prises’’ and inserting ‘‘micro, small and medium- 
sized enterprises’’; 
(3) in paragraph (6)— 
(A) in subparagraph (E), by striking ‘‘mi-
croenterprise institution’’ and inserting ‘‘micro, 
small and medium-sized enterprise institution’’; 
and 
(B) in subparagraph (F), by striking 
‘‘microfinance institution’’ and inserting ‘‘finan-
cial intermediary’’; 
(4) in paragraph (7) to read as follows: 
‘‘(7) MICRO, SMALL
AND
MEDIUM-SIZED
EN-
TERPRISE
INSTITUTION.—The term ‘micro, small
and medium-sized enterprise institution’ means an 
entity that provides services, including finance, 
training, or business development services, for micro, 
small and medium-sized enterprises in foreign coun-
tries.’’; 
(5) in paragraph (8) to read as follows: 
‘‘(8) FINANCIAL INTERMEDIARY.—The term ‘fi-
nancial intermediary’ means the entity that acts as 
the intermediary between parties in a financial 
transaction, such as a bank, credit union, investment 
fund, a village savings and loan group, or an institu-
tion that provides financial services to a micro, small 
or medium-sized enterprise.’’; 
(6) by striking paragraph (9); 
(7) by redesignating paragraphs (10) through 
(14) as paragraphs (9) through (13), respectively; 
(8) in paragraph (9) (as redesignated), by strik-
ing ‘‘of microenterprise development’’; 
(9) in paragraph (10) to read as follows: 
‘‘(10) PRACTITIONER INSTITUTION.—The term 
‘practitioner institution’ means a not-for-profit enti-
ty, financial intermediary, information and commu-
nications technology firm with a mobile money plat-
form, a village and savings loan group, or any other 
entity that provides financial or business develop-
ment services authorized under section 252 that ben-
efits micro, small and medium-sized enterprise cli-
ents.’’; 
(10) in paragraph (12) (as redesignated)— 
(A) in the heading, by striking ‘‘UNITED 
STATES-SUPPORTED
MICROFINANCE
INSTITU-
TION’’ and inserting ‘‘UNITED
STATES-SUP-
PORTED FINANCIAL INTERMEDIARY’’; and 
(B) by striking ‘‘United States-supported 
microfinance institution’’ and inserting ‘‘United 
States-supported financial intermediary’’; 
(11) in subparagraph (B) of paragraph (13) (as 
redesignated) to read as follows: 
‘‘(B) living below the International Poverty 
Line, as defined by the International Bank for 
Reconstruction and Development and the Inter-
national Development Association (collectively 
referred to as the ‘World Bank’).’’. 
(j) TECHNICAL AND CONFORMING AMENDMENT.— 
Title VI of chapter 2 of part I of the Foreign Assistance 
Act of 1961 is amended in the title heading by striking 
‘‘MICROENTERPRISE 
DEVELOPMENT 
ASSIST-
ANCE’’ and inserting ‘‘DEVELOPMENT ASSISTANCE 
FOR MICRO, SMALL AND MEDIUM–SIZED EN-
TERPRISES’’.
SEC. 5. REPORT AND BRIEFING BY UNITED STATES AGEN-
CY FOR INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 1 year after the 
date of the enactment of this Act, the Administrator of 
the United States Agency for International Development 
shall provide a briefing and submit to the Committee on 
Foreign Affairs of the House of Representatives and the 
Committee on Foreign Relations of the Senate a report 
on the implementation of this Act and the amendments 
made by this Act, including actions to improve the gender 
policies of the United States Agency for International De-
velopment pursuant to section 3. 
(b) PUBLIC AVAILABILITY.—The report required 
under paragraph (1) shall be posted and made available 
on a text-based, searchable, and publicly-available internet 
website. 
SEC. 6. REPORT BY COMPTROLLER GENERAL OF THE 
UNITED STATES. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 2 years after the 
date of the enactment of this Act, the Comptroller General 
of the United States shall submit to the Committee on 
Foreign Affairs of the House of Representatives and the 
Committee on Foreign Relations of the Senate a report 
on development assistance for micro, small and medium- 
sized enterprises administered by the United States Agen-
cy for International Development.
(b) MATTERS TO BE INCLUDED.—The report re-
quired under subsection (a) shall include an assessment 
of the following: 
(1) What is known about the impact of such de-
velopment assistance on the economies of developing 
countries. 
(2) The extent to which such development as-
sistance is targeting women and the very poor, in-
cluding what is known about how such development 
assistance benefits women. 
(3) The extent to which the United States 
Agency for International Development has developed 
a methodology used to ensure compliance with the 
targeted assistance requirement in section 252(c) of 
the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961, as amended by 
section 4 of this Act, and the quality of such meth-
odology. 
(4) The monitoring system required in section 
253(b) of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961, as
amended by section 4 of this Act, including the qual-
ity of such monitoring system. 
Passed the House of Representatives July 17, 2018. 
Attest: 
Clerk.
115TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 5480 
AN ACT 
To improve programs and activities relating to 
women’s entrepreneurship and economic em-
powerment that are carried out by the United 
States Agency for International Development, 
and for other purposes.