SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Microcredit for Self-
Reliance Act of 1997’’.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND DECLARATIONS OF POLICY.
The Congress makes the following findings and dec-
larations:
(1) More than 1,000,000,000 people in the de-
veloping world are living in severe poverty.
(2) According to the United Nations Children’s
Fund (UNICEF), mortality for children under the
age of 5 averages 100 child deaths per thousand for
all developing countries, with nearly double that rate
in the poorest countries.
(3) Nearly 35,000 children die each day from
largely preventable malnutrition and disease.
(4)(A) Women in poverty generally have larger
work loads, and less access to educational and eco-
nomic opportunities than their male counterparts.
(B) Directly aiding the poorest of the poor, es-
pecially women, in the developing world has a posi-
tive effect not only on family incomes, but also on
child nutrition, health and education, as women in
particular reinvest income in their families.
(5)(A) The poor in the developing world, par-
ticularly women, generally lack stable employment
and social safety nets.
(B) Many turn to self-employment to generate
a substantial portion of their livelihood.
(C) These poor entrepreneurs are often trapped
in poverty because they cannot obtain credit at rea-
sonable rates to build their asset base or expand
their otherwise viable self-employment activities.
(D) Many of the poor are forced to pay interest
rates as high as 10 percent per day to money lend-
ers.
(6)(A) On February 2–4, 1997, a global micro-
credit summit was held in Washington, District of
Columbia, to launch a plan to expand access to cred-
it for self-employment and other financial and busi-
ness services to 100,000,000 of the world’s poorest
families, especially the women of those families, by
2005.
(B) With five to a family, achieving this goal
will mean that the benefits of microcredit will there-
by reach nearly half of the world’s more than
1,000,000,000 absolute poor.
(7)(A) The poor are able to expand their in-
comes and their businesses dramatically when they
can access loans at reasonable interest rates.
(B) Through the development of self-sustaining
microcredit programs, poor people themselves can
lead the fight against hunger and poverty.
(8)(A) Nongovernmental organizations such as
the Grameen Bank, Accion International, and the
Foundation for International Community Assistance
(FINCA) have been successful in lending directly to
the very poor.
(B) These institutions generate repayment rates
averaging 95 percent or higher, demonstrating the
bankability of the poorest.
(C) International organizations such as the
International Fund for Agricultural Development
(IFAD) and the United Nations Development Pro-
gram (UNDP) have demonstrated success in sup-
porting microcredit programs.
(9)(A) Microcredit institutions not only reduce
poverty, but also reduce the dependency on foreign
assistance.
(B) Interest income on a credit portfolio can be
used to pay recurring institutional costs, assuring
the long-term sustainability of development assist-
ance.
(10) Microcredit institutions leverage foreign
assistance resources because loans are recycled, gen-
erating new benefits to program participants.
(11) The development of sustainable micro-
credit institutions which provide credit and training,
and mobilize domestic savings, are critical compo-
nents to a global strategy of poverty reduction and
broad based economic development.
(12)(A) In 1994, the United States Agency for
International Development launched a microenter-
prise initiative in partnership with the Congress.
(B) The initiative committed to expanding
funding for the microenterprise programs of the
Agency, and set a goal that, by the end of fiscal year
1996, half of all microenterprise resources would
support programs and institutions providing credit
to the poorest, with loans under $300.
(C) In order to achieve the goal of the micro-
credit summit, increased investment in microcredit
institutions serving the poorest will be critical.
(13) Providing the United States share of the
global investment needed to achieve the goal of the
microcredit summit will require only a small increase
in United States funding for international micro-
credit programs, with an increased focus on institu-
tions serving the poorest.
(14)(A) In order to reach tens of millions of the
poorest with microcredit, it is crucial to expand and
replicate successful microcredit institutions.
(B) These institutions need assistance in devel-
oping their institutional capacity to expand their
services and tap commercial sources of capital.
(15) Nongovernmental organizations have dem-
onstrated competence in developing networks of local
microcredit institutions so that they reach large
numbers of the very poor, and achieve financial sus-
tainability.
(16) Recognizing that the United States Agency
for International Development has developed very ef-
fective partnerships with nongovernmental organiza-
tions, and that the Agency will have fewer missions
to carry out its work, the Agency should place prior-
ity on investing in these nongovernmental network
institutions through the central funding mechanisms
of the Agency.
(17) By expanding and replicating successful
microcredit institutions, it should be possible to cre-
ate a global infrastructure to provide financial serv-
ices to the world’s poorest families.
(18)(A) The United States Agency for Inter-
national Development can provide leadership to
other bilateral and multilateral development agencies
as such agencies expand their support to the micro-
enterprise sector.
(B) The United States Agency for International
Development should seek to improve coordination of
donor efforts at the operational level to promote the
use of best practices in the provision of financial
services to the poor and to ensure that adequate in-
stitutional capacity is developed.
(19) Through expanded support for microcredit,
especially credit for the poorest, the United States
Agency for International Development can continue
to play a leadership role in the global effort to ex-
pand 
financial 
services 
and 
opportunity 
to
100,000,000 of the poorest families on the planet.
SEC. 3. PURPOSES.
The purposes of this Act are—
(1) to provide for the continuation and expan-
sion of the commitment of the United States Agency
for International Development to the development of
microenterprise institutions;
(2) to make microenterprise development the
centerpiece of the overall economic growth strategy