I 
110TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 6957 
To amend the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 to provide funding for capacity- 
building to microfinance service providers. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
SEPTEMBER 18, 2008 
Mr. BOOZMAN (for himself and Mr. MEEKS of New York) introduced the 
following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs 
A BILL 
To amend the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 to provide 
funding for capacity-building to microfinance service pro-
viders. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Microfinance Capacity- 
Building Act of 2008’’. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND DECLARATION OF POLICY. 
Congress finds and declares the following: 
(1) Microfinance is considered one of the great 
success stories of United States foreign aid because 
of its ability to reach the poor, especially women, 
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with programs that have a high impact and are 
highly sustainable. 
(2) Studies conducted in India, Kenya, and the 
Philippines found average annual returns on micro-
business investments ranging from 177 to 847 per-
cent, demonstrating the enormous capacity the poor 
have to work and save their way out of poverty. 
(3) An estimated 113 million clients are cur-
rently being served with microcredit, and the Micro-
credit Summit Campaign has set a goal of reaching 
175 million of the world’s poorest families by 2015. 
(4) The lack of human capital is widely recog-
nized as the single greatest constraint to the growth 
of leading microfinance networks and other practi-
tioners providing direct financial services to the 
poor. 
(5) According to some industry estimates, in 
order to meet the anticipated demand for micro-
finance, the industry will have to hire 1.6 million 
new loan officers in Africa, Asia, Latin America, and 
the Near East, assuming a loan officer to client 
ratio of 1 to 300. 
(6) Conservative estimates state that $2 billion 
in private investment capital is currently being lever-
aged for microfinance. Substantially more could be 
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mobilized and invested in some of the world’s poor-
est countries but remains untapped due to the lack 
of institutional capacity and qualified leaders. 
(7) The lack of human capacity is particularly 
severe in sub-Saharan Africa due to the relative im-
maturity of the microfinance industry, a small pool 
of trained and certified bankers and finance experts, 
and the prevalence of HIV/AIDS. 
SEC. 3. SENSE OF CONGRESS. 
It is the sense of Congress that the microfinance ca-
pacity-building activities supported by subsection (d) of 
section 252 of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 (22 
U.S.C. 2211a), as added by section 4 of this Act, is in-
tended to drive innovation and provide comprehensive so-
lutions that address the lack of human capital in devel-
oping countries, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa. Such 
activities should provide a regional and sub-regional ap-
proach to maximizing economies of scale and should focus 
predominately on educating and training African nationals 
in order to build capacity in the microfinance industry in 
developing countries, particularly in sub-Saharan African 
countries. 
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SEC. 4. CAPACITY-BUILDING FOR MICROFINANCE SERVICE 
PROVIDERS. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Section 252 of the Foreign Assist-
ance Act of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2211a) is amended by adding 
at the end the following: 
‘‘(d) CAPACITY BUILDING FOR MICROFINANCE SERV-
ICE PROVIDERS.— 
‘‘(1) AUTHORIZATION.—In carrying out the 
programs authorized under subsection (a), the Ad-
ministrator shall establish a grant program to pro-
vide assistance on a non-reimbursable basis to pri-
vate, non-profit networks of microfinance institu-
tions that provide direct financial services, which 
may include credit of all types, savings, insurance, 
remittances and cash transfers, to the poor and very 
poor in developing countries. 
‘‘(2) ACTIVITIES SUPPORTED.—Assistance pro-
vided under paragraph (1) shall, to the maximum 
extent practicable, be used to carry out traditional 
and nontraditional education and training for indi-
viduals working in the microfinance industry in de-
veloping countries, particularly in sub-Saharan Afri-
can countries. Such education and training may in-
clude curriculum development, distance learning, job 
shadowing, mentoring, training of trainers, scholar-
ships for undergraduate and graduate courses, and 
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