Content
THE LATIN AMERICAN-CARIBBEAN REGIONAL MICROCREDIT SUMMIT SHINES A SPOTLIGHT ON THE WORK OF FONKOZE
Fonkoze USA
June 23, 2009
ELIMINATION OF EXTREME POVERTY IN HAITI: THE LATIN AMERICAN-CARIBBEAN REGIONAL MICROCREDIT SUMMIT SHINES A SPOTLIGHT ON THE WORK OF ANNE HASTINGS AND FONKOZE
Port-au-Prince, Haiti – The recently concluded Latin American-Caribbean Summit held this year in Cartagena, Colombia was attended by such dignitaries as Professor Muhammad Yunus, Nobel Peace Prize recipient and founder of the Grameen Bank in Bangladesh, and Colombian President Alvaro Uribe. During opening remarks, Sam Daley-Harris, Director of the Microcredit Summit Campaign, made this comment about Fondasyon Kole Zepòl (Fonkoze), and its Director, Anne Hastings:
“Several years ago Anne Hastings held a small Summit in Haiti with a big vision. She brought several leaders from Africa, Asia and Latin America to help Fonkoze answer this question: What is the best methodology we can use to end poverty in Haiti? Don't you love that question?”
Anne Hastings has been the Director of Fonkoze since May 1996. Under her leadership, the institution grew from 2 volunteer employees, 1 office, and 50 clients to over 750 full-time employees, 40 branches throughout rural Haiti, and over 190,000 clients. More than 56,000 of these clients currently receive microloans. In July 2004, Fonkoze spun off its financial services component to form a commercial financial institution called Sèvis Finansye Fonkoze, where Ms. Hastings also serves as acting CEO and Board member.
Anne Hastings has received much recognition for her work to alleviate extreme poverty in Haiti, including the “Women Together Award” at the United Nations, the Grameen Foundation Pioneer Award, and an Honorary Doctorate from Duquesne University.
At the recent summit, Anne Hastings led a plenary session with Ingrid Munro, Director and founder of Jamii Bora in Kenya, entitled “Breaking the Rules of Microfinance to Better End Poverty: Innovations from around the world.” Ms. Hastings discussed the success of Fonkoze’s Chemen Lavi Miyò (CLM) program for Haiti’s ultra poor women, stressing “not everyone is ready for microfinance, the ultra poor need programs to prepare them to enter a lending program and that is why CLM is so important.”
Another workshop session entitled, “Remittances: Challenges, Opportunities, and the Role of the State,” provided a forum where Ms. Hastings discussed Fonkoze’s remittances services for Haitians living abroad. Even in the most rural parts of the country, Fonkoze clients receive remittances from friends and family abroad through Fonkoze branches. So that the Haitian Diaspora might become better educated about their financial options and remittance transfers, Ms. Hastings highlighted Fonkoze’s important work of providing financial literacy training through its program of Diaspora liaison services.
Another workshop session led by Fonkoze entitled, “Making Microfinance Matter for Clients and Their Families: Ensuring a Social Performance Bottom Line including Measuring Movement across the $1/day Threshold, “ was staffed by Leah Nedderman, Fonkoze Director of Social Impact Performance. Ms. Nedderman spoke of the work of Fonkoze’s Social Performance Management Department and focused on the importance of collecting information about client’s lives to ensure Fonkoze’s fulfilment of its social mission. Ms. Nedderman and other panel participants encouraged practitioners to collect feedback from the clients they serve and to use the information to create products and services to meet their unique needs.
At the conclusion of the conference Alex Counts, President of Grameen Foundation, noted, “everyone was still talking about the most energizing presentations of the first day - especially the opening remarks of Professor Yunus and the plenary featuring Ingrid Munro and Anne Hastings. I am a big fan of Fonkoze and how it has developed financial and non-financial products for four distinct segments of the poor population in Haiti.”
About Fonkoze
Fonkoze is “Haiti’s Alternative Bank for the Organized Poor.” It is a family of three institutions working together shoulder-to-shoulder towards a single compelling mission: to build the economic foundations for democracy in Haiti by providing the rural poor with the tools they need to lift themselves out of poverty. Fonkoze is Haiti’s largest microfinance institution (MFI), serving more than 56,000 women borrowers, most of whom live and work in the countryside of Haiti, and more than 190,000 savers. With its network of 40 branches covering every region of Haiti, it is also the only MFI that is truly national in scope.
Fonkoze USA
Media Contact
Leigh Carter
Telephone: 202-628-9033
Email : This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
About the Microcredit Summit Campaign
The first Microcredit Summit, held February 2-4, 1997, gathered more than 2,900 people from 137 countries in Washington, DC. They launched a nine-year campaign to reach 100 million of the world’s poorest families, especially the women of those families, with credit for self-employment and other financial and business services by the year 2005. That goal was very nearly reached and in November of 2006 the Campaign was re-launched with new goals for 2015.
http://www.microcreditsummit.