The Microfinance Lunch Break is a biannual event in Brussels to keep the financial sector in Belgium up to date with news from the world of microfinance. The next session will take place in september 2012.
Governance for Microfinance: the cooperative benchmark?
In microfinance, corporate governance is often stressed both as a major risk and as a field where improvements are required. In practice, however, these "calls for action" are rarely developed and, like many other sectors, microfinance lacks clear frameworks for analysing how corporate governance is implemented and how it could be improved.
The presentation of Marc Labie, Associate Professor at the University of Mons (UMONS), aimed at clarifying these questions contrasting the case of savings and credit cooperatives with other types of microfinance institutions. An interesting debate at the start of the UN International Year of Cooperatives.
Click here to watch the full video coverage.
Watch the french subtitled video below.
Investments and subsidies: Matching the funding needs of microfinance?
Over the past two years, microfinance has to some extent been a victim of its own success. Is this the result of inappropriate or too much funding? Is there a link between too much funding and the bad microfinance practices that have emerged recently, like for example in India? Is there an imbalance between the amount of investments and donor funding within the sector that exacerbates the problem? And how can investments and donor funding play a better role in strengthening the sector?
Click here to watch the dutch subtitled video.
Click here to watch the french subtitled video.
Portfolios of the poor: How the World's Poor Live on $2 a Day
The groundbreaking book Portfolios of the Poor: How the World's Poor Live on $2 a Day examines the cash flow of almost 300 households among the poorest of the world. The result is a humanising insight into the economic lives of the global poor, and a valuable resource for attempting to improve those lives, especially through microfinance institutions.
Jonathan Morduch, co-author of the book, was the keynote speaker at the fourth Microfinance Lunch Break, organised by ADA, BRS, Cera, KBC on February 21 in Brussels.
Microinsurance: Innovating risk coping mechanisms
Low-income households in the South face many risks, still, few have access to formal insurance. Innovative protection mechanisms are being developed for people with little or no coverage from formal protection systems.
Craig Churchill is chair of the Microinsurance Network and the head of the ILO's Microinsurance Innovation Facility, launched in 2008 with a grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Mr Churchill offered his perspective on microinsurance at the third Microfinance Lunch Break on September 28, 2010 in Brussels.
Click here to download the conference report or watch the full video coverage.
Regulation in Microfinance
Is a rush to regulate taking place in the microfinance sector? Is it necessary to introduce a specific regulation framework for microfinance institutions, and what are the advantages and limitations of - or indeed the obstacles to - such regulation?
Mr Eric Ekué, expert on regulation in microfinance and former manager of the Decentralised Financial Systems of the Central Bank of West African States (BCEAO), tackled these questions during the second Microfinance Lunch Break on February 25, 2010 in Brussels.
Click here to download the conference report. Or watch the entire event online.
Is microfinance being affected by the financial crisis?
Is the world-wide financial crisis impacting the microfinance sector? Are microfinance institutions from developing countries facing problems as a result of this global crisis? And what lessons must investors learn from this? These were the key questions tackled during the first Microfinance Lunch Break organised by ADA, BRS, Cera, KBC and Febelfin in Brussels on February 10, 2009.
