e-MFP’s hybrid European Microfinance Week 2023 closes, with growing focus on climate change, gender equity, and financial inclusion for refugees
A record 659 attendees at hybrid EMW2023; 428 in person and 231 online, from 61 countries- 151 speakers participating across over 40 sessions – including plenaries, breakouts, Action Groups and more
- Yikri from Burkina Faso wins €100,000 European Microfinance Award 2023
- ‘Financial Inclusion for Refugees and Forcibly Displaced People’ announced as 2024 Award topic
- Key themes of green and climate smart finance, gender equity, and importance of outcomes measurement
- Launch of e-MFP publications ‘Inclusive Finance for Food Security & Nutrition’ and ‘Financial Inclusion Compass 2023’
- EMW2023 sessions live-streamed and recorded
Luxembourg, 22nd November 2023 - For Immediate Release
European Microfinance Week 2023 (EMW2023) concluded Friday at Luxembourg’s Abbaye de Neumunster with a closing plenary entitled ‘From Brussels to the World: The Downstream Impact of EU Fund Regulations’, covering the important consequences to financial inclusion stakeholders of the recent EU fund regulations governing social and environmental investments. This poorly understood subject, which has received too little attention to date, was followed by closing remarks from e-MFP Chairperson Lucia Spaggiari, who thanked all the sponsors, organisers and participants and announced record attendance for a European Microfinance Week, which has built on and exceeded the success of the first hybrid conference in 2022. This year, 659 attendees took part from 61 countries, of which 428 were in-person and 231 online. There were 151 speakers, also a record, across an unprecedented number and diversity of sessions, and Lucia noted that the dominant themes of food security and nutrition, refugees and forcibly displaced people, gender equality and resilience to climate change may address a variety of topics, but they are highly inter-connected and share a common purpose: improving the lives of the most vulnerable.
The range of sessions at the conference was greater than ever before, reflecting the growing complexity and inter-connectedness of focus areas in financial inclusion. They covered everything from client overindebtedness in Cambodia, client protection, women’s leadership and gender mainstreaming, regulation, finance for low-cost education, insurance, Fintech, WASH, business diaries methodologies, Africa’s re-opening economies, digitalisation, the use of data, and more. These EMW2023 sessions were all livestreamed (with the exceptions of certain closed-door or invitation-only events) and recorded, meaning that attendees – and ultimately the wider community – will be able to benefit from some of the expertise and insight from the conference.
EMW2023 also saw the launch of two new e-MFP publications: Inclusive Finance for Food Security & Nutrition – the latest in its annual series of publications that introduces the subject landscape, explores the role of the inclusive finance sector and presents case studies and best practice from that year’s European Microfinance Award (EMA) – and The Financial Inclusion Compass 2023, the 6th edition of e-MFP’s annual survey of sector trends.
On Thursday there was the ceremony for the €100,000 European Microfinance Award on ‘Inclusive Finance for Food Security & Nutrition’. Generously hosted by the European Investment Bank (EIB), the ceremony involved films and interviews with representatives from the three finalists, Fortune Credit Ltd from Kenya; Fundación Génesis Empresarial from Guatemala; and Yikri from Burkina Faso. These were accompanied by speeches from Dr Werner Hoyer, President of the European Investment Bank; Christophe Schlitz, Director of the Luxembourg Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs – Directorate for Development Cooperation and Humanitarian Affairs; a keynote speech by Ambassador Agrina Mussa, Board Member of FINCA International; and concluded with an address by HRH the Grand Duchess of Luxembourg, President of the High Jury during which she announced Yikri as the winner of the first prize and presented it to Yikri’s executive director Claire Lossiané, who gave a moving acceptance speech that highlighted the profound needs of the MFI’s clients and the mission of the organisation. The ceremony concluded with the announcement that the topic of the 2024 Award would be ‘Financial Inclusion for Refugees & Forcibly Displaced People’, a pressing and growing issue of our times.
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The European Microfinance Platform (e-MFP) is the leading network of organisations and individuals active in the financial inclusion sector in developing countries. It numbers over 130 members from all geographic regions and specialisations of the microfinance community, including consultants & support service providers, investors, FSPs, multilateral & national development agencies, NGOs and researchers. Up to two billion people remain financially excluded. To address this, the Platform seeks to promote co-operation, dialogue and innovation among these diverse stakeholders working in developing countries. e-MFP fosters activities which increase global access to affordable, quality sustainable and inclusive financial services for the un(der)banked by driving knowledge-sharing, partnership development and innovation.
For more information, contact: Niamh Watters, nwatters@e-mfp.eu; www.e-mfp.eu
e-MFP’s hybrid European Microfinance Week 2023 closes, with growing focus on climate change, gender equity, and financial inclusion for refugees
Luxembourg, 22nd November 2023 - For Immediate Release
European Microfinance Week 2023 (EMW2023) concluded Friday at Luxembourg’s Abbaye de Neumunster with a closing plenary entitled ‘From Brussels to the World: The Downstream Impact of EU Fund Regulations’, covering the important consequences to financial inclusion stakeholders of the recent EU fund regulations governing social and environmental investments. This poorly understood subject, which has received too little attention to date, was followed by closing remarks from e-MFP Chairperson Lucia Spaggiari, who thanked all the sponsors, organisers and participants and announced record attendance for a European Microfinance Week, which has built on and exceeded the success of the first hybrid conference in 2022. This year, 659 attendees took part from 61 countries, of which 428 were in-person and 231 online. There were 151 speakers, also a record, across an unprecedented number and diversity of sessions, and Lucia noted that the dominant themes of food security and nutrition, refugees and forcibly displaced people, gender equality and resilience to climate change may address a variety of topics, but they are highly inter-connected and share a common purpose: improving the lives of the most vulnerable.
The range of sessions at the conference was greater than ever before, reflecting the growing complexity and inter-connectedness of focus areas in financial inclusion. They covered everything from client overindebtedness in Cambodia, client protection, women’s leadership and gender mainstreaming, regulation, finance for low-cost education, insurance, Fintech, WASH, business diaries methodologies, Africa’s re-opening economies, digitalisation, the use of data, and more. These EMW2023 sessions were all livestreamed (with the exceptions of certain closed-door or invitation-only events) and recorded, meaning that attendees – and ultimately the wider community – will be able to benefit from some of the expertise and insight from the conference.
EMW2023 also saw the launch of two new e-MFP publications: Inclusive Finance for Food Security & Nutrition – the latest in its annual series of publications that introduces the subject landscape, explores the role of the inclusive finance sector and presents case studies and best practice from that year’s European Microfinance Award (EMA) – and The Financial Inclusion Compass 2023, the 6th edition of e-MFP’s annual survey of sector trends.
On Thursday there was the ceremony for the €100,000 European Microfinance Award on ‘Inclusive Finance for Food Security & Nutrition’. Generously hosted by the European Investment Bank (EIB), the ceremony involved films and interviews with representatives from the three finalists, Fortune Credit Ltd from Kenya; Fundación Génesis Empresarial from Guatemala; and Yikri from Burkina Faso. These were accompanied by speeches from Dr Werner Hoyer, President of the European Investment Bank; Christophe Schlitz, Director of the Luxembourg Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs – Directorate for Development Cooperation and Humanitarian Affairs; a keynote speech by Ambassador Agrina Mussa, Board Member of FINCA International; and concluded with an address by HRH the Grand Duchess of Luxembourg, President of the High Jury during which she announced Yikri as the winner of the first prize and presented it to Yikri’s executive director Claire Lossiané, who gave a moving acceptance speech that highlighted the profound needs of the MFI’s clients and the mission of the organisation. The ceremony concluded with the announcement that the topic of the 2024 Award would be ‘Financial Inclusion for Refugees & Forcibly Displaced People’, a pressing and growing issue of our times.
END
The European Microfinance Platform (e-MFP) is the leading network of organisations and individuals active in the financial inclusion sector in developing countries. It numbers over 130 members from all geographic regions and specialisations of the microfinance community, including consultants & support service providers, investors, FSPs, multilateral & national development agencies, NGOs and researchers. Up to two billion people remain financially excluded. To address this, the Platform seeks to promote co-operation, dialogue and innovation among these diverse stakeholders working in developing countries. e-MFP fosters activities which increase global access to affordable, quality sustainable and inclusive financial services for the un(der)banked by driving knowledge-sharing, partnership development and innovation.
For more information, contact: Niamh Watters, nwatters@e-mfp.eu; www.e-mfp.eu