Press briefing on International Year of Microcredit 2005

 

The International Year of Microcredit 2005 will be officially launched on Thursday, 18 November, at Headquarters, Henriette Keijzers, Deputy Executive Secretary and Officer-In-Charge of the United Nations Capital Development Fund, announced at a press briefing this morning.  The General Assembly designated the Year by its resolution 53/197 of 15 December 1998.

Financial leaders and microcredit entrepreneurs will be among the speakers at the launch, at which international recording artists Anggun from Indonesia, and Souad Massi, from Algeria, will perform.  The two artists were introduced at the briefing.  Ms. Massi, a folk singer now based in Paris, recently released her second album.  Ms. Anggun, who also lives in Paris, is known for her 1998 debut album “Snow on the Sahara”.

Ms. Keijzers said micro-finance was not about charity, but about giving poor people a chance to get out of poverty, through creating businesses.  The Year was also about celebrating micro-finance entrepreneurship.  The United Nations Capital Development Fund provided capital assistance to least developed countries.

Since it operated through business lines -- micro-finance and local development -- the General Assembly resolution designated the Fund, together with the Department of Economic and Social Affairs, as the focal points to coordinate the activities of the United Nations system during the preparations for and observance of the Year.

Ms. Anggun, responding to questions, said she had been touched by the microcredit programme and hoped to help spread it in her native Indonesia, where the difference between rich and poor was enormous.  The programme gave poor people the tool to realize their dream.

Ms. Massi said she was proud to be part of the effort to promote microcredit in the African and Arab worlds.  The situation in the two regions was very hard, particularly for women.  The programme gave women possibilities to work, be creative and to help their families.  She was happy to be here, she said.

The General Assembly resolution requested that the observance of the Year be a special occasion for giving impetus to microcredit programmes throughout the world. It invited Governments, the United Nations system, as well as non-governmental organizations and other civil society bodies and the private sector to highlight the role of microcredit in poverty eradication.

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