Current Activities

In 2009 the POWG will:

1. Review existing literature and hold a discussion with members to conceptualize extreme poverty and to generate a clear definition of “very poor” people. The POWG will also generate a guide of existing poverty measurement tools and their uses in reaching and assisting very poor people.
2. Design an evaluation framework to compare outreach, effectiveness, efficiency and replicability of various approaches that employ MED to assist very poor people.
3. Map existing initiatives and programs that include a MED component in assisting very poor people.

Recent Events

MicroLINKS Speaker’s Corner
Microfinance and Enterprise Development: effective tools to eradicate extreme poverty?
October 14-16, 2008
Download the synthesis below
Download the Poverty Outreach Progress Brief here

Hosted by POWG, practitioners will explore how microfinance and enterprise development can reach very poor households (living below $1/day).

• What are effective approaches to reach large numbers of very poor people?
• How can financial services and products tailored to the needs of very poor clients?
• What kind of other services do very poor people need to meet their basic needs and to fully take advantage of MED services?

2008 SEEP Annual Conference

AGM Plenary: Poverty Outreach and Microfinance – Do Microfinance and Microenterprise Development Achieve Poverty Outreach?

View all conference notes here.

Working Group Agenda

POWG always works to ensure that practitioners’ voices are heard during the development and testing phases of tools and the research, writing, and review of all learning products.

In 2007, POWG undertook to write twelve case studies looking at organizations’ poverty outreach funded by a grant from the United States Agency for International Development through a grant from Pact, Inc.

Building on the Speaker’s Corner and SEEP Annual Conference plenary session (see information above), the working group members will review the draft findings from these 12 case studies. POWG members will decide to publish these findings and/or recommend additional learning to take place during 2009.

Publications

Microfinance and Non-Financial Services for Very Poor People