VisionFund International Annual Review 2010 | Leadership

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David Mace, VisionFund's Chairman of the Board is pictured with a micro borrower in Ecuador

Building on Solid Foundations

VisionFund International has, over the last seven years, sought to harness the power of microfinance to help bring about lasting economic change for the worldwide poor. Building on solid foundations laid down by World Vision over the last 60 years, it has integrated microfinance services alongside World Vision’s humanitarian work as a key element of sustained economic development.

We are delighted that a growing number of our affiliated MFIs have received industry awards, recognising their impact and leadership in social performance. As our affiliated MFIs continued to battle a globally-depressed economy and drive financial sustainability, they did not forget their mission of lifting more of the poor from poverty and continued to have a positive impact on nearly half a million additional children last year.

Our work on effective client targeting is starting to show results as we embed poverty level surveys into our loan processes and use this information to align the right products to the right people. We believe our price monitoring and transparency measures will lead the market to fairness for not only our clients, but all microfinance clients in areas in which we work. We implemented a training programme about credit in all our branches. This reinforced our commitment to understanding our clients better and emphasised the benefits of integration with World Vision’s other activities.

Over the last year VisionFund has built its capability to serve the poor by investing in new senior leadership, restructuring the operations of its affiliated MFIs, and consolidating its portfolio following one of the world’s worst financial crises in living memory.

2010 was a year of exceptional growth in many areas; 70,000 additional loans were disbursed and nearly half a million additional children were positively impacted by our microfinance services.

This is fantastic, and a direct result of an intentional effort to impact more borrowers and their children.

Our new strategy aims high. We plan to impact an additional three million children annually over the next five years through a growth in services. An additional one million borrowers will receive micro loans each year. With three billion people currently unable to access basic financial services around the world, VisionFund’s planned activities will enable many millions of children to experience life in all its fullness.

Building on solid foundations, the unique integrated work of VisionFund and World Vision will succeed with your help. Please support us to make lasting change in the lives of others.

Sincerely,