2010 saw an increasing flow of funds towards microfinance, with a number of multilateral funds being put in place and increased participation in microfinance by some mainstream financial services organisations.

The VisionFund network continues to be held in high regard by lenders and is gradually developing strong relationships with a number of lenders at the global level. This leads to improved funding relationships across the network.

During financial year 2010, VisionFund worked with over 80 external lenders to provide leveraged debt facilities to affiliated MFIs located in Africa, Asia, Latin America, the Middle East, and Eastern Europe. These funds were raised both centrally and locally, with VisionFund International providing negotiating assistance and oversight at the local level.

VisionFund is fulfilling its mission to reach the entrepreneurial poor with financial services. This is being done as multilateral development organisations seek to utilise the VisionFund network of affiliated MFIs to secure funds in the most appropriate and effective places to positively impact lives and curb poverty. Finally, VisionFund is engaging new lenders in the microfinance arena and is promoting microfinance amongst mainstream organisations.

VisionFund has striven to secure socially minded mission partners and as such is pleased to partner with the finest microfinance lenders in the world including Blue Orchard, Oikocredit, Symbiotics, ResponsAbility, Triple Jump, and Incofin (a live internet connection is required to view these external websites), and many others.

VisionFund’s partnership with Freedom from Hunger, an international development organisation, resulted in the development of a project model called "Credit with Education." This model provides credit and savings services to targeted clients of MFIs or savings groups, as well as a series of educational sessions in such areas as health, water, child protection, gender, life skills, business training, biblical principles of business, or HIV and AIDS. These educational sessions provide an accessible and in-depth group based atmosphere that allows for contextual problem solving and an increase in dialogue.

Joint implementation of educational and financial services leads to immediate benefits for clients and their children. According to Freedom from Hunger, research studies show that women participating in "Credit with Education," when compared to similar women not participating, have more income and assets, a greater sense of personal empowerment to make decisions, and better nourished and healthier children.

Practically speaking, in Cambodia, MFI staff have provided domestic violence prevention, child rights, and child exploitation prevention education to clients. These pertinent social issues are being addressed with clarity, and are creating a dialogue amongst MFI clients, resulting in greater awareness and personal response to real issues plaguing many clients in this Southeast Asian nation.

From a financial educational perspective, the VisionFund MFI in Mexico is piloting a finance education programme related to savings, over-indebtedness, and forecasting. These valuable financial tools are being used by MFI clients to improve their overall financial wellbeing and freedom.

Donors have been an integral part in the microfinance work of World Vision and VisionFund for decades. At the base of VisionFund’s model of microfinance development is the donor partner, who engages with VisionFund in order to provide the capital the MFIs need to lend to the poor – and influence many lives. Donations varying in size from $50 to $5 million are leveraged through acquired debt – supplying the working capital needed to lend to the poor – and influence countless lives.

Microfinance operations are supported by donors, as they provide their time, talents, and treasures. Donors have supported the development of infrastructure, built capacity, and financially supported VisionFund’s microfinance efforts. With gifts ranging in size from foundational gifts to responses from World Vision gift catalogues, donors empower the entrepreneurial poor.

Donors are able to fund loans of micro entrepreneurs located in the Philippines, Mexico, Rwanda, Kenya, and Armenia via an online website: www.worldvisionmicro.org. This site was developed through a global partnership of VisionFund and World Vision offices, as well as the participating MFIs.

In 2010, a total of 5,011 donations helped fund 1,407 hardworking entrepreneurs.

To learn more about World Vision Micro, watch the video above. To fund a borrower today, visit: www.worldvisionmicro.org

Bankers with Vision (BwV) is a pilot programme of international volunteerism made up of financial service professionals. Operating initially from Singapore, these individuals advocate for and provide practical assistance and advice for VisionFund affiliated MFIs.

Group members focus on technical projects, develop governance, and provide coaching and mentoring of microfinance leaders. In 2010, BwV members assisted MFIs in Sri Lanka, Mongolia, Myanmar, Vietnam, and Cambodia. A total of seven consultancy projects and workshops covering management principles, forensic audit, human resources, and risk management were held in the same year. These efforts strengthen VisionFund operations, and have impacted 85 leadership staff to date.

For more information about Bankers with Vision email bwv@wvi.org.

For more information on how you can partner with VisionFund please visit www.visionfundinternational.org/partner

VisionFund collaborates with some of the finest financial and development organisations in the world.

Through a $3 million grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, MFI WISDOM of Ethiopia plans to provide more than 250,000 rural farmers and hardworking poor with a chance to open their first savings accounts. The three-year programme will help meet a pent-up demand among Ethiopia’s poor to bank small savings of cash to cushion their families from financial setbacks.

WISDOM plans to utilise the capital generated by the new savings accounts to expand its microfinance programmes in country. Experts estimate that less than 10 percent of the total demand for microfinance is currently being met in Ethiopia, a country where the majority of the population lives on less than $2 a day.

This new programme will provide a template for scaling up savings services in other VisionFund affiliated MFIs throughout Africa and beyond.

Visit the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation online: http://www.gatesfoundation.org

Kiva, a peer-to-peer microfinance lending website, has lent millions of dollars by connecting thousands of lenders with microfinance entrepreneurs. In 2010, Kiva partnered with five VisionFund affiliated MFIs to offer lenders the opportunity to support small businesses in Rwanda, the Philippines, Mexico, Kenya, and Armenia. Since the beginning of the partnership in 2008, nearly $5 million dollars was lent to over 9,400 VisionFund affiliated MFI borrowers through Kiva.

Lend to a borrower by visiting Kiva online: http://www.kiva.org

VisionFund has partnered with Calvert Foundation to offer an investment programme. This initiative allows investors based in the USA to directly invest in VisionFund’s microfinance work while earning a financial return. VisionFund and Calvert Foundation have an initial offering of $3 million, where investors can invest between $1,000 and $250,000, while receiving up to a 3% return on investment.

Visit Calvert Foundation online: http://www.calvertfoundation.org/VFI