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From the President
Global Perspectives | Fall 2009
 Dear Friends,
More than 30 years
ago, when microfinance
was first pioneered in
Bangladesh and India, a
key question was how it
could possibly work to make unsecured
loans to people living in poverty. When
Global Partnerships (GP) was founded 15
years ago, proof of concept was still the
defining challenge for the fledgling industry.
Microfinance now serves well over 150
million people worldwide. In recent years,
it has been shaped by a growing number
of investor-owned financial institutions
providing financial services to the poor.
The debate has shifted—from whether
microfinance works to how it works best.
Are scale and growth the most important
factors? What complementary services,
beyond microcredit, have the greatest
impact on poverty? How important is it
to serve the neediest potential clients?
These are critical questions that have
helped GP, in recent years, more sharply
articulate our commitment to a “social
enterprise” model of microfinance. In
practice, this means that we’re more
focused than ever on building a portfolio
of partners in Latin America that are
financially sound, competitively strong and
display exceptional levels of social impact.
In the first nine months of 2009, we’ve
improved our screening process for new
partners even further, and re-evaluated
existing partners to make sure that they
are still a strong “impact” match. Take
our two newest partners, Ecuador’s
D-MIRO and Peru’s PRISMA, which are
profiled in New Partners, New Solutions, Greater Impact. Both are MFIs with
a sound business model and a strong
commitment to mission. Both serve some
of the neediest sectors of their countries—from HIV patients to the rural poor—with
innovative credit products and high-impact
complementary services. Both are NGOs
that reinvest their profits in programs.
Both are helping their countries’ poorest
improve their incomes and their lives.
GP is proud to support, as of June 30,
2009, 28 such partners who are making
a difference in seven Latin American
countries by combining sound economics
with high social impact. In the coming
months, we’ll begin exploring how to use
these partnerships for even deeper impact
in the lives of the people we serve.
Best regards ,
Rick Beckett
President and CEO
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