DUSHANBE, September 12, Asia-Plus — More than 20 microfinance organizations from Central Asia’s states have expressed intention to participate at the fifth annual regional conference formally titled “Microfinancing in Central Asia: Path to the Future” the will open at the Kokhi Vahdat State Complex in Dushanbe on September 20.
Tolib Ghairatov, the head of the Association of Microfinance Organizations of Tajikistan, said that a two-day conference aims to consider tendencies and prospects of development of microfinancing in the Central Asian countries. The conference participants will familiarize themselves with instances of transformation, social influence, capital financing, regulation of currency risks, and experience in creation of mechanism of protection of borrowers.
Senior representatives of microfinance organizations from Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan are expected to attend the conference. Besides, representatives from the European Union, the United States, Pakistan, Afghanistan, and the Russian Federation have also been invited to take part at the conference.
Fair of investors and exhibition of works by microfinance organizations will be held on sidelines of the conference. Donors will be represented by 14 organizations such as the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), the Asian Development Bank (ADB), Planet Finance, Oiko Credit and others.
Besides, a seminar on the social impact management issues will be conducted for representatives from microfinance institutions will be conducted on September 19. The seminar is expected to discuss mechanisms of assessments of impact of loans on living conditions of the population. The seminar will be conducted by specialists from the Microfinance Center for Central and Eastern Europe and the CIS Countries.
Microfinance is about more than offering small loans to the poor. We see microfinance as a financially self-sustaining model for empowering the world”s poorest people. Microloans enable poor people to leverage their skills toward their
own
profitable businesses and lift themselves out of poverty.
According to Tajik central bank, 8 credit societies, 6 microfinance deposit organizations, 23 microloaning organizations and 36 microloaning funds now function in Tajikistan.
