Foreword
The Asia Resource Centre for Microfinance
The Asia Resource Centre for Microfinance (ARCM) is the latest program of the Banking with the Poor Network (BWTP), a program supported by the Foundation for Development Cooperation -as BWTP Secretariat- and the Japan Foundation.
The ARCM is based on dialogue and information exchange at national and regional levels in South and Southeast Asia, and aims to constitute a one-stop learning and information hub for Banking with the Poor Network (BWTP) members and other microfinance actors in Asia.
The ARCM promotes increased outreach and efficiency of financial services for the poor in South and Southeast Asia, services that are essential in the fight against poverty in the region, improving the lives of millions through asset building and increased income.
The ARCM has two main objectives:
- First, the ARCM aims to encourage partnerships and cooperation in Asia, among microfinance providers and supporters, and between providers and financiers, in order to increase financial support for microfinance schemes and to increase peer learning.
- Second, the ARCM aims to build a knowledge management platform accessible to all microfinance actors in the Asia region, in order to increase institutional capacity, to increase the dissemination of innovations, and to develop regional and sub-regional standards in microfinance.
Microfinance country profiles: Cambodia, Lao PDR and Vietnam
The draft microfinance country profiles present a review of the microfinance sector in Cambodia, Lao PDR and Vietnam, and constitute a new contribution to the foundation of the Asia Resource Center for Microfinance, after the previously completed profiles on Nepal and Pakistan. These three profiles are based on country studies undertaken in November and December 2004 in Cambodia and Vietnam. Research on microfinance in Lao PDR was conducted from a desk study and through contacts with local practitioners, as the researcher was prevented to visit Lao PDR at the time of the research.
These studies have been conducted in close collaboration with BWTP Network partners, CARE International in Cambodia, CARE International in Vietnam and CARE Australia. The studies have included individual consultations with key organisations and people involved in microfinance and the organisation of a regional stakeholder workshop, held in December 2004 in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
The major topics were discussed during the consultations and the workshops:
- Collaboration between microfinance and formal finance sectors,
- Best practices and standards;
- Innovations
- Regional Cooperation
- Alternative microfinance providers
- Regulations and government initiatives
Country profiles only constitute the foundations of a comprehensive regional information dissemination strategy undertaken by the BWTP Network. As such, the draft country profiles are based on the on going ‘interactive monitoring’ of the microfinance sector in each of the countries surveyed, and will be upgraded and improved over time through the valuable feedback and information received from practitioners in Cambodia, Lao PDR and Vietnam. The ARCM aims to be an interactive, relevant and practical tool, based on current practices in the region, for all microfinance practitioners and supporters in the region.
BWTP Network secretariat, March 2005
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