Banking with the Poor in the South Pacific Foundation for Development Cooperation, 1996 (iv + 25 pages)

This report contains three documents from the Third Asia-Pacific Regional Workshop on Banking with the Poor, held in Brisbane in November 1994. It arose from work by the Foundation for Development Cooperation to disseminate microfinance principles in the small island states of the South Pacific, and to study the applicability of these principles to the conditions of those small island states.

One document summarises South Pacific consultations on Banking with the Poor, conducted by the Foundation in November and December 1993. During these consultations, policy makers, commercial bankers and NGO leaders in nine countries were briefed on the principles of Banking with the Poor.

These consultations permitted the Foundation to judge the receptiveness to microfinance principles and the feasibility of their being applied in the South Pacific. They were a critical input into a background paper on Banking with the Poor in the South Pacific, prepared for the Third Regional Workshop by Mark D Otter, Program Officer with the Foundation. This background paper is also included in the document.

Finally, the document includes a statement by South Pacific participants in the Third Regional Workshop. The statement includes a number of recommendations for further action to encourage the spread of microfinance on a sustainable basis throughout the South Pacific region.