One of the biggest challenges facing the microfinance industry today is developing financial products and methodologies for very poor or difficult-to-reach rural populations, reducing their vulnerability and increasing their economic well being.

IFAD's strategy is also to encourage innovations in rural finance, especially those that can help deepen geographic and poverty outreach in rural areas, while keeping clear focus on sustainability. This is the purpose of a joint initiative with CGAP, the "Rural Pro-Poor Innovation Challenge", that is the continuation of CGAP previous initiatives in that area. This mechanism provides seed capital to institutions that are testing innovative approaches in the above context. The first round of recipients was selected in January 2003. The econd round was selected in November 2003.

IFAD has also supported the testing of instruments that would help improve the transparency of reporting on poverty outreach. It plans in that context to test the CGAP poverty assessment tool in several countries, and support the diffusion of some of the poverty targeting tools from the MicroCredit Summit.

 

Read more Poverty assement tools Poverty audit Client targeting resource centre Impact assessment resource centre new! Village banks: the new generation. How IFAD helped FINCA set its village banking programmes on the road to commercialization new! Supporting innovation in the field. The role of IFAD’s support in the sustainability and commercial transformation of FINCA’s village banking programmes Hot links Rural finance and rural poverty