Luxembourg's development cooperation - Annual report 2012

The Luxembourg Development Cooperation has been involved in the field of microfinance since the early 1990s. In collaboration with two non governmental organisations, SOS Faim Luxembourg and ADA, the ministry has, since 1993, contributed to the development of microfinance as a tool for poverty alleviation. Alongside these developments, new civil society actors appeared, enabling the government to upscale its’ support.

In 2003, the ministry and the two NGOs cited above set up the Luxembourg Round Table on Microfinance (www.lrtm.lu) as an informal group of all resident actors with the aim of facilitating coordination and exchange, so as to stimulate innovation and the development of new programmes. In the same context, the ministry actively supported the creation of the European Microfinance Platform and, in 2005, the establishment of the European Microfinance Week, an annual event organised by the Platform which attracts more than 400 practitioners and experts. In this same year, the ministry suggested creating the European Microfinance Award which was established in 2006 and is awarded biannually to the microfinance institution that has submitted the most innovative project. This prize will be now, from 2014 onwards, be awarded annually.

Since the beginning of the ministry’s commitment to microfinance, it acted as facilitator by providing support through a multitude of partners to a very large number of initiatives, contributing considerably to the development of microfinance as a means of effectively combating poverty.