Seal of Excellence for Poverty Outreach and Transformation in Microfinance

The Seal of Excellence for Poverty Outreach and Transformation in Microfinance is a global initiative currently under development that will recognize those institutions doing the most to help families lift themselves out of poverty.

The Seal has been under development since April 2010 with input from a broad range of stakeholders and will continue in 2012.  

Towards a Seal of Excellence in Global Microfinance

Highlights from the Global Microcredit Summit 2011 in Valladolid, Spain

High Aspirations for the Seal of Excellence: John de Wit on Poverty Alleviation

In his remarks at the plenary session that opened the Summit, "Beyond 'Ethical' Financial Services: Developing a Seal of Excellence for Poverty Outreach and Transformation in Microfinance", John de Wit, managing director of Small Enterprise Foundation in South Africa, expressed his hopes for the Seal.

What I as a practitioner [am] hoping for is that the Seal will be able to differentiate between those who are really trying to do constructive microfinance-who are really trying to make sure that we do deliver a difference in the lives of poor people, that we give them their chance at dignity, their chance of climbing out of poverty-from a lot of microfinance that is very, very worrying.

Watch the video of John de Wit’s presentation below. Watch the full plenary session on our YouTube channel.

Development of the Seal

The Seal of Excellence for Poverty Outreach and Transformation in Microfinance was first announced in the State of the Microcredit Summit Campaign Report 2011 (download here), and the conversation continues in the 2012 report (download here).

Discussion began in April 2010 and will continue throughout 2011 and beyond with input from a broad range of stakeholders. The Seal will recognize those institutions doing the most to help families lift themselves out of poverty. Acknowledging the range of critical initiatives in the microfinance field, Campaign Director Sam Daley-Harris said, "The Seal is working to build on the Smart Campaign's client protection principles and the work of the Social Performance Task Force and is discussing ways to implement the Seal that would use the systems that have already been developed for understanding the social performance of microfinance institutions."

"With such incredible growth in microfinance there is a need for some certification, some objective measurement that makes it clear to the outside world that these are the goals of those microfinance institutions that are committed to reducing poverty and these are the institutions reaching those goals," said Chuck Waterfield, founder of MicroFinance Transparency. "Efforts such as a Seal of Excellence on Poverty Outreach and Transformation are needed - and needed now."

Our movement is not just about money, it is about unlocking human dreams. We seek to employ financial capital to unleash human potential, and we still have a lot to learn from those who do this well.