1.    Principal Activities

  a)    Annual Conference: The 2008 annual conference was held from November 1 to 3, 2008, in Agra, India.  The conference title was “Challenges We Face, Opportunities We Have”.  28 participants including 2 invited guests attended the conference, representing 20 member institutions (58% of the whole membership).  The participation rate was very low this year, partly because the venue was far for many members.  The overall satisfaction level of the conference was higher at 4.5 out of 5.

  b)    Microinsurance Working Group: Eight periodical sessions and one annual meeting were organized throughout the year.  The periodical sessions discussed topics pre-selected by the working group members, including marketing and market education, performance monitoring indicators, and challenges and failures encountered.

  c)    Staff Incentive Working Group: A three-day virtual conference was organised in April, in collaboration with USAID and CGAP.  With 108 participants from 37 countries and 145 postings, the forum is among the largest Speaker’s Corners that were conducted. Participants included MFI managers, consultants, investors and staff of MFI networks and not-for-profit development agencies.

  d)    Product List Survey: A survey was carried out in order to find out which member is working on what product, including the products in the planning or pilot-testing stage.  22 members responded the survey.  The survey results were presented at the Annual Conference.

  e)    Human Resources Management Survey: Another survey was conducted to share tips for successful HR management, especially around the topics of recruitment, training, turnover issues, and MFI’s growth and HR management.  14 members responded the survey.

  f)     Newsletters for MFN Members: Six newsletters were issued with an objective to provide updates on the MFN, the members and the microfinance sector.

2.    Network Operation

  a)    Membership: The number of MFN members is 36 as of Dec. 31st, 2008.  During the year, WOCCU and Banco Los Andes withdrew their membership, and PADME was removed from the network due to the fact that the government took over its management.

  b)    Steering Committee: Three Steering Committee meetings were held during the year to discuss important issues of the network operation.

  c)    General Assembly Annual Meeting took place on November 2, 2008. The members approved the revision of the MFN bylaws and discussed the activities for 2009.  A steering committee member (Motaz El Tabaa, ABA) was reelected for his second term (2009-2011). The status of the Institutional Sponsor (Compartamos) and the Fiscal Agent (ACCION International) were re-approved, too.