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UNDP invites Microfinance Institutions in Iraq for a pre-qualification exercise for Implementation of the project "Private Sector Development Program for Iraq (PSDP-1)".

BAGHDAD – Iraq’s 12 microfinance institutions in cooperation with the USAID-Tijara Provincial Economic Growth Program will hold an Inclusive Financial Services Stakeholders Conference in Erbil on October 3 and 4. The theme of this year’s microfinance event will be “Transforming Inclusive Financial Services for Increasing Outreach.”

Khalil Ismail Elyas, a farmer from Ninewa Province, is growing more than tomatoes and peppers. Thanks to a USAID-supported microfinance loan, the 25-year-old is expanding his business, hiring workers and increasing revenues.

The CBI Research Director Dr. Hadi Sabah has indicated that the microfinance enterprises provide the economic development strategy and start from the poor Iraqi families as the poor are targeted by new small businesses. He added, on the sidelines of the Inclusive Financial Services Stakeholders Conference 2010 held by USAID-Tijara, that these industries began from scratch, and that the CBI have set easy conditions for loans. "We have achieved since early 2004 numerous successes and activities in the small businesses development sector, and that the CBI considers itself a partner in Tijara's development projects, and the CBI is seeking to maintain the stability of the exchange rate and keep the inflation rates as low as possible in addition to reducing the reserves percentage to 15%." Mr. Sabah elaborated.

UNDP is pleased to announce a pre-qualification exercise for Microfinance Institutions (MFI) for partnering for the implementation of the project “Private Sector Development Programme for Iraq (PSDP-I). The PSDP-I is conceived and designed with Iraqi stakeholders (public and private) and other international stakeholders in an effort to create and enable an effective, coherent, and comprehensive framework for private sector development in Iraq at both the national and governorate levels in three priority Governorates: Basra, Anbar and Erbil. The project has earmarked a total of USD 2 million funding for microfinance.

USAID-Tijara’s Inclusive Financial Services Stakeholders’ Conference began with a pledge to provide greater financial services to people living below Iraq’s poverty line of $2.20 a day and ended with a celebration of innovative loan products that have created or sustained 203,500 jobs since 2003.

BAGHDAD – The USAID-Tijara “Putting the Poor First” microfinance symposium, a program supported by the U.S. Government, will be held November 28-30 in Erbil.

The Inclusive Financial Services Stakeholders’ Conference will bring together leaders from the 12 microfinance institutions (MFIs) that provide financial services throughout Iraq. The forum will attract Iraqi policy makers, donors, banks, small business development centers (SBDCs), and all registered Iraqi MFIs.

BAGHDAD - Leaders of 12 Iraqi Microfinance Institutions (MFIs) assembled in Baghdad recently for the inaugural meeting of the Iraqi Microfinance Industry Network. The main item on the agenda was the signing of a Code of Conduct & Ethics that mandates ethical behavior and a commitment to low-income Iraqis.

The Louis Berger Group is seeking a Senior Microfinance Program Manager for its USAID-funded Tijara project based in Erbil/Kirkuk Iraq. The Senior Microfinance Program Manager will be part of the Microfinance team based in Erbil and supporting a variety of project initiatives.

Download PDF for more details about the job.