Microfinance is a key intervention in helping poor families in developing countries move out of poverty. The Microcredit Summit Campaign has been working since 1997 to promote microfinance, with the aim of reaching 100 million of the world's poorest families by 2005. This book, published five years after the first Microcredit Summit, challenges conventional wisdoms and explores in depth the Campaign's core themes: reaching the poorest, reaching and empowering women, building financially self-sufficient institutions, and ensuring a positive measurable impact on the lives of clients and their families. The book will serve as a roadmap for development agencies working to achieve the Millennium Development Goals, including the goal of cutting absolute poverty in half by 2015. Overview of Contents Acknowledgments / Preface / Acronyms Ensuring Impact: Reaching The Poorest While Building Financially Self-Sufficient Institutions, and Showing Improvement in The Lives of The Poorest Women and Their Families --Anton Simanowitz with Alice Walter Building Better Lives: Sustainable Integration of Microfinance With Education in Child Survival, Reproductive Health, and HIV/AIDS Prevention for The Poorest Enterpreneurs --Christopher Dunford Innovations from The Field: A Daringly Brief Summary of A Huge Phenomenon --John K. Hatch with Sara R. Levine and Amanda Penn Empowering Women Through Microfinance --Susy Cheston and Lisa Kuhn Financing Microfinance for Poverty Reduction --David S. Gibbons and Jennifer W.

Meehan Policies, Regulations, and Systems That Promote Sustainable Financial Services to The Poor and Poorest Women's World Banking Bibliography.