OUR PRESENT We are organizing a microfinance conference--our 18th Microcredit Summit--in Abu Dhabi, UAE, this March 14th to 17th. We are excited to welcome the Arab Gulf Fund for Development (AGFUND) and the Khalifa Fund for Enterprise Development as our official partners. The 18th Microcredit Summit will be organized around the theme "Frontier Innovations in Financial Inclusion," engaging delegates in a thoughtful discussion around effective ways to reach the most vulnerable and marginalized and the microfinance services and financial inclusion strategies that promote inclusive, sustainable economic growth and social empowerment that helps improve their lives. The theme: Frontier Innovations in Financial Inclusion Where and when: March 14-17, Abu Dhabi, UAE Local partner: Khalifa Fund The audience: high-level government regulators and heads of state, microfinance practitioners and their partners, NGOs, product design experts and support service providers (for-profit, non-profit, and social business), as well as heads of multinational corporations and private sector businesses Learn more: http://18microcreditsummit.org/ OTHER CURRENT PROJECTS 1) 100 Million Project 2) Financing Healthier Lives 3) State of the Campaign Report (http://stateofthecampaign.org) 4) Truelift (http://truelift.org) OUR HISTORY The first Microcredit Summit, held in 1997, gathered 3,000 people from 137 countries in Washington, D.C. They launched a 9-year campaign to reach 100 million of the world’s poorest families, especially the women of those families, with credit for self-employment and other financial and business services by the year 2005. That goal was very nearly reached and in November of 2006 the Campaign was re-launched to 2015 with two new goals: 1) Reaching 175 million poorest families with microfinance. 2) Helping 100 million families lift themselves out of extreme poverty.