WAM international

Mission

The mission of Women Advancing Microfinance (WAM) International is to advance and support women working in microfinance and microenterprise development through education and training, by promoting leadership opportunities, and by increasing visibility of their participation and talent while maintaining a work/life balance. WAM International pursues activities that are consistent with the following values:

• To advance the provision of financial services to the poor
  
  
• To advance and support women's leadership in the microfinance and microenterprise development industries through education and training, by promoting leadership opportunities, and by increasing visibility of their participation and talent while maintaining a work/life balance
  
  
• To extend economic opportunities to women globally
  
  
• To continue to raise gender issues with a collective voice

How We Began

The face of poverty is often female. Women, according to the United Nations, account for around 70% of the world's poor. A staggering number of these women lack access to even the most basic of financial services. The microfinance sector is attempting to bridge this gap by providing the world's poor with a growing range of financial services.

Over the last decade, the microfinance sector has changed significantly, evolving from providing credit to microentrepreneurs to providing a more expansive range of financial products, including savings, insurance, leasing, money transfers, etc. As microfinance has evolved so too has its leadership to respond to the changing needs of the sector. Existing leaders, often women, have had to grow and change to stay relevant to the sector, while new talent also is being recruited from complementary sectors, including the more formal financial sector.

In 2003, a group of women leaders in the microfinance field convened over the course of several months to discuss the changing profile of microfinance professionals and the impact of these changes on the delivery of microfinance services to poor women around the world. Among the questions these women asked:

• If women were to play a smaller leadership role in the microfinance sector, how well would the microfinance sector's predominately female customer base be served?
  
  
• How can microfinance providers attract and retain the necessary human resources to build sustainable business models?
  
  
• What role can women professionals now active in the microfinance sector play in supporting their female colleagues around the world to grow and advance professionally so as to stay relevant to the fast changing needs of the microfinance sector?
  
  
• Is working in the microfinance sector a long-term, tenable career choice for women?
  
  
• How can women professionals working in microfinance best nurture themselves, each other, and their female clients?

Out of questions like these, Women Advancing Microfinance (WAM) International was launched. WAM International was founded in 2003 by a group of 40 women leaders in the microfinance industry. These women contributed the seed capital to start WAM International. In December 2005, WAM International was legally incorporated in Washington, DC. In March 2006, WAM International received tax-exempt status in the United States and now operates as a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization.

WAM Chapters, located worldwide, consist of microfinance and microenterprise development professionals at all stages of their career. Although most Chapter members are women, most chapters' membership is open to men as well.

How We Work

WAM advances its values through three strategic goals:

Strategic Goal 1 - Highlight:
Highlight the important role of women's leadership in microfinance and microenterprise development through evidence-based research.

Strategic Goal 2 - Connect:
Connect women working in microfinance and microenterprise development by serving as a platform and developing a vibrant worldwide network of WAM chapters.

Strategic Goal 3 - Strengthen:
Strengthen the capacity of women working in microfinance and microenterprise development by building their skillsets via scholarships to attend trainings.

WAM pursues these goals in collaboration with a network of chapters worldwide that share a commitment to WAM's values and mission statement. WAM has chapters in:

• Washington, DC (established 2003)
• Uganda (2004)
• Central and Eastern Europe and the Newly Independent States (2004)
• Kenya (2005)
• New York (2005)
• Northern California (2006)
• Pacific Northwest (2007)
• Ecuador (2007)
• Chicago (2007)
• Middle East (2008)
• Canada (2008)
• India (2009)
• Netherlands (2009
• United Kingdom (2010).

What We've Accomplished So Far: 2003-2011

Strategic Goal 1 -- Highlight:

• In fall of 2005 WAM concluded a survey to assess the current state of women in microfinance to better understand the composition of professionals working in the microfinance industry and to highlight institutions committed to advancing women professionals in microfinance. WAM International disseminated the results of its first WAM survey to increase public awareness of the microfinance industry in general and the valuable role that female professionals who underpin it have in the success of the industry.
  
  
• WAM International Board Directors presented at key microfinance venues such as: The SEEP Network, Sanabel (Microfinance Network of Arab Countries), Women Faith and Alliance Development, Microfinance Centre (MFC) for CEE and NIS (Central and Eastern Europe and Newly Independent States), Women's World Banking, and the World Bank. In 2006, WAM International sponsored workshops at the annual meeting of the MFC on improving negotiation skills and public presentation skills.
  
  
• WAM International hosted the WAM International Forum on Gender and Microfinance: Harnessing the Power of our Connections on October 22, 2007 in Washington, DC. There were 123 participants and 61 organizations such as Best Buy, Calvert, CGAP, Grameen Foundation, Microfinance Opportunities, The SEEP Network, MEDA, USAID, Women's World Banking, and World Vision. Sponsors of the WAM International Forum included The SEEP Network, USAID, Omidyar Foundation, and Care International. Session topics were developed by the WAM International Forum Sub Committee and the responses of 98 members from SEEP and WAM Chapters to a survey conducted worldwide. The four main themes each offer in-depth discussion of the current knowledge, state of practice, gaps, and concrete actions and recommendations to improve gender dimensions of microfinance and microenterprise's impact and operations.
  • Theme 1. Gender and Benefits for Microfinance and Clients
  • Theme 2. Innovative Approaches to Gender and Microfinance
  • Theme 3. Limitations of Finance-Only Solutions
  • Theme 4. Looking at Why Women's Leadership Matters
  
  
• In 2008, WAM International organized and managed a small, nimble and well-informed group of WAM members into a WAM Gender Advisory Board for The SEEP Annual General Conference. For each SEEP Workshop, a WAM Gender Advisor worked directly with the facilitator and panelists on why, how, and what, to incorporate related to gender analysis into each session plan. Using WAM's Gender Advisors as a resource was solely at the discretion of the facilitator and panelists. WAM Gender Advisors helped provide a gender lens for viewing topics/content, increasing gender analysis and mainstreaming as it applied to each workshop topic.
• 2010/2011 - WAM International leadership joined forces with the SEEP network to launch the Gender Working Group to advance our common objectives, leveraging WAM's comparative advantages around gender issues with SEEP's deep roots in the practitioner community.
  
  

Strategic Goal 2 - Connect:

• Supported the establishment of WAM chapters worldwide that share a commitment to the values and mission statement of WAM International. WAM Chapters' membership has steadily increased worldwide.
  
  
• WAM International created a WAM Chapter Development Guide to help individuals launch new Chapters.
  
  
• Establishment and maintenance of a website (www.wam-international.org) that was launched in October 2004. This website serves as a platform for informing WAM chapters, and others interested in advancing women in microfinance, of the mission and activities of WAM International and its chapters worldwide. It also is a way to publicly recognize the accomplishments of WAM members throughout the world. In the summer of 2006 WAM International moved the Corporation's website to an open source platform so as to permit each WAM chapter more control over the content applicable to it on the WAM website.
  
  
• The first global WAM directory was compiled and distributed in October 2005. This global directory highlights the skills and expertise of women working in microfinance, improving networking within the microfinance industry and offering more opportunities for professionals working in microfinance to draw on each other's expertise-both geographical and functional. The second global WAM directory, which included over 300 WAM members globally, was compiled in 2007 and 2008. This global directory highlights the skills and expertise of women working in microfinance, improving networking within the microfinance industry and offering more opportunities for professionals working in microfinance to draw on each other's expertise-both geographical and functional.
  
  
• WAM International provides chapter support through: sister chapter connections, email exchanges among Board Directors and WAM Chapter members; visits and even home stays for WAM members travelling in countries where they otherwise do not know anyone. WAM International shares information among WAM chapters about activities and programs being offered to WAM members by various chapters.
  
  
• Each WAM chapter is responsible for developing programs that respond to the needs and wishes of its members. WAM International supports these programs by sharing information among WAM chapters about the range of activities and programs being offered to WAM members, but it is up to each WAM chapter to develop programs of interest to its respective members. To date, programs have varied among chapters. In the WAM DC chapter, for example, programs have ranged from workshops on improving public presentation skills to a mentoring program for women in microfinance. WAM Kenya has led workshops on coping with the impact of HIV/AIDS in the workplace and in home.
  
  

Strategic Goal 3 -- Strengthen:

• WAM began developing workshops aimed at growing the skill base of existing and would be leaders in the microfinance industry. WAM sponsored workshops (led by WAM members) have taken place at key microfinance conferences around the world. These workshops, which advance WAM's mission, are open to attendance to all conference participants, not just WAM members. For example, in 2004 WAM led three workshops in Warsaw, Poland and Washington, DC on improving leadership skills of those working in microfinance.
  
  
• WAM International offered financial assistance in the form of scholarships to women from developing countries to enable them to participate/attend various courses or conferences focused on advancing their skills as professionals in the microfinance industry. The financial assistance was not limited to WAM members. However, WAM chapters assisted in the selection and nomination of candidates for such support from their respective countries of operation.
  
  
• WAM International offered financial assistance in the form of scholarships to women from developing countries to enable them to attend various courses or conferences focused on advancing their skills as professionals in the microfinance industry. The financial assistance was not limited to WAM members. However, WAM chapters assisted in the selection and nomination of candidates for such support from their respective countries of operation. WAM International Scholarship Recipients to the 2007 WAM International Forum were from Ethiopia, Egypt Kenya, Kyrgyzstan, Mexico, and Tunisia.
  
  
• WAM scholars from all over the world have also attended trainings at Boulder-at-Turin, AMIDA (Indonesia), SEEP, Women's World Banking, and SMDP-Ghana.