MICRA Philippines launched a special initiative, the Poverty Action Center, or PAC, to focus exclusively on the challenge of ensuring microfinance services actually reach the poorest segments of the population. PAC seeks to deepen microfinance’s poverty outreach to the lowest-income Filipinos by working to identify microfinance providers already committed to these populations, or interested in reaching them, and then connecting those providers with potential investors, wholesale lenders, innovative delivery channels, and other valuable resources.
PAC holds regional workshops every month throughout the Philippines. Workshop participants receive briefings, developed in coordination with MICRA’s Research & Innovations unit and its Technical Assistance specialists, on the state of the market, particularly about how well it is serving the lowest income brackets. They gain valuable insights into the financial behaviors of poorer clients as well as practical, real-world guidance on how to reach them with the highest demand, highest impact products.
PAC also publishes a quarterly newsletter for general audiences and produces in-depth case studies, drawn from different regions, on a regular basis as well.
PAC works closely with MICRA’s other business units, coordinating MICRA resources to provide direct service and promote MFIs to institutional partners and stakeholders regionally and nationally.
