BRS uses the Microfinance Lunch Breaks to bring current themes from the world of microfinance and microinsurance to Brussels.
Well-known guest speakers share their insights with anyone who is interested in international topics with a special focus on participants from the financial world, NGO employees, students and government employees.
The Microfinance Lunch Break is organised by BRS in partnership with ADA. ADA, a Luxembourg-based NGO specialising in microfinance, has been organising “les Midis de la microfinance” in Luxembourg since 2006.
BRS can count on its cooperation with Cera, KBC, Assuralia and Febelfin for the organisation of Microfinance Lunch Breaks in Belgium.
Depending on the speaker, the working language is English or French.
The guest speakers are experts in their field and always have inspiring stories to share. A Q & A session with the audience is scheduled at the end of the presentation. A buffet is subsequently provided for the participants.
Check it out below.
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Olivier Vanden Eynde, Close the Gap.
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Today, family businesses are the major poducers of food in the world. And for the future, the are an essential link in a sustainable food chain. How do we finance them? And what are the challenges?
Dominique Morel (SOS Faim) and Jean-Marc Debricon (Alterfin) share their views and experience
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The past years 2020 and 2021 have been a difficult time both for microfinancing customers and for the financial institutions that serve them. Many poor households - and women in particular - have suffered large income declines due to lockdowns, declining economic activity and trade, and the collapse of entire economic sectors, such as tourism. This has led to the biggest and deepest crisis in the nearly 50-year history of microfinancing.
Taking into account the current situation and examples of crises over the last decade, the speakers at this Microfinance Lunch Break looked at how microfinancing customers and institutions have dealt with the pandemic and what the post-pandemic recovery might look like.
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The pioneering book “Portfolios of the Poor: How the World’s Poor Live on $2 a Day” explores the cash flow of nearly 300 households among the world’s poorest. The result is a humanising insight into these people’s economic lives, and a valuable resource for attempts to improve them, especially through microfinancing institutions.
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To some extent, microfinance has become a victim of its own success. Is this due to insufficient or excessive funding? Is there a link between excessive funding and the bad microfinancing practices that have emerged in the past, such as in India? Is there an imbalance between the amount of investment and donor funding within the sector, which exacerbates the problem? And how can investment and donor funding play a better role in strengthening the sector?
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Why do the poor in developing countries need insurance? How do their insurance needs differ from formal insurance? Is microinsurance financially sustainable? Is there a role for large insurance and reinsurance companies to play in microinsurance? What are the main challenges for the microinsurance sector?
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More than 500 million households worldwide are active in small-scale family farming. With the world becoming a global village and agriculture in many countries scaling up and using increasingly complex technologies, it is reasonable to wonder what the future of small farmers will be.
How can smallholder farmers contribute to fighting hunger while supporting local economic development and biodiversity, as well as sustainable food systems? What challenges do they face and how can microfinance help address them?