Indigo network meeting, Brussels, 1 December

posted by Gill Musk on Tue, 12/13/2011 - 16:45

Members of the Asset Building Working Group, which doubles as the Indigo network, met on 1st December at EMN’s new offices in Brussels.  The meeting was a valuable opportunity to share news, information and ideas on asset building work around Europe and to create an action plan for the coming year.

Raising awareness of what is meant by asset building and how it enables people to sustainably exit poverty is an ongoing challenge. While this working group focuses especially on savings, there are of course a range of other measures which help people to access, build and protect financial assets. The group agreed that it was vital to continue working with MFIs, policymakers and grassroots organisations, both to build the evidence base and to share more effectively the evidence that already exists, which demonstrates the need for a new approach to practical and policy interventions.

Partners shared updates on work completed or in progress. Highlights included:

  • Initial results of MFC’s pilot project, to test and evaluate different models for incentivising saving (Grzegorz Galusek);
  • An update on RFA’s microsavings pilot and the EC-funded SIMS project (Social innovation and mutual learning on Micro-Savings in Europe), which will develop, test and evaluate innovative approaches to promoting micro-saving as a tool for social inclusion in four European countries (Laurence Roland, Bernard Bayot and Tibor Beres);
  • A progress report on Runnymede’s AssetNET project on assets and ethnicity, including feedback from a workshop hosted by Evers & Jung in Germany (Mirko Bendig) and preparations for a major conference in Brussels to take place in March 2012 (Omar Khan);
  • A presentation of ACAF’s plans to roll out the CAF methodology using a new online platform (Abdoulaye Fall);
  • An update on IACD’s work to engage the community development field in bridging real and perceived gaps between financial and social agendas (Gill Musk);
  • Insights from Brandee Butler of the Levi Strauss Foundation into her vision for a coalition of support for asset building in Europe;
  • An update on changes at EMN (Stefanie Lämmerman and Sandra Moreau).

The afternoon was dedicated to focused work planning. The diversity of members who form the group means it is well placed to take forward a range of activities amongst the key audiences it has identified.