Our Annual Conference is now over. Thank you to all our speakers and participants for such a successful event! The session recordings, presentation material, and evaluation report are now available.
In the early months of 2020, the world responded to a threat of unprecedented magnitude. The lockdown measures established around the world to contain the propagation of the COVID19 pandemic have meant adapting to a “new normal” almost overnight. A shock of this magnitude has yet to be fully assessed in terms of economic impact, but from day one the European microfinance sector demonstrated its adaptability, responsiveness, and resilience.
Having weathered the bulk of the first storm, our industry must now focus on the future, to mitigate the aftershocks and make the most of this uncontrolled seismic shift. New tools, innovative practices, and cutting-edge research are paths to explore to ensure that our sector emerges stronger and can better serve its clients. Incidentally, they are also topics that were covered in the EMN Annual Conference 2020.
The conference
Initially planned for Sofia, Bulgaria, this year’s conference became a fully online event, to accommodate for the uncertainty surrounding large gatherings due to the Covid-19 pandemic. From 13-15 October, a series of focused webinars brought together various stakeholders for an exchange of views and practices, to challenge long-standing preconceptions, and to resolutely orientate ourselves towards concrete recovery measures for microcredit in a reforming economy.
This online meeting of minds brought together microfinance practitioners, service providers, academics and researchers who are interested in the recent developments of the sector, as well as representatives from the other interested parties including policy makers, NGOs and public institutions supporting the sector.
