European Microfinance Day Campaign – Changing the Narrative by building stronger & greener local communities

In 2015, the European Microfinance Network (EMN) launched the European Microfinance Day Campaign with the clear objective of creating a tool to highlight the impact of the microfinance sector in Europe from a social and economic perspectives. The European Microfinance Day represents the date on which underserved groups cease to have access to financial services until the end of the year (the date is set based on Eurostat data of the share of people in the EU who are at risk of poverty or social exclusion). 

Throughout the years, EMN members have organised a series of different initiatives on a regional, national and EU level to raise awareness of the existence of microfinance and its value in fighting unemployment and social exclusion. 

Coming to its 10th anniversary, this year’s edition will showcase how supporting local and rural communities in navigating challenges such as empowering women’s entrepreneurship and reducing environmental impacts through the development of inclusive finance, could lead us to stronger and fairer societies. The campaign slogan, ‘Changing The Narrative - Supporting Local Communities to Generate Global Impact’, perfectly mirrors the objective behind the initiative: looking at local communities' experience to draw lessons and examples that could be replicated in other regions and countries. 

Joining the campaign

For the first time since it was created, the EMD campaign will be open not only to EMN members and partners, but also to other organisations willing to share their stories and experiences. Taking part in the initiative is quite simple: organisations can choose among a variety of activities, such as in-person events, webinars, social media campaigns, etc… Material and any kind of support will be provided by the EMN Secretariat.

Let’s connect together

Event:  5 December 2024: Closing event of the 9^th Edition of the European Microfinance Day (EMD) campaign. Link to register 

The spirit of the campaign lies in cultivating and strengthening the microfinance community across Europe; for this reason, on the 5th of December EMN will host an in-person event in Brussels, to give participants the opportunity to showcase the results of their initiatives. On this occasion, we will organise a panel discussion aligned with the European Commission’s upcoming “European Affordable Housing Plan”:‘(Re) Build greener to be stronger’ will focuse on low-income communities in non-urban or remote areas and particularly on the housing challenges met by these groups. The objective of the panel will be to better understand the challenges, existing solutions and how the microfinance sector and the social economy ecosystem can contribute to alleviate the struggles met by vulnerable groups in relation to housing. If you are interested in joining the event, registrations are now open (see link above). 

For any information related to the campaign you can contact EMN Secretariat at m [dot] volpieuropean-microfinance [dot] org (m[dot]volpi[at]european-microfinance[dot]org).