USAID Supports First Microfinance Conference in Southern Sudan

The U.S. government, in partnership with the Government of Southern Sudan GOSS and the Microfinance Association of Southern Sudan, has sponsored Southern Sudan’s first microfinance conference .

The Southern Sudan Microfinance Conference, held in Juba on July 20-21 2010, provided a forum for stakeholders to exchange views about the status of microfinance in southern Sudan and develop a strategy to advance microfinance in the region.

Keynote speakers included Barrie Walkley, Consul General, U.S. Consulate, Laurence Clarke, World Bank Country Manager; GoSS Minister of Commerce and Industry, Stephen Dhieu, and GOSS Minister of Cooperative and Rural Development, Dr. Anne Itto.

The conference provided a forum for GOSS and donors to hear from Sudanese microfinance practitioners and other groups involved in microfinance in southern Sudan.