01 - 03 June 2010

The 7^th annual conference for Sanabel, the microfinance network for Arab countries, was held in Damascus, Syria from June 1^st to 3^rd, 2010. The theme for this year’s conference was “Responsible Growth: Learning from Global Trends and Regional Experiences”.

Over the course of three days, over 600 attendees had the opportunity to listen to panelists discuss various topics and to share their experiences during meetings, mini-training sessions and workshops with themes such as “Responsible Finance”, “Investment Readiness”, “Increasing Outreach while Maintaining Quality” and “Enabling Policies and Regulation”.

During this conference, enda-ia was represented by 2 members of our Board of directors and by 16 of our colleagues. Additionally, enda was able to share our experience with other participants through a presentation on financial education by Tarek Lamouchi, a trainer for enda’s clients and employees, as well as through the participation of Essma Ben Hamida, enda-ia’s Executive director, on a panel discussing microfinance in the region.

Towards the end of the conference, enda received a 5 diamond certificate for excellent transparence from MiX Market (http://www.mixmarket.org/). This prestigious award was also awarded to two other microfinance institutions: Al Majmoua, based in Lebanon, and Al Amana, based in Morocco. Diamond ranking indicates that an MFI has reported general information, outreach data, and financial data for at least two consecutive years, as well as providing audited financial statements and a rating or other due diligence report.