New Initiative!
Boulder-Bergamo Forum on Access to Financial Services:
Expanding the Rural Frontier

September 18th-20th, 2008 - University of Bergamo – Italy

Important: Due to other events that will take place in Bergamo around September 18th-20th, accommodation availability is limited. We recommend you make reservations as soon as possible. More information about hotels and hostels are in the Accommodations section.

SThere are 600 million people living in rural areas in the world today subsisting on less than $2 per day. A vast majority of these individuals have no access to formal financial services placing them in extreme risk to economic shocks. Can access to finance help to improve livelihoods? If so, who and what types of financial services can deliver and stimulate sustainable economic opportunities?

The Boulder Institute of Microfinance in partnership with the University of Bergamo has designed a forum to bring together leading academic researchers and key policy makers to tackle and discuss the unique challenges associated with delivering and expanding the frontier for rural finance to the poor. The primary purpose of this inaugural conference is to shorten the cycle between ideas, research, and the practical application of policies designed to expand the delivery of financial services to poor people.

This year’s conference is supported by the Rural Finance Program at The Ohio State University..

We are extremely pleased with the level of interest and excitement this Forum has generated in the academic community. Leading researchers such as Gershon Feder (World Bank), Dean Karlan (Yale), Jonathon Morduch (NYU), Jerry Skees (U. of Kentucky), and Robert Townsend (U. of Chicago) are signed up to deliver plenary presentations. We will also have presentations and dialogues by over 40 distinguished policymakers, practitioners, and funders from around the world. Included among these are Juan Antonio Morales (former Finance Minister of Bolivia), Crispin Bokea (Central Bank of Kenya), Peer Stein (IFC), Thorsten Beck (World Bank), and Alexander Sarris (FAO).

Open Call for Poster Submissions:

The conference will also include presentations of 20 posters selected by an academic review committee. Researchers and practitioners are invited to submit poster proposals addressing issues related to rural finance, with the top 5 poster authors receiving full scholarships to the conference. There is also the opportunity to have your papers published in University of Bergamo’s Savings & Development Journal. The deadline to apply is July 15th, 2008.

Join us and be part of this innovative conference!