New Horizons > December 2001

2001 ECLOF Geneva board meets

ECLOF and Oikocredit establish strategic alliance

The 2001 ECLOF board meeting took place on 22 and 23 November. It was preceded by a half-day seminar for new board members, and followed by a half-day seminar on “HIV/AIDS and Micro Finance”.
During this year’s tightly organised meeting the board approved the “Framework Agreement for ECLOF-Oikocredit Strategic Alliance”.

The agreement was the culmination of a year-long process set in motion with the joint ECLOF-Oikocredit seminar that coincided with the 2000 board meeting (see New Horizons Issue 24).
Last year’s seminar included a discussion on why and how both organisations are involved in working with fair credit, and the means by which the two could strategically complement one another in their mission of serving the poor.

Since the seminar, two working meetings had taken place between the two sister organisations. The aim was find ways to develop areas of co-operation and to define more clearly what having a strategic alliance would entail.

To ensure continuity and follow up, the agreement reached lays down that a joint working group will meet every two years, or sooner if requested by one of the partners.