ECLOF’s expansion and reorientation to the developing world led to a concern with the root causes of underdevelopment and poverty in the world. Theological reflection in the WCC resulted in a number of commitments to the poor made at the 1968 Uppsala Assembly and the Montreux Conference in 1970. In response, in 1971 ECLOF created a new fund to provide loans to groups of rural and urban poor, aimed at promoting social justice and self-reliance. This was the birth of ECLOF’s microfinance activities as we know them today.
By 1976, 3 in every 4 ECLOF loans were made in Non-European countries ; microfinance loans represented more than half of all loans made. But there were challenges in that period : Global economic crises in the 1970s and 80s had catastrophic consequences for many throughout the developing world and particularly across Africa. Economic gains of the 1960s and 70s were wiped out and the world saw growing levels of poverty, especially in rural areas.
