The global financial crisis, accompanied by rising food and energy prices, inflation and other local economic events are significant in most countries for our clients and potentially the sector.

CGAP will be hosting a virtual, on-line conference to discuss the impact of the financial crisis on microfinance and poor people. The conference will take place throughout the day from Nov.18 through the 20th, and will be comprised of two sessions: (1) microfinance institutions and their clients and (2) donors and investors. Attached is the agenda.

As you know, virtual conferences are essentially a facilitated thread of interesting and thought provoking comments posted on-line. Your participation on and off, and in and around your busy schedules will help us to ensure a fruitful discussion.To register for the conference, please visit:

http://www.cgap.org/p/site/c/template.rc/1.26.3807

Please also feel free to forward this information to any partners or field staff who you think might be interested. It would be very valuable to have institutions and leaders such as yourselves provide input on this platform.