Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger.
FINCA clients greatly expand–even double–family food purchases with income generated by their first loan. Research worldwide has reinforced those findings. A World Bank study of three microfinance programs found that five percent of clients graduated out of poverty each year as a result of participating in the programs. According to a 2003 study, "Microfinance allows poor people to protect, diversify, and increase their sources of income, the essential path out of poverty and hunger."

Achieve universal primary education. 
In poor countries, education is not free. Regardless of family income, parents must pay school fees and buy uniforms, textbooks, and supplies. In the very poorest families, children must work to help the family survive, so attending school is a luxury. Access to microfinance is a critical factor in determining whether children from poor families attend school. A USAID-AIMS report from Uganda found that microfinance client households invest more in education than non-client households; over half the clients stated that income from microenterprise financed that education. Statistics from FINCA Haiti show that current clients spent 63% more on household education than did clients who had just joined Village Banking groups.

Promote gender equality and empower women.
Village Banking groups are self-selecting and some do choose to include men. But the great majority of our clients–more than 70 percent—are women. For many women, helping establish and operate their Village Banking group is their first experience in self-governance and democracy; serving as a Village Bank officer is their first leadership opportunity. Women’s status within the home increases as their self-confidence and economic self-sufficiency grow. They demonstrate significantly greater empowerment as measured by physical mobility, ownership and control of productive assets such as land, involvement in family decision-making, and legal and political awareness and participation. And their empowerment increases the longer they stay with their microfinance programs—compelling evidence of a causal link.

Improve maternal health. 
As FINCA clients increase their incomes, they spend that extra money in strikingly similar ways. Invariably, the first two priorities are improved family nutrition and medical attention. In poor families, children do better when their mothers also have the power to limit childbearing. In smaller families, each child receives a greater share of available resources, including food, clothes, health care, and maternal attention. Surveys of microfinance clients indicate rates of contraceptive use significantly higher than among non-clients—as much as 59 vs. 43 percent. The studies contend that greater awareness of contraception comes from attending group meetings and from the increased income and mobility that allows women to seek out such services. A USAID-AIMS study reported that microfinance clients in Uganda who received health education about breast-feeding, preventive health, and family planning had much better health practices than non-clients.

Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases.
In Malawi, where more than 14 percent of the population is HIV positive, The Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health’s Center for Communication Programs trained FINCA clients to deliver HIV/AIDS prevention and behavior modification messages throughout their communities. In Uganda, FINCA estimates that 80 percent of its clients are caring for at least one AIDS patient or orphan. In response, FINCA and insurance provider AIG pioneered micro-insurance for clients who had to take time away from their businesses to care for family, and life insurance to protect families when a Village Bank member dies. FINCA also negotiated a fee-based health insurance plan that provides medical care for clients afflicted with HIV/AIDS. FINCA now offers insurance products throughout Africa and most of Latin America, and its efforts have been widely emulated by other microfinance providers.

Ensure environmental sustainability.
More than 1.1 billion people live within the world’s biodiversity "hotspots." While these ecologically important regions represent only 2.3 percent of the earth’s surface, they are home to nearly 60 percent of the world’s poorest people. Pressuring developing countries to adopt anti-logging, anti-poaching, and other conservation policies is not enough if they do little to involve those with the most at stake—the people who live there. Economic and environmental sustainability are critically intertwined; microfinance can be a key tool in helping families to meet their nutritional, health, and social needs without having to depend on environmentally unsustainable practices.

Develop a global partnership for development.
Through its Village Banking Campaign and participation in the Clinton Global Initiative, FINCA is committed to making an ambitious contribution to the Millennium Development Goals. While no organization, country, or individual can do it alone, FINCA and the 75,000 donors and contributors who have joined us, as well as our public- and private-sector partners, intend to work together to bring increased opportunity, income, health, and education to the poorest of the working poor.