This year 19^th MFC Annual Conference entitled “Microfinance in the Cloud” was held in Tirana on 22-24 June.

The Conference, having brought together diversified microfinance market actors from around the globe, tried to primarily explore the space that microfinance could occupy if it fully embraced new technology, or the detachment it could suffer if it did not. Various workshops, plenary sessions and meetings were conducted in addition to main Conference events to find response to the questions “Can a way be found to maintain the unique value of microfinance within the digital world? What does a microfinance institution need to go digital, and what are the risks?” The Conference, by putting the experience of real institutions under the microscope, was a key platform to introduce new EU support tools for microfinance, examine different strategies for coping with currency risks, review successful institutional strategies during a time of economic crisis, talk about new social investment opportunities, and many other salient topics.

The expansion of financial literacy work in the ECA region in the 2016, mainly through the Borrow Wisely Campaign, was one of the important topics. At the Conference, the results of the 2015 Campaign being reviewed, the participating organizations, including VF AzerCredit from Azerbaijan, were awarded with a special appreciation certificate. It was informed that in 2015 the Campaign reached out to over 300 000 customers of 21 MFIs in 13 countries.