Role of Financial Intermediaries for Poverty Reduction

Abstract

The ADB Institute conducted a capacity-building seminar on the Role of Financial Intermediaries for Poverty Reduction in Singapore from 4 to 8 March 2002. The workshop was jointly conducted and sponsored by the Technical Cooperation Directorate (TCD), Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA), Singapore, the Colombo Plan Secretariat and the ADB Institute. The participants were middle- to senior-level officials of central banks and representatives from NGOs and the academia from Bangladesh, Cambodia, the People's Republic of China, India, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Pakistan, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Viet Nam. Its primary objective was to provide a capacity-building opportunity to participants by strengthening their conceptual understanding of the evolving issues on the role of financial intermediaries for poverty reduction and sharpening their skills in this area. Presentations by prominent resource speakers expanded the participants' knowledge base on this highly topical development issue. The seminar also provided the participants a forum to exchange views on their own country specific issues relating to poverty reduction. The knowledge and skills the participants gained during the seminar is expected to help them improve the effectiveness of their work in their own countries, especially in the context of poverty alleviation.