Mérida, Mexico - Yesterday a group of high-level business leaders, government officials, and microfinance specialists from 65 different countries arrived in Mérida, Yucatán, to attend the 17th Annual Microcredit Summit. The summit will be held from September 3-5 under the theme, "Generation Next: Innovations in Microfinance."

The Microcredit Summit Campaign brings together microfinance practitioners, advocates, educational institutions, altruistic agencies, international financial institutions, non-governmental organizations, and other microfinance entities, to promote best practices in the field, stimulate the interchanging of knowledge, and work towards reaching common goals.

In 1997, the first Microcredit Summit launched a nine-year campaign to reach 100 million of the world’s poorest families, especially the women of those families, with credit for self-employment and other financial and business services by the year 2005. In November of 2006 the Campaign was re-launched to 2015 with two new goals:

1. To reach 175 million of the world’s poorest with microfinance; and
2. To help 100 million families lift themselves out of extreme poverty.

In addition to these goals, the Campaign has four core themes that focus not only on the number of clients reached, but also on the quality of the practitioners’ work:

• Reaching the Poorest
• Empowering Women
• Financial Self-Sustainability
• A Positive, Measurable Impact

Additionally, the Campaign is the administrative home of the industry initiative, Truelift. Truelift is a global initiative to push for accountability in pro-poor development. Truelift is a trust mark – in microfinance and other forms of social business – to signify commitment to positive and enduring change for people affected by conditions of poverty.