What efforts are underway to promote greater awareness of consumer protection?
Awareness of consumer protection in the microfinance industry is fairly new – though industry players are recognizing the need to protect microfinance clients, both for their benefit and the benefit of the industry as a whole. ACCION, SEEP, the Microfinance Network, and international and national networks and associations in India, Uganda, Ghana, and elsewhere have been working on aspects of the “pro-client” agenda for a few years. Meanwhile, in October 2008 many microfinance investor institutions signed the Client Protection Principles, a microfinance industry-wide Campaign for Client Protection that encourages providers to ensure low-income clients are treated fairly and protected from potentially harmful financial products. The Principles are distilled from the work of MFIs, international networks and national microfinance associations to develop pro-consumer codes of conduct and practices in an effort to define minimum standards for providers to safeguard the interests of vulnerabl
