A/RES/52/194
Page 3
5. Recognizes the important contributions being made by the United Nations system and by the
Consultative Group to Assist the Poorest, sponsored by the World Bank, to develop and disseminate best
practices among all organizations engaged in the provision of financial services on a sustainable basis to
people living in poverty;
6. Encourages all involved in poverty eradication programmes to consider incorporating microcredit
schemes in their strategies;
7. Also encourages them to adopt policies that support the development of microcredit institutions and
their capacities so that credit and related services may be made available to increasing numbers of people
living in poverty;
8. Calls upon the international donor community to support the strengthening of existing and emerging
microcredit institutions in the developing countries, especially the least developed and the African countries;
9. Also calls upon the relevant organs, organizations and bodies of the United Nations system, in
particular its funds and programmes and the regional commissions, as well as relevant international and
regional financial institutions and donor agencies involved in the eradication of poverty, to explore including
the microcredit approach in their programmes as a tool for the eradication of poverty and further developing,
where appropriate, other microfinance instruments;
10. Calls upon all concerned non-governmental organizations, other actors of civil society and the
private sector to support and incorporate, as appropriate, microcredit and related services in their programmes
for the eradication of poverty;
11. Requests the Secretary-General, in collaboration with relevant organizations of the United Nations
system, including funds and programmes and the World Bank, to submit to it at its fifty-third session a report
on the role of microcredit in the eradication of poverty in the follow-up to resolution 52/193 entitled "First
United Nations Decade for the Eradication of Poverty";
12. Decides to include future discussions of the role of microcredit under an item entitled
"Implementation of the first United Nations Decade for the Eradication of Poverty (1997-2006)".
77th plenary meeting
18 December 1997