[Canada] Global Microcredit Summit to attract thousands to Halifax in November

from Canoe

HALIFAX (CP) - More than 2,000 delegates from around the world will tackle the issue of global poverty during one of the largest conventions ever hosted in Atlantic Canada.

World leaders, anti-poverty activists and supporters of small business from more than 100 countries will be in Halifax this November for the Global Microcredit Summit.

Microcredit is the granting of very small loans to the world's poor, such as those who earn less than $1 US a day.

U.S.-based organizer Sam Daley-Harris says many of the poor are women who earn just pennies a day in exchange for hours of weaving, rice husking, or making crafts.

Delegates will announce their progress in meeting their goal of reaching 100 million of the world's poorest families by 2006.

Organizers say the region, home of the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency, is an ideal place to hold the convention.

ACOA, a sponsor of the summit, provides loans to small-and medium-sized businesses.

"Working with (our) communities is similar to working with the poor in the rest of the world," John Knubley, the agency's vice-president, said Monday.

"You're trying to . . . understand how they can improve their situation economically, but also restore their confidence in themselves as human beings."

The last Global Microcredit Summit was held in 1997 in Washington, D.C.