Programs and Projects

NOMINATION AND ELECTION PROCEDURES FOR SELECTING MNRC REP

APPEND Inc. is one of the alliance of microfinance NGOs that endorses private representatives to the Microfinance NGO Regulatory Council (MNRC). The MNRC is an accrediting body and all microfinance NGOs are required to obtain accreditation from this Council to avail the incentives provided by the law. The MNRC composed of permanent representatives from the government: The Chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission; The Secretary of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI); Secretary of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) and the Secretary of the Department of Finance or their deginates. The three representatives from the Microfinance NGO sector shall be chosen from among the nominees of the organizations, associations and alliances of Microfinance NGOs duly registered with the SEC.

OVERVIEW

A Landmark Microfinance NGOs Act. On 03 November 2015, Republic Act 10693: “An Act Strengthening Nongovernment Organizations (NGOs) Engaged in Microfinance for the Poor” was enacted into law. This law is in line with the government’s vision to eradicate poverty by supporting and working with qualified NGOs to promote microfinance and its allied services.

The law applies to all microfinance NGOs (MF-NGOs) with the primary purpose of implementing a microenterprise development strategy and providing microfinance programs, products and services that empower the poor.

Primary Author and Advocate. R.A. 10693 was championed and authored primarily by the representative of APPEND, Inc. to Congress in 2013 by virtue of APPEND’s mandate to “propose enactment or change in legislation, government policies and other similar advocacy work for the improvement of basic services and availability of social and financial opportunities to the small, cottage scale and micro-entrepreneurial sectors as well as other poor and disadvantaged sectors of the Filipino society” (Box 1).

BOX 1: A Backgrounder on APPEND, Inc.

The Alliance of Philippine Partners in Enterprise Development, Inc. (APPEND Inc.) was established on February 13, 1991 as the first and one of the largest groups of MF NGOs and social entrepreneurs in the Philippines. For more than 40 years, the APPEND group has been providing micro- enterprise development, microfinance, micro-insurance, agriculture value chains, education, leadership training, and financial empowerment to poor micro-entrepreneurs and their families.

APPEND, Inc. through its member organizations operates in more than 70 out of 81 provinces in the country, and serves the urban poor entrepreneurs, women, farmers, fishermen, workers in the informal and formal sector, migrant workers, indigenous peoples and indigenous communities, and the youth and children. Collectively, the network has helped more than 5 million poor people since its inception attain better lives and escape poverty.

In recent years, APPEND, Inc. has taken a greater focus on its mandate in the area of legislation, government policies and advocacy work. This relates specifically to strengthening the social and financial opportunities available to the micro-, small, and medium-enterprises, as well as to the other poor, marginalized and disadvantaged sectors of the Filipino society. Backed by this mandate and the absence of law that protects the ten (10 million) micro-entrepreneurs and the operations of microfinance NGOs that support them, APPEND after more than 21 years of its existence decided in 2012 to enter into the national electoral process through APPEND Party-list to represent the micro-enterprise sector in the Philippines.