A Role for Microfinance in Obama Administration?

Hillary Clinton Includes Microfinance in Opening Remarks at Senate Confirmation Hearing
Originally published: January 13, 2009 Source: Real Clear Politics

In the confirmation hearings for her nomination as U.S. Secretary of State, Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton mentioned the virtues of microfinance during her opening remarks. Clinton praised the work of Ann Dunham, Barack Obama's late mother, as a pioneer of microfinance in Indonesia.
Clinton said, "In my own work on microfinance around the world - from Bangladesh to Chile to Vietnam to South Africa and many other countries - I've seen first-hand how small loans given to poor women to start small businesses can raise standards of living and transform local economies."
"President-elect Obama's mother had planned to attend a microfinance forum at the Beijing women's conference in 1995 that I participated in. Unfortunately, she was very ill and couldn't travel and sadly passed away a few months later. But I think it's fair to say that her work in international development, the care and concern she showed for women and for poor people around the world, mattered greatly to her son, and certainly has informed his views and his vision. We will be honored to carry on Ann Dunham's work in the months and years ahead."
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