The International Finance Corporation, (the private sector arm of the World Bank Group), organized a roundtable entitled “Reconstruction Microfinance in a Post-Crisis Environment” to share necessary international practices with Lebanese microfinance institutions and banks. In addition, the IFC also invited international experts and practitioners with aptitude in microfinance operations in conflict-areas and natural disaster zones (such as Afghanistan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Iraq, Pakistan, and the West Bank and Gaza) to participate in the roundtable discussion. Together with Lebanese microfinance providers, the representatives from these various institutions openly debated different approaches on how to better address the post-crisis (2006 Israel-Lebanon conflict) recovery efforts. Overall, participates agreed that steps such as maintaining good portfolio quality, planning for cost recovery, and collaboration among various stakeholders to support the growth of microfinance in Lebanon should be followed/implemented.

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