22 USC 2211 - Monitoring system

Collapse to view only § 2211b. Monitoring system

§ 2211. Findings and policy
§ 2211a. Authorization; implementation; targeted assistance
§ 2211b. Monitoring system
§ 2211c. Poverty measurement methods
§ 2211d. Additional authorities
§ 2212. Development credits for micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises
§ 2213. United States Microfinance Loan Facility
§ 2214. Report
§ 2214a. Definitions

§ 2211. Findings and policy

Congress finds and declares the following:

(1) Access to financial services and the development of micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises are vital factors in the stable growth of developing countries, in the development of free, open, and equitable international economic systems, and in the economic empowerment of the poor, especially women.

(2) It is therefore in the best interest of the United States to facilitate access to financial services and assist the development of micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises in developing countries, particularly enterprises owned, managed, and controlled by women.

(3) Access to financial services and the development of micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises can be supported by programs providing credit, savings, training, technical assistance, business development services, and other financial services.

(4) Given the relatively high percentage of populations living in rural areas of developing countries, and the combined high incidence of poverty in rural areas and growing income inequality between rural and urban markets, micro, small, and medium-sized enterprise programs should target both rural and urban poor.

(5) Microenterprise programs have been successful and should continue and be expanded to empower vulnerable women in the developing world. The Agency should work to ensure that recipients of development assistance for micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises under this subpart communicate and work with nongovernmental organizations and government organizations to identify and assist victims of trafficking as provided for in section 7104(a)(1) of this title and women who are victims of or susceptible to other forms of exploitation and violence.

(6) Given that microenterprise programs have had some success in empowering disenfranchised groups such as women, development assistance for micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises should also target populations disenfranchised due to race or ethnicity in countries where a strong relationship between poverty and race or ethnicity has been demonstrated.

(Pub. L. 87–195, pt. I, § 251, as added Pub. L. 108–484, § 3, Dec. 23, 2004, 118 Stat. 3923; amended Pub. L. 115–428, § 4(a), Jan. 9, 2019, 132 Stat. 5512.)

§ 2211a. Authorization; implementation; targeted assistance

(a) Authorization

The President is authorized to provide assistance on a non-reimbursable basis for programs in developing countries to increase the availability of credit, including the use of innovative credit scoring models, savings, financial technology, financial literacy, education, insurance, property rights, and other services to micro, small, and medium-sized enterprise clients lacking full access to capital, training, technical assistance, and business development services, through—

(1) assistance for the purpose of expanding the availability of credit, savings, and other financial and non-financial services to micro, small, and medium-sized enterprise clients, particularly clients owned, managed, and controlled by women;

(2) assistance for the purpose of training, technical assistance, and business development services for micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises to enable them to make better use of credit, to better manage their enterprises, to conduct market analysis and product development for expanding domestic and international sales, particularly to United States markets, and to increase their income and build their assets;

(3) capacity-building for financial intermediaries in order to enable them to better meet the credit, savings, and training needs of micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises;

(4) policy, regulatory programs, and research at the country level that improve the environment for micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises, financial intermediaries, and capital markets and institutions that serve the poor and very poor, especially women;

(5) assistance for the purpose of promoting the economic empowerment of women, including through increased access to financial resources and improving property rights, inheritance rights, and other legal protections; and

(6) assistance for the purpose of scaling up evidence-based graduation approaches, which include targeting the very poor and households in ultra-poverty, consumption support, promotion of savings, financial literacy, skills training, and asset transfers.

(b) Implementation

(1) In general

(2) Additional provisions

(A) Use of implementing partner organizations

(B) Use of central funding mechanisms

Assistance under this section shall meet high standards of efficiency, cost-effectiveness, and sustainability, particularly by protecting the use and funding of local organizations in countries in which the Agency invests, and shall especially provide the greatest possible resources to the poor and very poor, especially women. When administering assistance under this section, the Administrator shall—

(i) take into consideration the percentage of funds a provider of assistance intends to expend on administrative costs;

(ii) take all appropriate steps to ensure that the provider of assistance keeps administrative costs as low as practicable to ensure the maximum amount of funds are used for directly assisting microfinance and microenterprise clients, for establishing sustainable microfinance and microenterprise institutions, or for advancing the microenterprise development field; and

(iii) give preference to proposals from providers of assistance that are the most technically competitive and have a reasonable allocation to overhead and administrative costs.

In carrying out sustainable poverty-focused programs under subsection (a)—

(1) 50 percent of all micro, small, and medium-sized enterprise resources shall be targeted to activities that reach the very poor; and

(2) 50 percent of all small and medium-sized enterprise resources shall be targeted to activities that reach enterprises owned, managed, and controlled by women.

(Pub. L. 87–195, pt. I, § 252, as added Pub. L. 108–484, § 3, Dec. 23, 2004, 118 Stat. 3924; amended Pub. L. 115–428, § 4(b), Jan. 9, 2019, 132 Stat. 5512.)

§ 2211b. Monitoring system

(a) In general

(b) Requirements

The requirements referred to in subsection (a) are the following:

(1) The monitoring system shall include performance goals, including goals on a gender disaggregated basis, such as improvements in employment, access to financial services, education, enterprise development, earnings and control over income, and property and land rights, for the assistance and expresses such goals in an objective and quantifiable form, to the extent feasible.

(2) The monitoring system shall incorporate Agency planning and reporting processes and indicators to measure or assess the achievement of the performance goals described in paragraph (1) and the objectives of the assistance authorized under section 2211a of this title.

(3) The monitoring system provides a basis for recommendations for adjustments to the assistance to enhance the sustainability and the impact of the assistance, particularly the impact of such assistance on the very poor, particularly poor women.

(Pub. L. 87–195, pt. I, § 253, as added Pub. L. 108–484, § 3, Dec. 23, 2004, 118 Stat. 3925; amended Pub. L. 115–428, § 4(c), Jan. 9, 2019, 132 Stat. 5514.)

§ 2211c. Poverty measurement methods

The Administrator of the Agency, in consultation with financial intermediaries and other appropriate organizations, should have in place at least 1 method for implementing partners to use to assess poverty levels of their current incoming or prospective clients.

(Pub. L. 87–195, pt. I, § 254, as added Pub. L. 108–484, § 3, Dec. 23, 2004, 118 Stat. 3926; amended Pub. L. 115–428, § 4(d), Jan. 9, 2019, 132 Stat. 5514.)

§ 2211d. Additional authorities

Notwithstanding any other provision of law, amounts made available for development assistance for micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises under any provision of law other than this subpart may be provided to further the purposes of this subpart. To the extent assistance described in the preceding sentence is provided in accordance with such sentence, the Administrator of the Agency shall include, as part of the report required under section 2214 of this title, a detailed description of such assistance.

(Pub. L. 87–195, pt. I, § 255, as added Pub. L. 108–484, § 3, Dec. 23, 2004, 118 Stat. 3926; amended Pub. L. 115–428, § 4(e), Jan. 9, 2019, 132 Stat. 5514.)

§ 2212. Development credits for micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises

(a) Findings and policy

Congress finds and declares that—

(1) the development of micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises is a vital factor in the stable growth of developing countries and in the development and stability of a free, open, and equitable international economic system; and

(2) it is, therefore, in the best interests of the United States to assist the access to financial services and the development of micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises in developing countries and to engage the United States private sector in that process.

(b) Program

To carry out the policy set forth in subsection (a), the President is authorized to provide assistance to increase the availability of financial services to micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises and households lacking full access to credit and other financial services, including through—

(1) loans and guarantees to financial intermediaries for the purpose of expanding the availability of savings and credit to poor and low-income households;

(2) training programs for financial intermediaries in order to enable them to better meet the financial services needs of their clients; and

(3) training programs for clients in order to enable them to make better use of credit, increase their financial literacy, and to better manage their enterprises to improve their quality of life.

The Administrator of the Agency shall establish criteria for determining which financial intermediaries described in subsection (b)(1) are eligible to carry out activities, with respect to micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises and households, assisted under this section. Such criteria may include the following:

(1) The extent to which the recipients of financial services from the entity do not have access to the local formal financial sector.

(2) The extent to which the recipients of financial services from the entity are among the poorest people in the country.

(3) The extent to which the entity is oriented toward working directly with poor women.

(4) The extent to which the entity recovers its cost of lending.

(5) The extent to which the entity implements a plan to become financially sustainable.

(d) Additional requirement

(e) Procurement provision

(f) Availability of funds

(1) In general

(2) Coverage of subsidy costs

(Pub. L. 87–195, pt. I, § 256, formerly § 108, as added Pub. L. 98–151, § 101(b)(2), Nov. 14, 1983, 97 Stat. 972; amended Pub. L. 99–83, title III, § 308, Aug. 8, 1985, 99 Stat. 215; Pub. L. 100–418, title II, § 2211, Aug. 23, 1988, 102 Stat. 1335; Pub. L. 106–309, title I, § 106, Oct. 17, 2000, 114 Stat. 1085; Pub. L. 108–31, § 2, June 17, 2003, 117 Stat. 775; renumbered § 256 and amended Pub. L. 108–484, § 4(a), (b), (c)(3), Dec. 23, 2004, 118 Stat. 3926, 3927; Pub. L. 115–428, § 4(f), Jan. 9, 2019, 132 Stat. 5514.)

§ 2213. United States Microfinance Loan Facility

(a) Establishment

(b) Disbursements

(1) In general

The Administrator shall make disbursements from the Facility to United States-supported financial intermediaries to prevent the bankruptcy of such institutions caused by—

(A) natural disasters;

(B) national wars or civil conflict; or

(C) national financial crisis or other short-term financial movements that threaten the long-term development of United States-supported financial intermediaries.

(2) Form of assistance

(3) Congressional notification procedures

(1) Policy provisions

(2) Default and procurement provisions

(A) Default provision

(B) Procurement provision

(3) Terms and conditions of credit assistance

(A) In general

(B) Limitation on principal amount of financing

(4) Full faith and credit

(d) Funding

(1) Allocation of funds

Of the amounts made available to carry out subchapter I of this chapter for each of the fiscal years 2005 through 2009, such sums as may be necessary may be made available for—

(A) the subsidy cost, as defined in section 661a(5) of title 2, to carry out this section; and

(B) the administrative costs to carry out this section.

(2) Relation to other funding

(Pub. L. 87–195, pt. I, § 257, formerly § 132, as added Pub. L. 106–309, title I, § 107(a), Oct. 17, 2000, 114 Stat. 1086; renumbered § 257 and amended Pub. L. 108–484, § 5(a), (b), (c)(2), Dec. 23, 2004, 118 Stat. 3927; Pub. L. 115–428, § 4(g), Jan. 9, 2019, 132 Stat. 5515.)

§ 2214. Report

(a) In general

(b) ContentsTo the extent practicable, the report submitted under subsection (a) should contain the following:

(1) Information about assistance provided under section 2211a of this title, including—

(A) the amount of each grant or other form of assistance;

(B) the name and type of each intermediary and implementing partner organization receiving assistance;

(D) the methodology used to ensure compliance with the targeted assistance requirements under subsection (c) of such section.

(2) The percentage of assistance provided under section 2211a of this title, disaggregated by income level, including for the very poor, and by gender.

(3) The estimated number of individuals that received assistance under section 2211a of this title, disaggregated by income level (or an appropriate proxy for income level, including for the very poor), by gender, and by type of assistance.

(4) The results of the monitoring system required under section 2211b of this title.

(5) Information about any method in place to assess poverty levels under section 2211c of this title.

(Pub. L. 87–195, pt. I, § 258, as added Pub. L. 108–484, § 6, Dec. 23, 2004, 118 Stat. 3928; amended Pub. L. 115–428, § 4(h), Jan. 9, 2019, 132 Stat. 5515.)

§ 2214a. Definitions

In this subpart:

(1) Administrator

(2) Agency

(3) Appropriate congressional committees

(4) Business development services

(5) Director

(6) Implementing partner organization

The term “implementing partner organization” means an entity eligible to receive assistance under this subpart which is—

(A) a United States or an indigenous private voluntary organization;

(B) a United States or an indigenous credit union;

(D) an indigenous governmental or nongovernmental organization;

(E) a micro, small, or medium-sized enterprise institution;

(F) a financial intermediary; or

(G) a practitioner institution.

(7) Micro, small, and medium-sized enterprise institution

(8) Financial intermediary

(9) Office

(10) Practitioner institution

(11) Private voluntary organization

The term “private voluntary organization” means a not-for-profit entity that—

(A) engages in and supports activities of an economic or social development or humanitarian nature for citizens in foreign countries; and

(B) is incorporated as such under the laws of the United States, including any of its states, territories or the District of Columbia, or of a foreign country.

(12) United States-supported financial intermediary

(13) Very poor

The term “very poor” means those individuals—

(A) living in the bottom 50 percent below the poverty line established by the national government of the country in which those individuals live; or

(B) living below the international poverty line (as defined by the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development and the International Development Association (collectively referred to as the ‘World Bank’)).

(Pub. L. 87–195, pt. I, § 259, as added Pub. L. 108–484, § 6, Dec. 23, 2004, 118 Stat. 3929; amended Pub. L. 115–428, § 4(i), Jan. 9, 2019, 132 Stat. 5515.)