In a further effort to promote transparency—the bridge to reaching scale and increasing funding flows to the microfinance industry—the CGAP Financial Transparency Award aims to highlight financial reporting disclosure and encourage microfinance institutions (MFIs) to adopt International Financial Reporting Standards (IAS1 on Disclosure) and the industry-specific CGAP Disclosure Guidelines for Financial Reporting by Microfinance Institutions. Compliance will indicate that an MFI’s financial statements contain the information necessary to fully understand performance.

What is the CGAP Financial Transparency Award?

The Financial Transparency Award (http://www.cgap.org/fintransaward/index.shtml) will recognize microfinance providers who present comprehensive annual financial reports for the latest fiscal year that are compliant with both IAS1 and Disclosure Guidelines for Financial Reporting. Awardees will receive a plaque at an exclusive UN Year of Microcredit (YOM) event and a token cash award of $5,000–$10,000. In addition, winners will be listed on the CGAP and MIX web sites and in a CGAP / MIX financial transparency report. Awardees will also earn the right to use a CGAP Transparency Award logo in promotional materials. Awards will be presented between January and March 2005.

What are the Disclosure Guidelines for Financial Reporting by MFIs?

Only a handful of microfinance providers currently include enough information to comply with International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) and industry-specific disclosure guidelines. Industry-specific disclosure requires certain information in addition to that required by IFRS to permit a fair assessment of the profitability and asset quality of microfinance operations.

To help address this problem, a group of sponsors, including the 28 donors who make up the Consultative Group to Assist the Poor (CGAP) and the members of the Small Enterprise Education and Promotion Network (SEEP), have developed disclosure guidelines to specify information that should be included in MFI financial reporting. After field-testing and revision, the complete and updated 2004 guidelines are now available at: www.cgap.org/docs/Guideline_disclosure.pdf).

Who can apply for the Financial Transparency Award?

The competition is open to all formal regulated and non-regulated financial institutions and non-governmental organizations that offer microfinance services. To qualify for the competition, applicants should complete a simple application form and post their 2003 or 2004 audited financial statements on the MIX Market by the closing date, 15 November 2004.

How to apply?

1. Applicants complete a simple application form. The deadline for applications is 15 November 2004. Apply online or download the form at: http://www.cgap.org/fintransaward/index.shtml

2. Applicants post their latest audited financial statements on the MIX Market by 15 November 2004. The MIX Market can be accessed at: http://www.mixmarket.org/

For additional questions about the application, please email: cgap@worldbank.org citing the CGAP Financial Transparency Award.

In preparation for a panel on HIV and women at a session of the UN Commission on the Status of Women earlier this year, 27 international and national NGOs, NGO networks and experts in the field of AIDS issued a statement that supported HIV-positive women's reproductive rights, including access to safe, legal abortion.


Four international NGOs - the Center for Health and Gender Equity (CHANGE), International Community of Women Living with HIV/AIDS (ICW), Ipas, and the Pacific Institute for Women's Health (PIWH) - used that statement as a basis for drafting a practical tool for use by NGOs interested in monitoring policy and program implementation of (often neglected) reproductive health services in relation to HIV/AIDS. This tool "Fulfilling Reproductive Rights for Women Affected by HIV: A Tool for Monitoring Achievement of Millennium Development Goals," can be downloaded at www.genderhealth.org/pubs/MDGAug2004.pdf or the websites of any of the other principal co-authoring organizations. Copies can also be requested from Sarah Heaton, sheaton@genderhealth.org.

India's first mainstream movie focused on AIDS opens this week with leading actors portraying characters who battle stigma and discrimination after testing positive for HIV. Phir Milenge, which in Hindi means We'll Meet Again, is a
departure from India's normal fare of light romances
or action-packed thrillers. With 5.1 million HIV-positive people, India has the world's second-highest number of infections after South Africa.

Instead of fighting parental disapproval or the class
feuds that crop up in most Hindi-language movies, popular actors Salman Khan and Shilpa Shetty play characters who struggle to get their lives and jobs back on track after finding they are HIV-positive.

"It is up to all of us to challenge stigma," said Khan, known for his tough-guy romantic lead roles. "I hope I've played my part by taking on the role . . . when some other actors were perhaps a little reluctant."

The Indian media have reported that other leading Indian actors refused the role, fearing it would damage their popularity.

Phir Milenge has none of the staple bump-and-grind songs that show up in the 900 movies a year made in India's glitzy movie industry, known as Bollywood.

Director Revathy Menon says three songs are background
scores and actors mouth the lyrics in just one song.

The Joint United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS has saluted the movie for placing the syndrome "at the heart of its story line" and plans to promote the movie abroad. It opens tomorrow across India and in theatres in Canada, Britain, the United States, Dubai, Australia, Singapore and Malaysia. http://www.canoe.ca/NewsStand/LondonFreePress/Today/2004/08/26/602298.html

As most of you now know, the 2004 Campaign is on "˜Women, Girls, HIV and AIDS".

English language versions of this year's campaign posters will be posted on the UNAIDS Campaign website by the end of September. Other languages will be posted on the web and hard copies mailed by end of October.

As before, the poster designs will be available as templates, which can be adapted for more specific use within your constituencies. The material will be available electronically on our web and on CDs. Please start to get your requests to us now â€" although please remember that we will only be in a position to mail out to you in October.

As in previous years links will be created on the website to a host of other resource material relevant to analyzing, strategizing and planning for campaigning around the theme of ˜Women, Girls, HIV and AIDS".

This will bring together existing material, tools and other resources that focus, challenge and promote thought and action on the issues around Women and HIV.

The World AIDS Campaign is also beginning to gather new partners and synergies are once again building. MTV is launching a PSA contest on the theme of ˜Women, Girls, HIV and AIDS™ and their announcement will appear on the UNAIDS website in early September 2004. This audio and video PSA contest is open to all and entries will be accepted until 1
November 2004. The winners will be publicly announced on 1 December 2004 and the non-winning entries will be available through UNAIDS for use in advocacy efforts.

The Global Movement for Children, will be coordinating the ˜Lesson for Life, in which two million children in 50 countries will be taking part in a lesson on HIV/AIDS and its effect on children, particularly girls. You can find out more about the ˜Lessonâ and how you can join in at www.gmfc.org/hivaids.

The 16 Days of Activism 2004 is campaigning to highlight the intersection of violence against women and the AIDS epidemic and are urging audiences to consider the gender dimensions of HIV/AIDS. Find out more at www.cwgl.rutgers.edu.

The 2004 World AIDS Campaign is urging everyone to recognise that the rise of the epidemic among women and girls is strongly related to gender inequalities in society. More ideas around this should be posted on the web soon.

The annual flagship publication of UNAIDS, the AIDS Epidemic Update 2004, due to be released in late November 2004, will also have a focus on women and girls. It will provide some of the evidence base for the impact of HIV on women and girls.

From 2005, as you do know, the World AIDS Campaign is changing. We hope that many of you were able to visit the website at www.worldaidscampaign.org. There you will find information on the Campaign’s new focus from next year to hold governments accountable to the UNGASS Declaration targets as well as contact information for the small civil society-led World AIDS Campaign global office established in Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

Regional consultations on the messaging and strategy for 2005 are underway, and we have begun to develop a campaign toolkit that will be available early next year. We are beginning to create campaign materials for next year, including a 2005 World AIDS Campaign calendar which highlights a key UNGASS message and target each month.

Please let us know of your campaign plans for 2004 and keep your eyes on the UNAIDS campaign webpages

http://www.unaids.org/en/events/campaigns.asp where more material will appear in the coming weeks.


With warm wishes,
The World AIDS Campaign
For more information write to us at wac@unaids.org