[Congressional Bills 103th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 4511 Introduced in House (IH)]

103d CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 4511

     To amend the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 to authorize the 
Administrator of the United States Agency for International Development 
 to provide assistance for programs of credit and other assistance for 
               microenterprises in developing countries.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                              May 26, 1994

Mr. Gejdenson (for himself, Ms. McKinney, Ms. Cantwell, Mrs. Kennelly, 
  Mrs. Lowey, Mr. Gilman, and Mr. Bereuter) introduced the following 
      bill; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
     To amend the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 to authorize the 
Administrator of the United States Agency for International Development 
 to provide assistance for programs of credit and other assistance for 
               microenterprises in developing countries.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Microenterprise Development Act of 
1994''.

SEC. 2. AUTHORIZATION OF MICROENTERPRISE DEVELOPMENT ASSISTANCE.

    Chapter 1 of part I of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 (22 
U.S.C. 2151 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the following new 
section:
    ``Sec. 129. Microenterprise Development Assistance.--(a) The 
Congress finds the following:
            ``(1) A strong microenterprise sector is a fundamental 
        condition of economic pluralism.
            ``(2) Microenterprise development programs offer an 
        important mechanism to alleviate poverty, develop private 
        enterprise, and create employment.
            ``(3) The very poor, particularly poor women, in the 
        developing world often do not advance economically because they 
        cannot obtain investment capital to secure their asset base or 
        expand their otherwise viable microenterprise activities.
            ``(4) The development of sustainable microenterprise 
        institutions which provide credit, training, and mobilize 
        domestic savings are therefore critical components to a broad-
        based economic growth strategy.
            ``(5) Microenterprise credit also offers a tool to leverage 
        foreign assistance resources because unlike grants credit can 
        be continually recycled generating new benefits to program 
        participants.
            ``(6) Interest income on a credit portfolio can be used to 
        finance recurring costs assuring the long-term continuity of 
        development assistance.
            ``(7) Because microenterpise development credit programs 
        foster self-reliance, such programs reduce the dependency of 
        program participants and indigenous institutions on foreign 
        assistance.
    ``(b) The purposes of this section are--
            ``(1) to provide for the continuation and expansion of the 
        commitment of the United States Agency for International 
        Development to microenterprise development programs;
            ``(2) to make microenterprise development a part of the 
        mainstream of the overall economic growth strategy of the 
        United States Agency for International Development; and
            ``(3) to improve the access of microenterprise credit to 
        the very poor, particularly poor women, in developing 
        countries.
    ``(c)(1) In carrying out this part, the Administrator of the United 
States Agency for International Development is authorized to provide 
assistance for programs of credit and other assistance for 
microenterprises in developing countries.
    ``(2) Assistance authorized under paragraph (1) shall be provided 
through--
            ``(A) United States and indigenous private and voluntary 
        organizations;
            ``(B) United States and indigenous credit unions and 
        cooperative organizations; and
            ``(C) other indigenous governmental and nongovernmental 
        organizations;
that have a capacity to develop and implement microenterprise programs.
    ``(3) A significant portion of assistance authorized under 
paragraph (1) shall be used for poverty lending programs which--
            ``(A) meet the needs of the very poor members of society, 
        particularly poor women; and
            ``(B) provide loans of $300 or less in 1994 United States 
        dollars to such poor members of society.
    ``(4) The Administrator of the United States Agency for 
International Development shall strengthen appropriate mechanisms, 
including mechanisms for central microenterprise programs, for the 
purpose of--
            ``(A) providing technical support for field missions of the 
        United States Agency for International Development;
            ``(B) strengthening the institutional development of the 
        intermediary organizations described in paragraph (2); and
            ``(C) sharing information relating to the provision of 
        assistance authorized under paragraph (1) between such field 
        missions and intermediary organizations.
    ``(d) In order to maximize the sustainable development impact of 
the assistance authorized under subsection (c)(1), the Administrator of 
the United States Agency for International Development shall establish 
a monitoring system that--
            ``(1) establishes performance goals for such assistance and 
        expresses such goals in an objective and quantifiable form, to 
        the extent feasible;
            ``(2) establishes performance indicators to be used in 
        measuring or assessing the achievement of the goals and 
        objectives of such assistance; and
            ``(3) provides a basis for recommendations for adjustments 
        to such assistance to enhance the sustainable development 
        impact of such assistance, particularly the impact of such 
        assistance on the very poor, particularly poor women.''.

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