Speaker Biography

Craig Churchill, ILO, Switzerland

Craig Churchill joined the ILO’s Social Finance Programme in 2001. Craig has more than a decade of microfinance experience in both developed and developing countries including Get Ahead Foundation in South Africa, ACCION International, the MicroFinance Network, and Calmeadow. In his current position, he focuses primarily on the role of financial services that the poor can use to manage risks and reduce their vulnerability, including microinsurance and emergency loans. He serves of the Chair of the CGAP Working Group on Microinsurance, and on the Editorial Boards of the MicroBanking Bulletin and the Journal of Microfinance. Craig has authored and edited over 30 articles, papers and monographs on various microfinance topics including microinsurance, customer loyalty, organizational development, governance, lending methodologies, and regulation and supervision. Some of his publications include:

• “Making Insurance Work for Microfinance Institutions: A technical guide to developing and delivering microinsurance,” Geneva: ILO (2003), with Dominic Liber, Michael McCord, and James Roth.
• “New Directions in Poverty Finance: Village Banking Revisited,” Washington DC: The SEEP Network (2002), with Madeline Hirschland and Judith Painter.
• “Building Customer Loyalty,” Washington DC: MicroFinance Network Technical Guide No. 2 (2001) with Sahra Halpern.
• “CARE’s Microfinance Risk Management Handbook,” New York: PACT Publications (2001) with Daniel Coster.
• “Client-focused Lending: The Art of Individual Microlending,” Toronto: Calmeadow (1999).
• “Providing Insurance to Low-income Households: Part I – A Primer on Insurance Principles and Products,” USAID’s Microenterprise Best Practices Project (1999) with Warren Brown.
• “Regulation and Supervision of Microfinance Institutions: Experience from Latin America, Asia and Africa,” Washington DC: MicroFinance Network Occasional Paper No. 1 (1997) with Shari Berenbach.
• “Managing Growth: The Organizational Architecture of Microfinance Institutions,” USAID’s Microenterprise Best Practices Project (1997).
• “Get Ahead Foundation’s Stokvel Lending Programme’s Loan Officer Training Curriculum,” (1995) with Yvonne Radinku.