Launched in 1997, MCS “brings together microcredit practitioners, advocates, educational institutions, donor agencies, international financial institutions, non-governmental organizations and others involved with microcredit to promote best practices in the field, to learn from each other, and to work towards reaching [their shared] goal.”  MCS’ initial goal was to “reach 100 million of the world’s poorest families, especially the women of those families, with credit for self-employment and other financial and business services by the year 2005.”  MCS has since extended its activities and focuses on two goals:
1.    “Working to reach 175 million of the world's poorest families by the end of 2015.
2.    Working to ensure that 100 million of the world's poorest families move from below US$1 a day adjusted for purchasing power parity (PPP) to above US$1 a day adjusted for PPP by the end of 2015.”  

Since MCS’ launch, Freedom from Hunger’s staff have spoken and served on multiple panels at annual MCS conferences, addressing issues such as:  integrated microfinance and health education, poverty measurement, and credit unions and microfinance.  In addition, Dr. Christopher Dunford, President of Freedom from Hunger, has written several papers for MCS—notably, Building Better Lives: Sustainable Integration of Microfinance and Education in Health, Family Planning and HIV/AIDS Prevention for the Poorest Entrepreneurs.