As the official international relief and development agency of the US Catholic community, CRS aids the poor and the disadvantaged by first providing direct assistance where needed and then encouraging them to help with their own development. CRS capitalizes on micro-finance to provide the self-employed poor, especially women, with access to reliable financial services. CRS, which has undertaken USAID-funded projects under the matching-grant program, concentrates its efforts on transforming profitable micro-finance programs into specialized micro-finance institutions. Its micro-finance programs have reached over 307,000 clients (of whom 84% are women) in 33 countries in Africa, Middle East, Asia, Europe, Latin American and the Caribbean.