Microfinance, Innovations, Sustainable Development

World Council of Credit Unions

2011-01-11T16:52:55.246-07:00

World Council of Credit Unions (WOCCU) is the leading international trade association and development agency for credit unions. WOCCU promotes the sustainable development of credit unions and other financial cooperatives around the world to empower people through access to high quality and affordable financial services. WOCCU advocates on behalf of the global credit union system before international organizations and works with national governments to improve legislation and regulation. Its technical assistance programs introduce new tools and technologies to strengthen credit unions' financial performance and increase their outreach.

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World Concern: Reaching 153,000 AIDS orphans

2011-01-10T10:59:45.167-07:00

While it's sometimes hard to quantify success, one thing is certain – the ripple effect and long-term effects of good development work impact more people for generations to come than any of us will know.

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GCC companies need to focus more on innovation management for business success

2011-01-09T10:40:02.01-07:00

Many GCC businesses are struggling during these tough economic times and are even missing an opportunity to grow, because they are not focusing sufficiently on Innovation Management says an expert in the UAE.

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Nigeria's top banker wins international recognition

2011-01-06T12:21:56.637-07:00

Nigeria is frequently cited as one of the most corrupt countries in the world, but its central banker has won two international banking awards. Mallam Lamido Aminu Sanusi has been named as the Central Bank Governor of 2010 for both the African continent and the entire world, by the prestigious Banker Magazine.

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Three Innovation Takeaways from Asia

2011-01-06T02:18:29.136-07:00

The West is overly discounting Asia's growth potential. Innovation has never been more accessible. We're on the verge of a golden age of innovation. The human side of innovation must be addressed. More focus must go to solving the first mile problem... Written by Scott Anthony from Singapore

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2010: Rapidly developing countries are innovation champions

2011-01-05T02:04:03.361-07:00

Top emerging economies are forging research collaborations to help the less well-off. The idea that poorer countries should catch up economically with wealthier ones before spending heavily on R&D was challenged by a report released last week. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) report contradicts theories widely held by development professionals and international organizations such as the World Bank.

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Afganistan: Microfinance faces hurdles in empowering women

2011-01-04T01:42:42.128-07:00

More than 1.5mn loans worth $831mn have been given out in the past seven years, said the Microfinance Investment Support Facility for Afghanistan (MISFA), which was set up by the government in 2003 to coordinate the sector. Thirty years of conflict have shattered Afghanistan’s economy and infrastructure, leaving two-thirds of the roughly 30mn population illiterate and at least a third in dire poverty.

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India's Poor Reel Under Microfinance Debt Burden

2011-01-03T01:19:30.836-07:00

One of the most popular programs for helping the world's poor has gone sour in India. Microcredit, the practice of making small loans to very poor people, grew into a multibillion-dollar business. But microfinance companies have been accused of predatory lending and collection practices so harsh that they drove some borrowers to suicide. One state government in India has enacted legislation that will, in effect, put the microlenders out of business.

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Sri Lanka: Harassment of women will be eradicated - Minister Tissa Karalliyadde

2011-01-02T13:17:34.283-07:00

"Harassment of women and domestic violence goes back to centuries. It continues to be in force today in many parts of the world including Sri Lanka. It must be eliminated at all costs" said Child Development and Women Affairs Minister Tissa Karalliyadde addressing the Asian Forum of Parliamentarians on Population and Development (AFPPD) held in Port Macquarie, Australia on the theme 'Prevention of violence against women'.

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Good News Bank Story? Global Sustainable Banking Network Expands

2011-01-02T01:11:31.77-07:00

The Global Alliance for Banking on Values, a network of the world's leading sustainable banks, announces four new members today from South America, North America, and Europe. The banks join nine founding banks committed to building a better financial future in challenging times.

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International Financial Corporation (IFC) to Provide Assistance to Crisis Hit Microfinance Sector

2011-01-01T12:54:41.35-07:00

In an attempt to revive the crisis struck Microfinance sector, the International Financial Corporation, IFC a private sector arm of the World Bank Group is exploring avenues to facilitate fund flows to MFIs. This is an important development in the wake of the industry suffering continuous setbacks.

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Shanti Microfinance Launches $772K MFI Fund

2010-12-31T19:24:36.092-07:00

Shanti Microfinance, a not-for-profit organization, is raising a $772,000 (£500,000) fund backed by UK and Silicon Valley entrepreneurs and venture capitalists. The firm has already disbursed £10k (USD) and plans to start its operations in Gujarat before moving to Mumbai next year.

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Why biodiversity loss and climate change are equal threats

2010-12-30T09:56:47.106-07:00

Our biggest ally will be lost if we do not protect and enhance biodiversity in forests and other systems. Since the Rio Earth Summit in 1992, the media and many organisations have pursued as separate narratives the issues of climate, biodiversity and sustainable development. One of the changes this year, at a UN level, has been recognition that this does not make sense.

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Global launch of GEO Legacy Guidance for sustainable golf development

2010-12-29T09:40:57.802-07:00

The Golf Environment Organization's GEO Legacy Guidance launched to widespread acclaim following previews at the Asia Pacific Golf Summit in Bangkok and the European Golf Course Owners Association Conference in London.

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Developing Countries Get Grants for Sustainable Development

2010-12-28T09:31:09.692-07:00

The Environmental Economics Unit at the School of Business, Economics and Law at the University of Gothenburg is being granted SEK 73 million from the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida), to continue to support six environmental economics research centres in Africa, Central America and China for the period 2011-2014.

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Technology: IBM predicts five big tech innovations coming by 2015

2010-12-27T09:21:00.817-07:00

IBM unveils its fifth annual "Next Five in Five" -- a list of innovations with the potential to change the way people work, live and play over the next five years. The Next Five in Five is based on market and societal trends expected to transform our lives, as well as emerging technologies from IBM's Labs around the world that can make these innovations possible.

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Kiva.org and KIEDF Partner to Bring Online Microfinance to Israel

2010-12-26T09:00:19.724-07:00

Kiva, the world's first personal micro-lending website, has teamed with KIEDF (Koret Israel Economic Development Funds) to launch its first and only partnership with an Israeli microfinance institution. This alliance will allow individuals anywhere to make small loans through the Kiva website to Bedouin women of the Negev, Arab Israelis in northern Israel, and other low-income populations throughout Israel.

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Wokai: Contributing to Microfinance in China

2010-12-25T14:47:07.04-07:00

Wokai is an organization that allows people to contribute directly to microfinance institutions in China, which in turn lend the money to entrepreneurs in rural China. It is a non-profit organization based in Oakland, with core operations in Beijing, supported by individual donors, corporate sponsors, fundraising events and grants.

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Opinions: How Microfinance Lost its Soul

2010-12-23T09:46:20.346-07:00

Microfinance has lost its soul. Six fundamental shifts in the practice of microfinance have left it operating more like a for-profit bank and less like an innovative pro-poor movement.

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Ireland: Number of children living in poverty up

2010-12-22T10:01:10.511-07:00

The numbers of children experiencing consistent poverty increased last year for the first time since 2006, according to the State of the Nation’s Children report

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Lao stock exchange to begin trading on January 11 and get its first IPOs launch

2010-12-21T18:13:34.682-07:00

The Lao Securities Exchange is scheduled to start trading the shares of two state enterprises on January 11, state media reports said Wednesday.

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Opinion: The Myths Behind Microfinance

2010-12-21T09:40:31.089-07:00

Debate over the value of microfinance in the developing world appears to be long overdue. Arguments against microfinance center around the claim that it is a development strategy increasingly forced on the poor, and that those who are claimed to benefit from it the most--poor women--are actually its chief victims. Critics have long sought a platform to reveal the weaknesses and explode the myths supporting microfinance.

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Analysis: Microfinance and financial inclusion

2010-12-19T17:51:59.699-07:00

Microfinance has come under attack in south Asia. Politicians have lined up to attack the industry – whose practitioners make small loans, generally to impecunious rural borrowers – as a racket that preys on poor people. Microfinance brings a crucial service to poor people. Rather than being attacked, it should be helped to do an even better job of assisting them to assert their financial autonomy.

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Facebook for farmers: Technology empowers China's rural workers

2010-12-19T14:12:34.265-07:00

China Mobile's Nongxintong - or farming information service - launched four years ago. The company is currently focusing on expanding its delivery in China's west and south-west regions. "Building the mobile network and covering most of the country's administrative villages, we realised that there was only a network signal. In rural areas, this is not enough," explains Liu Jing, a local manager for the service at China Mobile.

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Nearly half of elderly in U.S. will face poverty

2010-12-18T09:56:19.253-07:00

64.6% of black Americans and 32.7% whites will face poverty, study says

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World Bank: Hydropower helps Laos government

2010-12-17T13:48:48.589-07:00

The government in Laos has funneled revenue generated from electricity sales from a hydroelectric plant to the public sector, the World Bank said.

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Waste as energy - a key trend for the sustainable industry in 2011

2010-12-16T13:45:39.765-07:00

Cascadia Capital, an investment bank serving both public and private growth companies around the world, has published its predictions for sustainable industries in 2011. One of the four predictions is that waste-to-energy technologies will grow and become part of mainstream society.

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ADB’s $250 million risk programme to help expand microfinance to poor

2010-12-15T18:32:06.611-07:00

The Board of directors of the Asian Development Bank’s (ADB) has approved a Microfinance Risk Participation Programme, marking ADB’s first large scale private sector microfinance initiative.

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Asian Development Bank allots $10 M to microfinance, SMEs

2010-12-15T13:38:03.199-07:00

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) will provide up to $10 million for a private equity fund that aims to expand microfinance and small bank lending to poor, underserved groups across the region.

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Muhammad Yunus: Microfinance Guru under Pressure

2010-12-14T13:29:39.5872749-07:00

Nobel Peace Prize laureate Muhammad Yunus is under pressure after critics accused him of misusing development aid. The father of microfinance told SPIEGEL ONLINE the allegations are "a total fabrication."

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Nigeria: NDIC to prosecute MDs of failed microfinance banks

2010-12-13T13:19:48.008-07:00

The Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation , NDIC, has commenced the compilation of the list of Managing Directors and top management staff of the failed microfinance banks whose licences were recently withdrawn by the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, with a view to prosecuting them.

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G20, Basel III and Its Implications for the World Banking System

2010-12-12T13:57:58.1-07:00

The Group of 20 Summit scheduled for November in Seoul will provide a forum for a wide range of economic and fiscal issues, ranging from World Bank governance to fossil fuel subsidies.

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Omidyar Network Supports Innovations in Mobile Technology With Grant to Praekelt Foundation in Africa

2010-12-08T19:49:56.679-07:00

Omidyar Network announced an $825,000 grant to Praekelt Foundation to support its pioneering use of mobile technology to drive positive social change. Funded through Omidyar Network's Government Transparency investment area, the grant will be used to extend the Foundation's mobile technology platforms across Africa. Built to take advantage of rapidly growing mobile penetration throughout the continent, these mobile platforms will provide the technological foundation and infrastructure for a variety of initiatives focusing on healthcare, education, human rights and government transparency initiatives.

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World Bank chief to launch carbon market fund

2010-12-07T13:55:04.24-07:00

World Bank President Robert Zoellick is set to launch a new multi-million dollar fund in Mexico on Wednesday to help emerging market countries set up their own carbon markets, the bank said on Tuesday.

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Facebook co-founder Chris Hughes launches Jumo, social network for social activism

2010-12-01T20:09:05.228-07:00

Hughes, who left Facebook in 2007 to become the Obama campaign's director of online organizing, soft-launched Jumo last March. Jumo was designed to let users find, follow and support the causes important to them, and with 3,500 organizations on board at launch, would-be philanthropists should be able to find and follow something of interest upon joining.

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New Evaluation Finds Microfinance Operations Have Had Difficulty in Reaching the Very Poor

2010-11-29T13:18:46.263-07:00

A meta-evaluation on microfinance released by the Evaluation Cooperation Group of international financial institutions reports that microfinance operations have had difficulty in reaching the very poor.

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An appeal from Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales

2010-11-27T14:30:26.2187373-07:00

Jimmy Wales founder of Wikipedia is appealing for donations to support the activity of the open encyclopedia

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Google: New Internet Traffic Record

2010-11-26T14:43:13.525-07:00

The internet is growing fast, but Google is growing even faster. According to online security company Arbor Networks, Google now represents an average 6.4 percent of all internet traffic. This is a new record for Google, as it gained more than 1 percent of all internet traffic share since January. Now, only one global ISP handles more traffic, and a lot of that traffic is Google's traffic, anyway. The number is even more incredible if you consider that internet traffic is growing at a staggering 40 to 45 percent each year, and Google is still gaining market share.

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Zambia: Gender and Rural Finance workshop at Lusaka

2010-11-25T14:57:14.536-07:00

The grant funded a one day workshop in Lusaka to look at gender issues in rural microfinance programmes. 43 people participated in the workshop, including managers and gender specialists from government ministries, financial institutions, community based organizations and NGOs, donors and colleges. There was also participation from IFAD and FAO.

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Cyprus : Females in the Arts announce Nicosia Regional Branch

2010-11-24T15:47:28.319-07:00

Since the launch of FITA in January 2010, the Group has rapidly expanded with new Members teaming-up together to generate awareness in Cyprus of female artists, artisans and designers.

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University of North Carolina: Simulcast lectures broaden microfinance horizon

2010-11-24T15:35:39.243-07:00

Using Skype as a medium, a lecture at the University of California at Berkeley’s Haas School of Business was broadcast to UNC students along with students at other schools. The streamed lecture was part of an ongoing series that allows students to have access to the most prominent minds in microfinance.

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Microfinance: Little loans, big trouble

2010-11-24T15:27:39.255-07:00

Microfinance was supposed to mean economic empowerment for the poorest of the poor, many of them female villagers living in India's southeastern state of Andhra Pradesh. Instead, the sector has spiralled into crisis in recent weeks, where the state is blaming 57 recent suicides on aggressive loan collectors.

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ADB to improve dengue, disease monitoring in three Mekong countries

2010-11-23T16:04:53.698-07:00

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) is extending $49 million to expand surveillance response systems to help control dengue outbreaks, and prevent the spread of communicable and tropical diseases in Cambodia, Lao PDR, and Viet Nam. The Second Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) Regional Communicable Diseases Control Project, which is an offshoot of the first GMS Regional Communicable Diseases Control Project, will also target improvements in the capacity of health services and communities involved in disease control in border districts of the three countries.

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Opportunity International Encourages Citizen Diplomacy and Economic Empowerment

2010-11-20T15:17:24.287-07:00

Claudia Kennedy, Member of Opportunity's Board of Advisors and First Woman U.S. Army Lieutenant General, Encourages Individuals to Recognize Their Power to Improve People's Lives Around the World.

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Microfinance India: Is Capping Interest Rates the Only Solution?

2010-11-18T20:39:54.153-07:00

Capping microfinance interest rates will hurt the poor. There are better ways to regulate the industry.

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China: Postal Savings Bank's Microfinance

2010-11-17T20:53:51.194-07:00

Rural credit is changing the face of the Chinese countryside. The need for financing in rural areas is growing, but capital is still flowing out of the rural market. The Postal Savings Bank of China has provided us with a case to consider when pondering how rural microfinance can provide a sustainable business model.

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Lebanon: ranks 49th globally for microfinance environment

2010-11-15T20:58:56.671-07:00

The Economist Intelligence Unit’s Global Microfinance Index ranked Lebanon in 49th place among 54 countries worldwide and in last place among 14 countries in the Middle East and Africa (MENA) in terms of the environment for microfinance.

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Microfinance & Women's Empowerment: The Magic Ingredient?

2010-11-09T14:32:40.559-07:00

Microfinance programmes are currently being promoted as a key strategy for simultaneously addressing both poverty alleviation and women's empowerment. Where financial service provision leads to the setting up or expansion of micro-enterprises there are a range of potential impacts. A Briefing Paper by Linda Mayoux.

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WAM: Women Advancing Microfinance International

2010-11-08T14:21:32.858-07:00

WAM began in 2003 after women professionals in the microfinance industry, most of them based in Washington, DC, began meeting, at first informally in each others' homes. This growing group of WAM Founders came together to discuss areas of common concern, to decide if a more formal organization made sense, to explore what such an organization might do to support women who work in the microfinance industry and, ultimately, to support the development of the industry itself. After several months of planning and program design, WAM was formally launched in October 2003. Membership has grown steadily since.

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LemonWay: Exploring new ways to bank

2010-11-08T01:59:15.752-07:00

Lemon Way is an Independent Software Vendor that helps banks build a differentiated competitive advantage with innovating solutions based on mobile devices or TV channels. The software suite Wonderbank enables banks to provide their customers robust, secure, transactional solutions for routine and advanced banking enquiries.

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For the unbanked, is mobile money cheap enough?

2010-11-07T01:53:33.308-07:00

Claudia McKay and Mark Pickens from CGAP have pulled together a comprehensive global pricing study on banking services targeting poor, unbanked and underbanked people in Africa, Asia and Brazil. The study examines pricing for services targeting unbanked and underbanked poor people in 10 countries. The conclusion: mobile banking and other forms of branchless banking are cheaper than traditional banking, but the gap between the two may not be as wide as some may think.

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Big concerns over small loans

2010-11-06T10:03:50.465-07:00

The recent controversy surrounding the microfinance sector has entirely eclipsed the fact that it is the first effort in India to have delivered financial services to remote corners of the country in a self-sustaining manner. The stakes are high for India’s poor, and we have to pave the way for orderly growth in the sector. Here is our view on some key issues that have featured in the current debate.

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Europe: Google, Facebook to face tougher EU privacy rules

2010-11-05T10:18:50.145-07:00

The European Union (EU) wants stronger privacy rules to give Internet users more control over how social-networking sites such as Facebook, or search engines such as Google use their personal information.

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Rise of the social entrepreneur

2010-11-04T09:58:50.675979-07:00

rise of entrepreneurial innovations that use mainstream financial instruments to facilitate social development. Corporate social investment (CSI) experts predict that a growing merger between social entrepreneurship and CSI will be one of the world's top trends in the future.

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Opportunity International: Giving the Poor a Working Chance

2010-11-03T09:49:10.862-07:00

Opportunity co-founder and former president of Bristol Myers International Corporation, the late Al Whittaker, encountered poverty as he travelled throughout the world in the 1960’s and 70’s. He asked the people he met: “What do you need?” They replied: "Work. With jobs, we will solve our own problems."

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Probanx - Core Banking Software - Microfinance Software

2010-11-02T15:56:44.341-07:00

Probanx Information Systems specializes in development of software for the financial institutions, offering multi-currency and multi-lingual banking systems with a large variety of modules, based on the latest technologies. We install and support turn-key international Banking Software and Microfinance Software solutions for retail banks, commercial banks, Internet banks and microfinance banks.

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Middle East And North Africa "Social Entrepreneurs Of The Year"

2010-11-01T14:38:14.945-07:00

Two Social Entrepreneurs one from Morocco and one from Tunisia - were recognized as leading social innovators during a plenary session at the World Economic Forum on the Middle East and North Africa, Marrakech, Morocco on 26 October. The awards were conferred by Hilde Schwab, Co-Founder and Chairperson of the Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship.

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Can microfinance programs heal rape victims in Congo?

2010-10-31T10:30:12.832-07:00

Microfinance programs geared toward African women can actually help heal victims of rape the same way that psychological counseling does – by restoring self-respect.

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Azerbaijan familiarizes with best practice for successful transformation of microfinance organizations into bank

2010-10-31T09:47:11.135-07:00

The International Financial Corporation (IFC), entering into the World Bank (WB) Group, together with the Financial Commission on Regulation of Mongolia and Micro-Finance Development Fund (MFDF) has organized awareness-raising tour to Mongolia on studying of legislative practice on microfinancing for regulators from Azerbaijan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan.

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