Microfinance, Innovations, Sustainable Development - Education

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

Gerard — Sun, 02 Jan 2011 20:17:34 GMT

"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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Shanti Microfinance Launches $772K MFI Fund

Gerard — Sat, 01 Jan 2011 02:24:36 GMT

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

Gerard — Sat, 18 Dec 2010 16:56:19 GMT

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

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

Gerard — Thu, 02 Dec 2010 03:09:05 GMT

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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Cyprus : Females in the Arts announce Nicosia Regional Branch

Gerard — Wed, 24 Nov 2010 22:47:28 GMT

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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Big concerns over small loans

Gerard — Sat, 06 Nov 2010 17:03:50 GMT

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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Opportunity International: Giving the Poor a Working Chance

Gerard — Wed, 03 Nov 2010 16:49:10 GMT

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

Gerard — Tue, 02 Nov 2010 22:56:44 GMT

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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Innovating solutions to extreme poverty

Gerard — Sat, 30 Oct 2010 22:02:02 GMT

US$2.3 trillion has been spent by the global North on international aid in the last five decades. Nevertheless, close to half of the world's population still lives in poverty. One in five live in extreme poverty. Aid is not working as well as it should. Unless we can inject the spirit of innovation into this provision, the extreme poor we try to help in places like Bangladesh will continue to remain poor.

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While the current attacks on microfinance are unwarranted, overblown claims about it also need to be tempered

Gerard — Wed, 27 Oct 2010 18:46:26 GMT

Microfinance has had a quick slide down the popularity charts— from being celebrated as a magic wand against poverty to being condemned as a business riddled with loan sharks.

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South India: Samasta Microfinance

Gerard — Sun, 24 Oct 2010 08:46:10 GMT

Samasta Microfinance is a public limited, for profit Non Banking Financial Company, established in March 2008. We offer microfinance solutions to the urban and rural poor in South India, and currently operate in the states of Tamil Nadu and Karnataka. Their aim is to drive social change and be a catalyst for entrepreneurial ambition by providing a host of financial and non-financial products to our members. Their loan products are geared towards income generation supplemented by loans for education and social commitments. Samasta's operations use the Joint Liability Group (JLG) model.

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The International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD)

Gerard — Fri, 22 Oct 2010 07:27:56 GMT

The International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) at Colorado State University provides innovative training in community-based development (online and face-to-face), consultation, evaluation, and project support services for individuals and governmental, international non-governmental, and community-based organizations around the world.

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Village Earth : Sustainable Village Based Development

Gerard — Thu, 21 Oct 2010 07:39:48 GMT

Village Earth's mission is to help reconnect communities to the resources that promote human well-being by enhancing social and political empowerment, community self-reliance and self-determination.

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IFC Partners with Bank Constanta to Strengthen Risk Management Capacity in Georgia

Gerard — Wed, 20 Oct 2010 21:22:14 GMT

IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, will work with Bank Constanta to improve its risk management practices, which will help the bank increase lending to smaller businesses in Georgia. This initiative is part of a broader IFC strategy to strengthen local banks in the aftermath of the global financial crisis.

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Leading private financial institution established in Lao PDR

Gerard — Fri, 15 Oct 2010 21:37:00 GMT

Newton Microfinance Institution is the leading private financial institution in Lao PDR. Their vision is to make sure that every Lao resident not only has access to but also benefits from the financial blessings globally enjoyed. They are installing Internet banking services to their clients in several languages including Lao, English, french, etc.

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Oikocredit wins award for development microfinance

Gerard — Tue, 12 Oct 2010 18:40:08 GMT

Oikocredit, the innovative development financing organisation, has been given an award in recognition of its contribution to socially responsible investing. The award has been made by The Consultative Group to Assist the Poor (CGAP).

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The Asia Social Entrepreneurs of the Year

Gerard — Fri, 01 Oct 2010 21:51:47 GMT

Three Social Entrepreneurs have been recognized as leading social innovators in Asia during the World Economic Forum’s Annual Meeting of the New Champions 2010, Tianjin, People’s Republic of China, 13-15 September.

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Banks encouraged to target small businesses

Gerard — Sat, 18 Sep 2010 04:59:55 GMT

Thirty-five bankers and trainers from 15 institutions in Cambodia, Laos and Viet Nam yesterday participated in a training programme on building sustainable small and medium-sized banking operations in HCM City.

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Microfinance groups help small businesses grow

Gerard — Thu, 05 Aug 2010 18:47:37 GMT

Three years ago, Loretta Nguyen took a business training class and scraped together several thousand dollars to start silk screening T-shirts and hoodies that she initially sold at street fairs and over the Web.

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Mobile payment users seen to reach 109 million

Gerard — Sun, 18 Jul 2010 22:04:04 GMT

Mobile payment users worldwide are forecast to increase 2.1 percent to 109 million by the end of 2010, a US-based research firm said in a report.

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Africa on the cusp of a mobile payments boom

Gerard — Sat, 17 Jul 2010 21:59:18 GMT

Mobile technology has the greatest chance of delivering financial services to Africa’s estimated 325 million low-income, un-banked people. Examples of African financial innovations abound and the results are being felt across the continent, where mobile phone penetration continues to skyrocket. Dianna Games writes about the success stories and the need for investors to think from the ground up.

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Italy offers microfinance expertise to Pacific

Gerard — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 21:18:32 GMT

A renowned microfinance training centre in Italy will welcome representatives from five Pacific Island countries.

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Decoding microfinance

Gerard — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 21:27:49 GMT

He would have been a hardcore banker had he not branched out to microfinance. And that was because “it is a business with a social mission offering double bottom line satisfaction to all stakeholders”. Udaia Kumar, MD Share Microfin Limited Interviewed by Pranab Ghosh, Hindustan Times.

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Nigeria: NAMB wants microfinance banks to patner with credit bureaux

Gerard — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 21:44:03 GMT

Matthias Omeh, president, National Association of Microfinance Banks (NAMB), on Monday advised microfinance banks to partner with credit bureaux to ascertain the status of their customers.

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Ghana: Prestigious US$350,000 Africa Entrepreneurship Prize Launched

Gerard — Sun, 11 Jul 2010 21:54:07 GMT

2010 Legatum Africa Awards to Recognise and Reward Africa's Entrepreneurial Business Leaders. Awards Ceremony to be Hosted in Accra, Ghana

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Unsustainability in Today's Sustainable Development

Gerard — Mon, 05 Jul 2010 20:17:59 GMT

The axiom "give a man a fish, feed him for a day; teach a man to fish, feed him for a lifetime" is widely accepted among the international development community, and for good reason. But taken on its own, this axiom leaves out very important principles.

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How illiterate women became entrepreneurs

Gerard — Sun, 20 Jun 2010 18:53:04 GMT

This is an extraordinary story of women's empowerment in rural India. Women in Satara district in Maharashtra run a bank and a B-school successfully.

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Janta Provides Microfinance Loans for India’s Kids

Gerard — Sat, 19 Jun 2010 18:44:03 GMT

Sunny Mahant had been working as a product marketing manager for nine years at Cisco when he experienced an epiphany on a trip to India. On that trip, Mahant and his wife, photographer Geidre Nakutyte, witnessed firsthand the brutish conditions under which very young children work in India, and the extreme poverty suffered by their families. He came home determined to make a difference in the lives of young Indians.

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Lawyer starts Bad Girl Ventures

Gerard — Thu, 17 Jun 2010 18:36:29 GMT

A 29-year-old lawyer is kicking off a new microfinance organization Tuesday that will help others as she herself was helped.

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Banking on Change Launched in Ghana

Gerard — Wed, 16 Jun 2010 18:39:49 GMT

Barclays and international development organisations CARE International (CARE) and Plan have launched Banking on Change in Ghana, a unique and pioneering microfinance initiative aimed at reaching half a million people in ten countries across the world and sixty three thousand people in Ghana.

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MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Microfinance Association (MA) Launches Global Academy Program (GAP), Seeks Internship Sites for Students

Gerard — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 00:07:22 GMT

The Microfinance Association (MA), an international membership organization for practitioners in the microfinance industry, has launched its Global Academy Program (GAP). The three-month program, developed by MA and Marconi University of Italy, is aimed at graduates seeking to develop a professional career in microfinance or international development.

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What Money Doesn't Buy: Microfinance and Women's Empowerment

Gerard — Fri, 29 May 2009 01:50:20 GMT

Kingsolver, the bestselling author writes of a visit to the rural countryside of Orissa in northeastern India, where she interacted with the Akandalamuni Women's Club, which has 15 members. "Like millions of women in South Asia, they started their own microcredit group. Attending twice-monthly meetings and putting two rupees per month (about four cents) into a joint savings account qualified them for small loans, collateralized by group guarantee. This year they borrowed enough to rent a five-acre plot for growing sugar cane, from which they share the proceeds."

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India : Customised corporate education to yield ''demographic dividend''

Gerard — Mon, 11 May 2009 18:14:55 GMT

A fresher, integrated approach to workplace learning can have a positive role in India's ability to turn its unique demographics into a dividend writes Angie Taras

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Removing Poverty: Shanty by shanty, Morocco works to remove slums

Gerard — Wed, 06 May 2009 19:45:10 GMT

This seaside city is known as a rich stockpile of art deco architecture, the hub of Morocco's economic growth and the setting of an all-time classic movie starring Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman. But Casablanca is also the capital of a bleaker aspect of modern Morocco -- sprawling slums, where huge families are packed into shanties with tin roofs rusted by the ocean winds, and goats and donkeys munch stray garbage.

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India: Training Programme Scaling Micro Insurance in Developing Countries

Gerard — Tue, 05 May 2009 20:54:07 GMT

Microinsurance has been recognized worldwide as a potential instrument for promoting safety nets to extend financial inclusion to poor households. However, contrary to general expectations, micro insurance delivery has not achieved substantial scale as compared to the micro finance movement. Insurers in India operate in a regulatory environment that requires them to achieve priority sector targets and meet rural and social sector obligations. Though, there clearly exists an untapped and largely unexplored market for insurance in India, the ability of risk carriers to operate microinsurance schemes viably is constrained by the lack of reliable data and the absence of alternate means of risk assessment. Adequate emphasis on research and development of suitable risk management systems is critical to make markets work for the poor.

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European Microfinance Platform

Gerard — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 20:12:38 GMT

The European Microfinance Platform [e-MFP] was founded formally in 2006. They are a growing network of approximately 100 organisations and individuals active in the area of microfinance. Their principal objective is to promote co-operation amongst European microfinance bodies working in developing countries, by facilitating communication and the exchange of information. They are a multi-stakeholder organisation representative of the European microfinance community. e-MFP members include banks, financial institutions, government agencies, NGOs, consultancy firms, researchers and universities.

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Cameroon: Microfinance Workers Upgrade Skills

Gerard — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 21:46:46 GMT

The National Employment Fund wants to improve the performance of microfinance institutions in Cameroon, considering the role the sector plays in the country's economy. A workshopo was organised to that effect yesterday in Yaounde to build the capacity of workers and render the sector more productive.

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Helping: Microcredit program gives people chance to better their lives

Gerard — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 22:45:17 GMT

Microcredit programs throughout the world are a means of giving low-income, even very poor, families a way to earn their own money and work their way out of poverty. These programs in Guam give small loans, or other financial services, for people who want to run their own small business, according to the Microcredit Summit Campaign.

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A star is born...

Gerard — Sun, 01 Feb 2009 23:56:40 GMT

Welcome to this blog about Microfinance, Innovations and Sustainable Development

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