Like this article? PLEASE +1 it! Evan Signature
Evan Carmichael Top Header about About Home Profiles articles Tools forums inspirational quotes About facebook Twitter YouTube Blog

microfinance program Tagged Articles



BRAC - Linking Food and Training with Microfinance
BRAC, the world’s largest NGO with a large microfinance program serving more than five million Bangladeshi families, is another example demonstrating that microfinance can and should serve the world’s poorest.

Improving Microfinance as an Anti-Poverty Tool
As Father Joseph Philippe, the co-founder of the Haitian MFI Fonkoze, states: “You can’t just give a woman a loan and then send her on her way - you have to accompany her as she struggles to make her way out of poverty.”

Inhibitors to Success: Health
The loss of income due to sickness and incapacitation of a borrower or a family member, and the high cost of health treatment are detrimental to individuals and families in the developing world. Therefore, it is not surprising that illness and death of family members are among the most common reasons why microfinance participants remain mired in poverty, default on their loans and/or drop out of a microfinance program.

Grameen Foundation partners with local Microfinance Institutions in Rwanda to Relaunch Village Phone Initiative
The Grameen Foundation, a non-profit organization that tries to replicate the Grameen Bank microfinance model around the world through a global network of partner microfinance institutions, is relaunching its Village Phone initiative in Rwanda in collaboration with MTN Rwanda (a telecommunications company). The project, called Village Phone Rwanda Tel’imbere has four local microfinance institutions (MFIs) as partners. The project was initially launched in 2006, after a successful pilot scheme had run for a year.

Other microfinance program Related Articles

4.1 Objectives and Coverage of the Regulatory Framework: Microfinance in Africa - Experience and Lessons from Selected African Countries
Overall, the rationale for microfinance regulation is to create a healthy environment for microfinance activities while not stifling the growth of the sector by imposing undue requirements.

Who are the clients of microfinance? FAQ
The typical microfinance clients are low-income persons that do not have access to formal financial institutions. Microfinance clients are typically self-employed, often household-based entrepreneurs. In rural areas, they are usually small farmers and others who are engaged in small income-generating activities such as food processing and petty trade. In urban areas, microfinance activities are more diverse and include shopkeepers, service providers, artisans, street vendors, etc. Microfinance clients are poor and vulnerable non-poor who have a relatively stable source of income.

Realising the potential of microfinance
Microfinance is a key strategy in reaching the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and in building global financial systems that meet needs of most poor people. Although microfinance has demonstrated the potential to reduce poverty, its impacts have varied. Perhaps as a result of these inconsistencies, few donors have prioritised microfinance in their strategies to achieve the MDGs.

Redefining Microfinance as a Strategy to Achieve the MDGs: International Year of Microcredit Report Advocates Shift from Poverty Alleviation to Wealth Creation
With microfinance gaining attention for its vital role in eradicating poverty, the International Year of Microcredit recently released a report, "Microfinance and the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs): A Reader's Guide to the Millennium Project and Other UN Documents", to provide further background and support for microfinance initiatives.

Inhibitors to Success
At its core, microfinance is not terribly different from mainstream consumer finance. From accessing funding to managing the disbursement and collection of funds, microfinance operates like any consumer finance business. But because microfinance serves a very different client segment – the world’s poor – we cannot ignore the different set of challenges these clients face and the implications these challenges have on the organizations serving them.

Inhibitors to Success: Health
The loss of income due to sickness and incapacitation of a borrower or a family member, and the high cost of health treatment are detrimental to individuals and families in the developing world. Therefore, it is not surprising that illness and death of family members are among the most common reasons why microfinance participants remain mired in poverty, default on their loans and/or drop out of a microfinance program.

BRAC - Linking Food and Training with Microfinance
BRAC, the world’s largest NGO with a large microfinance program serving more than five million Bangladeshi families, is another example demonstrating that microfinance can and should serve the world’s poorest.

Introduction - MicroStart: Finding and Feeding Breakthroughs
UNDP's Special Unit for Microfinance (SUM) commissioned a mid-term evaluation of its MicroStart program to take place in September-October 1999. SUM believed that an evaluation at this time would identify areas for improvement while there was still time to make changes. SUM directed us, as evaluators, to focus on the validity of the assumptions underlying MicroStart and on the processes used to implement it, rather than on the impact of the program.

Is MicroStart a Successful Microfinance Strategy for UNDP?
When MicroStart began, its designers were attempting to develop a program that would fit well with UNDP's strengths and weaknesses. They decided to focus on new institutions, recognizing UNDP's presence in many countries where microfinance was still new, as well as the limits on UNDP's ability to provide grants. In order to compensate for the lack of experience of country office staff, they developed a project blueprint that they hoped would prevent some of the most likely errors UNDP offices with little microfinance background might make.

Citi Foundation Creates $11.2m Program with SEEP Network to Strengthen Trade Associations
The Citi Foundation will work with the Small Enterprise Education and Promotion Network (SEEP) to create the 3-year USD 11.2 million Citi Network Strengthening Program. The program will include 12 major microfinance trade associations and their members. The program’s goal will be to improve the integration of microfinance into the mainstream economies of developing countries. This includes improving participating trade associations’ ability to develop products and services which meet their clients’ needs. In addition, the program seeks to “enhance the industry’s infrastructure, introduce higher standards of management and governance, and promote the vital role of microfinance in providing the poor with access to financial services.”

Featured Article

Bottom Footer



Newsletter

Get advice & tips from famous business
owners, new articles by entrepreneur
experts, my latest website updates, &
special sneak peaks at what's to come!
Name:
Email:
Popular Articles

Death by Micromanagement

Four Secrets to Earning Income as an Author

Tips to Take Control of Credit Card Debt

Suggestions

Email us your ideas on how to make our
website more valuable! Thank you Sharon
from Toronto Salsa Lessons / Classes for
your suggestions to make the newsletter
look like the website and profile younger
entrepreneurs like Jennifer Lopez.