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UNITED NATIONS CAPITAL DEVELOPMENT FUND Microfinance |
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Links New publications and web sites for your information: Microfinance in the Arab States: Building Inclusive Financial Sectors published by the UN Capital Development Fund is the third in a series of publications documenting the state of microfinance in the Arab States Region and tracking the development of the industry over the short time it has been functioning in this area. The survey attempts to map out the major suppliers of microfinance in the region and highlight the challenges and opportunities present for developing a mature industry. The first survey was undertaken in the region in 1999; since then, microfinance has evolved in the Arab States from a nascent sector to a fledgling industry. Over the past four years, there have been some significant changes, as well as some areas in need of further development. The microfinance industry’s outreach into the Arab world has almost quintupled in size since 1999, going from 129,000 active borrowers at the end of 1999 to more than 710,000 at the end of 2003. The full text is available at: http://www.uncdf.org/english/microfinance/books/arab_states.php While there are enough books about microfinance geared at development experts to fill a small library, Naoko Felder-Kuzu, an independent financial consultant who serves on the Advisory Board of Blue Orchard S.A., hopes to fill a niche with the publication of Making Sense: Microfinance and Microfinance Investments, directed especially at the financial industry. The book gives a simple explanation of microfinance basics and provides suggestions on how to become involved in the microfinance revolution. The first part of the book focuses on Felder-Kuzu’s personal microfinance experience, using real cases to illustrate how profoundly it can change both developing communities and individual careers within development. The second part of the book is an analytical overview of the industry. The book discusses the flow of money in the industry, the ongoing efforts to accurately measure social returns, methods for bridging the gap between microfinance and mainstream financial markets, current investment vehicles and industry trends. For researchers attempting cross-cultural or regional comparisons, the development of the Microfinance Regulation and Supervision Site on microfinance laws in 50 countries is a welcome advancement. The Consultative Group to Assist the Poor (CGAP) is collaborating with IRIS, a University of Maryland research institute with a background in microfinance regulatory issues, to create an online database providing country-specific information and reference tools on regulation and supervision. Available at http://www.cgap.org/regsup/aboutprofiles.shtml, the resource offers a great deal of useful information for development experts applying their expertise to new regulatory environments. Additionally, there are convenient links to country indicators, country-specific websites and prominent regional microfinance organizations and centers. The resource center will ultimately feature a searchable database that will facilitate cross-country comparisons, as well as a detailed bibliography and policy-related links and documents. Customer service comes to microfinance through the “Pro-Consumer Pledge” recently signed by the Accion Network to bring better than ever service to microfinance clients around the world. The Pro-Consumer Pledge is based on providing high-quality service, creating fair and transparent pricing schemes, avoiding over-indebtedness, collecting debt appropriately, maintaining customer privacy, and ensuring ethical staff behavior, among other principles. By signing this pledge, Accion agrees that its network members will adhere to and enforce these principles. Accion members are invited to join the network based on a stringent review process; to date, there are 20 members from 16 African, American and Caribbean countries. Fast Company magazine called Accion one of the top 20 organizations “changing our world” in 2004. For more information, visit http://www.accion.org In preparation of the International Year of Microcredit 2005, the international development finance institution Oikocredit and the largest Protestant donor organisation in the Netherlands, ICCO, launched the publication "Microcredit, Sound Business or Development Instrument" during a CGAP expert meeting on Friday 8 October 2004 in Paris, France. The book, written by Gert van Maanen from the Netherlands, collects his extensive experiences with and opinions about the role of microfinance for development, as lived through his years as Oikocredit Managing Director, member of the Executive Board of ING Bank and vice-chairman of ICCO. It presents an important contribution to today's global debate about the challenges microfinance faces in the fight against poverty. Additional information is available at http:www.oikocredit.org Tamil Nadu is one of India’s poorest regions—and one of its least accessible. Yet earlier this year, a physically disabled Tamil Nadu resident was able to use a local Internet kiosk to order a wheelchair through India’s government assistance programs. In minutes, his quality of life was greatly improved. The recent merger between Grameen Foundation-USA and Digital Partners, a Seattle-based nonprofit focusing on information and communications technology for development, will improve the lives of people in some of the world’s most disadvantaged environments. The merger promises to advance both groups’ strategies of using emerging technologies to help the poor improve their livelihoods through a broader selection of financial development products. The new partnership will initially be focused on developing sustainable market-based solutions for GF-USA’s Village Computing Project in India. The village computing kiosks created through this project are themselves franchise businesses run by the families of microfinance beneficiaries. The last year has been one of the toughest in Haitian history. A violent political coup d’etat was followed by a torrential hurricane season; the nation’s economy continues to be the poorest in the Western hemisphere, and HIV infection rates are among the world’s highest. To help the country’s fortunes change, seasoned development practitioners from Asia, Africa, and Latin America will gather in Haiti from 14 to 17 November to work on decreasing the economic dependency of Haiti’s most vulnerable citizens. Fonkoze, Haiti’s largest microfinance institution, and Zanmi Lasante, Haiti’s leading non-governmental rural health care provider, hope this synergy will produce meaningful results for Haiti’s poor. “I am tired of bringing people on the edge of death from tuberculosis, AIDS or other diseases to the point where they can become economically active, then watching them suffer because they have no way to make a living,” says Dr. Paul Farmer, founder of Zanmi Lasate. The practitioners realize the impact that microfinance can have on the poor, but are realistic about Haiti’s capacity to handle this approach at this point in time. “Microfinance is a way out of poverty for those ready to participate,” says Anne Hastings, Fonkoze’s director. “But those in extreme poverty are not yet ready. Getting them ready is our challenge.” During the summit, participants
will immerse themselves in the reality of Haiti’s situation, with an aim
toward applying this understanding toward intensive working sessions that simultaneously
draw on the group’s diverse and rich cross-cultural experiences. For more
information on the Haiti summit, visit http://www.fonkoze.org/summit.htm
and http://www.pih.org.
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