In this issue
- Five-Year Anniversary of Tsunami Marks Milestone for Grameen Foundation
- Bankers Without Borders Volunteer Helps Haitian MFI Programs Increase Impact
- World Wide Web Foundation Visits Grameen Foundation’s Application Laboratory (AppLab) in Uganda
- Grameen Foundation, Oxfam America Climate Change Report Offers Recommendations to MFIs and Clients
- Grameen Foundation, Microsoft Initiative Will Use Technology to Help MFIs Reach More Poor People
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Connections
Fall 2009 Edition of Grameen Connections is Now Available Online
http://gfusa.convio.net/site/R?i=FxA1FuT8R_1w7Z-pYuG0eg..
Watch Alex Counts discuss microfinance live on CSPAN's Washington
Journal, Weds, Dec 23, 9:30 am (EST)
Five-Year Anniversary of Tsunami Marks Milestone for Grameen
Foundation, Mitra Dhuafa Impact in Aceh
Aceh, Indonesia
December 26, 2009, marks the fifth anniversary of the Indian Ocean
tsunami. The disaster killed 225,000 people and devastated communities
off the coast of Sumatra, Indonesia. Two-thirds of these deaths
occurred in Aceh, a province in the northern tip of Sumatra.
In 2005, Grameen Foundation began its program in Aceh to support
long-term economic recovery. We partnered with a new
microfinance institution (MFI), Mitra Dhuafa, providing technical
support and over $2 million in funding to grow the MFI and expand
their outreach. In the four years of our partnership, they opened 10
new branches and reached over 16,000 clients—the largest
outreach of any MFI in the province. The success of our combined
efforts has allowed women like Ibu Hamidah, who lost her four
children, her home, and her family’s thriving tackle shop
business to the disaster, to overcome incredible odds and rebuild
their lives and the lives of their families. Her family’s new
shop earns them about $50 a day, and they aspire to recapture the
success their business enjoyed before the tsunami.
Mitra Dhuafa clients have repayment rates of about 98 percent,
compared to an average of about 60 percent in the area. Hamidah has
received six loans totaling $1,500, each with an incremental increase,
all which she repaid in six months.
Throughout our partnership, we have witnessed the Mitra Dhuafa’s
tremendous growth. The MFI has leveraged our support to access funding
from other donors, which has enabled them to expand. The MFI now has
21 branches and 26,000 clients throughout Indonesia.
2004-2009 Tsunami Initiative
http://gfusa.convio.net/site/R?i=9mIhEx5EG4MH3Q4A2kmLHQ..
Bankers Without Borders Volunteer Helps Haitian MFIs Increase Impact
BWB Volunteer
Eric Nelson, a Bankers without Borders® volunteer and former
executive at Capital One, visited our MFI partner Fonkoze in Haiti in
August to help them determine how their programs could better serve
clients. He met with clients of one such program, Chemin Lavi Miyo (or
Pathway to a Better Life), in which they are given assets such as
chickens or goats as well as intensive one-on-one training in business
development and self-esteem. Grameen Foundation hopes to replicate
these programs throughout the region to enable more MFIs to reach more
of the poorest women.
World Wide Web Foundation Visits Grameen Foundation’s
Application Laboratory (AppLab) in Uganda
Photo Credit World Wide Web Foundation
In November and December, Tim Berners-Lee, founder of the internet and
of the World Wide Web Foundation, and staffers got the chance to
visit Grameen Foundation’s Application Laboratory (AppLab) in
Uganda and observe our Community Knowledge Worker (CKW) Initiative.
The CKW Initiative, which is supported by a grant from the Bill &
Melinda Gates Foundation, explores how locally-based individuals
equipped with mobile phones can serve as “trusted
intermediaries” for small farmers. The World Wide Web
Foundation’s visit was part of a larger tour of Africa during
which the organization explored how the web can empower the people of
Africa and gained a better understanding of the barriers to technology
these people face.
Photo Credit: World Wide Web Foundation
Read the World Wide Web Foundation’s blog
http://gfusa.convio.net/site/R?i=YAitJz3ffPaqcdtT54eGhQ..
Grameen Foundation, Oxfam America Climate Change Report Offers
Recommendations to MFIs and Clients
Climate Change
Grameen Foundation and Oxfam America released a report examining the
critical role MFIs can play in mitigating the impact of climate change
on poor people. Written by Asif Dowla, a noted microfinance expert and
professor of economics at St. Mary’s College in Maryland, the
report, “Climate Change and Microfinance,” points to key
poverty-related issues. Noting the active role MFIs already play in
poor communities around the globe, the report highlights challenges
facing them, particularly those working in agricultural regions, and
provides recommendations for “climate-proofing” their
existing services, including offering insurance for the most
vulnerable activities. “Despite the enormity of the problem, the
microfinance community has been largely silent about climate change,
except for some initiatives focused on green microfinance,”
Dowla said.
Read the report
http://gfusa.convio.net/site/R?i=Mf-t744gcflh2ClAxP7m2w..
Read Asif’s blog post
http://gfusa.convio.net/site/R?i=jZJQacaxJSXRCFJ_bwu43Q..
View Asif’s podcast
http://gfusa.convio.net/site/R?i=2nTPbDF4uFsMhbbjJb9BJw..
Grameen Foundation, Microsoft Initiative Will Use Technology to Help
MFIs Reach More Poor People
Grameen Foundation and Microsoft Corp. have announced a joint
initiative to help accelerate microfinance’s impact on poverty
alleviation through the strategic use of technology. This initiative
kicked off on Dec. 2 at the inaugural Microfinance Leadership Summit
in Manila, the Philippines, where Microsoft donated software worth up
to US$1 million to eligible MFIs attending the event. The summit,
“Fueling Growth: Strategic Technology for Microfinance,”
was cosponsored by Grameen Foundation and Microsoft, in partnership
with the Microfinance Council of the Philippines.
