According to ABC.AZ, a business information portal, the Azerbaijan Micro-finance Association (AMFA), a supportive organization for a network of 22 microfinance institutions (MFIs) and downscaling commercial banks in the country, has released first quarter 2008 performance statistics for its members. Accounting for 53 percent of AMFA’s total loan portfolio of USD 424.3 million were CredAgro, the Foundation for International Community Assistance Azerbaijan (FINCA Azerbaijan), and the Micro Finance Bank of Azerbaijan (MFBA) whose combined portfolios totaled USD 228.1 million.
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PAPER WRAP-UP: Benchmarking Azerbaijan Microfinance 2006, Nigar Pirmamedova
Authored by Nigar Pirmamedova, the Chief Accountant and Financial Manager for the Azerbaijan Micro-finance Association (AMFA), a Baku-based institution with 22 member organizations, in partnership with the Microfinance Information eXchange (MIX), released January 2008, nine pages, available at http://www.mixmbb.org/Publications/002-REG/EASTERN%20EUROPE%20AND%20CENTRAL%20ASIA%20(ECA)/04-Azerbaijan%20Benchmarking%20Reports/Azerbaijan%20Benchmarking%20Report%202006.pdf
MICROCAPITAL EVENT: European Fund for Southeast Europe (EFSE) Annual Meeting 2008 Conference on Responsible Finance
EUROPEAN FUND FOR SOUTHEAST EUROPE (EFSE) ANNUAL MEETING
MAY 6-8, 2008, HOTEL RAMADA, SIBIU, ROMANIA
The European Fund for Southeast Europe will hold their second annual meeting on May 6-8, 2008 at the Hotel Ramada in Sibiu, Romania. The conference will focus on the topic of responsible finance with respect to sustainable development and social return and is to be attended by over 200 participants from development finance institutions, donor agencies, international organizations, microfinance institutions, commercial banks, including institutional investors, policymakers, and Central Bank Governors of the Southeastern European Region.
MICROCAPITAL STORY: Norwegian Investment Fund for Developing Countries (Norfund) Invests USD 2.5 million in Cambodian Microfinance Institutions
The Consultative Group to Assist the Poor (CGAP) recently reported the Norwegian Investment Fund for Developing Countries (Norfund) invested loans totaling USD 2.5 million in Cambodian microfinance institutions, Hattha Kaksekar Ltd. (HKL) and Cambodian Entrepreneur Building (CEB). Hattha Kaksekar Ltd. received USD 1 million dollars in loans this past September 2007, and CEB received USD 1.5 million in January 2008.
PAPER WRAP-UP: Capital Markets: A Long-Term Solution to Financial Freedom, Gil Crawford and Lauren Clark
Co-authored by Gil Crawford, CEO of MicroVest, a Washington, DC-based private microfinance investment firm, and Lauren Clark, the Communications Manager for MicroVest, released July 2007 as Volume 10-Number 1 of Microenterprise Development Review, a publication of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), 11 pages, available at http://www.microvestfund.com/docs/microenter_dev_%207-16-07.pdf
MICROCAPITAL STORY: A Brief Survey on the Impact of Microfinance on Women Part 2 of a 3-Part Series: Evidence of Women’s Empowerment
Though there is less quantifiable evidence to justify the effect of microfinance on woman’s human rights, it is widely accepted that giving women access to savings and credit will increase women’s social and political empowerment, and even change traditional gender relationships. These assumptions continue to be evaluated as recent microfinance studies are focusing more and more on women’s empowerment.
MICROCAPITAL STORY: A Brief Survey on the Impact of Microfinance on Women Part 1 of a 3-Part Series: Targeting Women and its Effect on the Wellbeing of Poor Families
Many key players in microfinance including the Foundation for International Community Assistance (FINCA), believe that targeting women will result in an increase in household income under women’s control. This will thereby cause an increase in the entire household’s wellbeing including women, men and children of poor families, meaning improvement in nutrition, literacy, health, and happiness. Thus, targeting women for microfinance services is generally accepted as an effective method of poverty reduction.
MICROCAPITAL STORY: CARE International and Allianz Pioneering Microinsurance Against Disaster for India’s Poor
Aid agency CARE international and global insurance company, Allianz are offering community health insurance in the southern Indian region south of the city of Chinnai, an area badly hit by the December 26, 2004 tsunami. Packages covering natural catastrophes and accidents will be available for 16 cents a month. A family of four can be insured for an average annual cost of ten dollars US.
MICROCAPITAL STORY: Islamic Microfinance Rapidly Growing in Afghanistan
In 2006, the Foundation for International Community Assistance (FINCA) became the first microfinance institution in Afghanistan to offer non-interest bearing Murabaha Islamic loans, contracts where sellers declare their cost and profit.
PRESS RELEASE: Vodafone and Roshan to Serve Microfinance Institution Customers Via M-Paisa Branchless Banking, the First Mobile Money Transfer Service in Afghanistan
Source: Vodafone.
MICROCAPITAL STORY: Forbes’ Special Feature on Private Investment in Microfinance Includes Top 50 Microfinance Institutions
Forbes, a American business and financial news magazine, presented the list of top 50 microfinance institutions (MFIs) of 2007 in its special feature on the private investment in the microfinance industry.
PAPER WRAP-UP: Microfinance in Northeast Thailand: Who Benefits and How Much?, by Brett E.Coleman
By Brett E. Coleman, published by World Development, Vol. 34, No. 9, September 2006, 27 pages, available by subscription through Science Direct: doi:10.1016/j.worlddev.2006.01.006.
This paper examines the results of a survey of two Northeast Thailand “village bank” programs that target the poor, and is an extension of a previous paper written by Coleman in 1999, entitled “The Impact of Group Lending in Northeast Thailand”*. It extends the same methodology employed in the first to include more in-depth analyses on outreach success and differential impact on two types of village bank members. Coleman concludes that the programs surveyed were not reaching the poor as much as the relatively wealthy, and that the estimated impacts on wealthier committee members were significantly more positive than on poorer rank-and-file members.
PAPER WRAP-UP: Beyond Good Intentions: Measuring the Social Performance of Microfinance Institutions, by Syed Hashemi
Focus Note no. 41, May 2007, by CGAP. 12 pages, available at http://www.cgap.org/portal/site/CGAP/menuitem.da0167f15fefd30167808010591010a0/
Syed Hashemi at CGAP, the Consultative Group to Assist the Poor, has put together this overview of social performance measurements of microfinance institutions (MFIs), outlining the requirements, current methods and need for a common set of indicators. He describes the eight most common current systems and also introduces the Common Reporting Initiative that has been designed by the Social Performance Task Force (founded in May 2005 by the Argidius Foundation, CGAP, and the Ford Foundation) to provide a common set of indicators with which all the systems can work.
PAPER WRAP-UP: Beware of Bad Microcredit by Steve Beck and Tim Ogden
By Steve Beck and Tim Ogden. Harvard Business Review, September 2007, Vol. 85 Issue 9, pp 20-22, 2 pages
In their short article published in the Harvard Business Review, Steve Beck and Tim Ogden warn that, though microcredit programs can be highly effective, companies need to exercise caution before investing in them because of the risk for such investments to backfire, both from a social development and a public relations standpoint.
NEWS WIRE: USA: Women Advancing Microfinance (WAM) Releases Audio Recording of Panel Discussion on Mexican Microfinance Institution Compartamos IPO
Source: Women Advancing Microfinance (WAM) via the Microfinance Gateway.
Original article here.
The Canadian International Development Agency, allocates USD 16 mm to the Microfinance Investment Support Facility (MISFA) in Afghanistan
Josée Verner, Minister of The Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) plans to distribute USD 16 mm to Microfinance Investment Support Facility for Afghanistan (MISFA), an Afghani national micro-credit program. CIDA’s, goal is to support sustainable development in developing countries in order to reduce poverty and to contribute to a more secure, equitable, and prosperous world. MISFA, was created by the Government of Afghanistan, World Bank Group, and the Consultative Group for the Poor in 2003 to provide poor Afghans with access to loans and financial services. MISFA currently funds 13 microfinance institutions serving over 300,000 Afghans, most of whom are women. In the past MISFA has received funds from the CIDA, USAID, and the UK Department for International Development. MISFA uses these funds to provide loans to microfinance institutions operating in Afghanistan, such as FINCA Afghanistan, BRAC, AKDM, CARE, CHF, and Women for Women. Originally operating within the country’s Ministry of Rural Reconstruction and Development, it became an independent entity in 2004. MISFA does not report to the MIX Market, the microfinance information clearinghouse and no other information is publicly available about its performance.
The Grameen Foundation Receives $1.5 Million Grant from the Gates Foundation for Strategic Plan
The Gates Foundation has made an unrestricted grant to the Grameen Foundation as a show of support for the latter’s strategic plan. On June 1, 2006, MicroCapital reported on the Gates Foundation $1.46 million donation to nonprofit microfinance network Unitus. Earlier in March, it also reported on Bill Gates’ focus on microfinance investing. And in January, ACCION International received a $5.8 million grant from the Gates Foundation to develop partnerships with microfinance institutions in West Africa and India. The Gates Foundation gave $8.7 million in microfinance grants in 2005 (see MicroCapital Blog’s December 14, 2005 and December 1, 2005 articles). The recipients of these grants were Opportunity International, FINCA International, and California-based Freedom From Hunger.
The MicroFinance Network Heads to London September 18 for Annual Conference
The MicroFinance Network is holding its annual conference in London from September 18-20. The event is attended by the directors of 37 member organizations, which include banks, NGOs, and public and private microfinance institutions. Notable attendees are ACCION, FINCA, Citigroup, Calmeadow, BancoSol, and XacBank.
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