United States Agency for International Development (USAID) recently published a note about efforts in India to provide an integrated approach in addressing poverty alleviation, global health and energy. Shortage of cooking fuel is a key problem in India where approximately 260 million of the country’s total 1.2 billion population live below the poverty line. Some households burn cow dung cakes as an alternative fuel source, creating environmental hazards and causing harmful health consequences, including acute respiratory infections in children. According to a 2006 Shell Foundation Report, deaths linked to biomass smoke exposure compete with malaria as the leading cause of death in adults in developing nations every year.
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PRESS RELEASE: USAID, Standard Chartered Partner on Economic Growth in Africa
Source: USAID.
MICROCAPITAL STORY: USAID and Netherlands-based Oikocredit Partner to Guarantee $36.2 million for Microfinance Over 10 Years
Oikocredit, a Dutch cooperative investment fund, and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) announced a partnership which will leverage USD 36.2 million in private financing to support microfinance. USAID will provide a 50 percent guarantee on loans made by Oikocredit for ten years, and this guarantee is intended to increase private-sector financing to microenterprises and small-scale farmers, according to a press release by USAID. USAID has guaranteed loans for Oikocredit in the past, beginning in 2003 but this is the largest guarantee to date. Oikocredit’s loans are channelled through a network of regional offices worldwide and managed by local professionals.
MICROCAPITAL STORY: Barack Obama, Roots in Microfinance, Ties to USAID, Ford Foundation, Asian Development Bank, Bank Rakyat, Women’s World Banking and Chicago’s Shorebank
Elayne Clift, an independent journalist, recently wrote a piece in the The New Nation entitled “The Woman Behind Obama,” in which she describes the life of Barack Obama’s mother, Stanley Ann Dunham Soetoro. In the article she highlights some of the work that Mrs. Soetoro did in Indonesia for the Ford Foundation while she was working on her PhD in anthropology. Mrs. Soetoro had a long career of being a researcher and practitioner of microfinance. She was a consultant for the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) on a village credit program, a Ford Foundation program officer in Jakarta specializing in women’s work, a consultant in Pakistan for the Asian Development Bank (ADB), and joined Indonesia’s oldest bank (Bank Rakyat) to work on one of the world’s largest sustainable microfinance programs, creating services like credit and savings for the poor.
PRESS RELEASE: USAID Accelerated Microenterprise Advancement Program Releases Findings of Research on Transitions to Private Capital
Source: MicroLinks
MICROFINANCE EVENT: USAID Presents Online Conference on How Microfinance Contributes to Economic Recovery in Conflict-affected Countries
HOW DOES MICROFINANCE CONTRIBUTE TO ECONOMIC RECOVERY IN CONFLICT-AFFECTED COUNTRIES?
OCTOBER 23, 2008, ONLINE
The United States Agency for International Development (AID) is offering this online “webinar” from 10 am to 11 am, eastern US time. Mayada El-Zoghbi of consulting firm Banyan Global will present lessons learned from a collection of recent case studies completed for the Microfinance Amid Conflict research theme of AID’s Accelerated Microenterprise Advancement Project.
PRESS RELEASE: USAID Extends Deadline for Competition on Innovations in Financing Value Chains
Source: microLINKS.
MICROFINANCE EVENT: USAID Online Discussion on Economic Recovery Standards in Crisis Areas
MICROLINKS HOSTS ONLINE DISCUSSION, ECONOMIC RECOVERY STANDARDS
SEPTEMBER 23-35
The microLINKS Speaker’s Corner will host an online discussion called “Economic Recovery Standards”. The discussion will be around the Economic Recovery Standards, widely recognized among the international disaster and crisis response community for providing guidance on the minimum quality of actions expected in humanitarian responses in crisis-affected areas will be hosted. The forum provides the opportunity for participants to explore issues related to economic recovery interventions after a crisis and have their opinions and input directly affect the Standards.
Topics to be covered will include:
Day 1 – September 23: Cross-cutting and overall standards
Day 2 – September 24: Financial services and assets programming
Day 3 – September 25: Employment Creation and enterprise development
To register or to learn more about this discussion, visit the event website here.
MICROFINANCE EVENT: USAID to Host Online Discussion on Outsourcing Options for Microfinance Institutions (MFIs)
MICROLINKS HOSTS ONLINE DISCUSSION, OUTSOURCING FOR MFIS
SEPTEMBER 16-18
The microLINKS Speaker’s Corner on Savings will host an online discussion called “Outsourcing Options for Microfinance Institutions”. Hosted by Alice Liu of Emerging ICT Group, this Speaker’s Corner will focus on the benefits and challenges related to outsourcing and the lessons that may be learned from small bank experiences in the US and other areas where outsourcing is more common.
Each day, participants are invited to share their perspectives and experiences on following topics:
• Day 1 (September 16) – Outsourcing: Benefits and Decision Criteria
• Day 2 (September 17) – Core Banking System Experiences from the Field
• Day 3 (September 18) – Enabling Environment
To learn more about this discussion, visit the event website here.
MICROFINANCE EVENT: USAID, MicroFinance Network, Consultative Group to Assist the Poor (CGAP) to Host Online Discussion of Microfinance Institution Staff Incentive Schemes
US AGENCY FOR INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT SPEAKER’S CORNER ON STAFF INCENTIVES
APRIL 15-17, 2008, VIA INTERNET
This an online and email-based discussion of best practices in staff incentive schemes (SIS), which can play a key role in microfinance institutions’ (MFIs’) human resources strategies. A worldwide survey on the use of staff incentives conducted by the MicroFinance Network (MFN) and the Consultative Group to Assist the Poor (CGAP) will be discussed. Co-hosted by the MFN and CGAP, the discussion will be moderated by Mattias Grammling, Martin Holtmann and Martha Ottenbacher. Different topics will be discussed each day:
PRESS RELEASE: US Agency for International Development (USAID) Microfinance Program in Iraq Surpasses $150m
Source: US Agency for International Development (USAID).
NEWS WIRE: USA: Summary of Report on AfriCap Microfinance Fund Released by US Agency for International Development (USAID)
Source: mircoLINKS Connections (a publication of the US Agency for International Development (USAID)).
MICROCAPITAL STORY: Jamaican Diaspora and USAID Team Up to Launch Microfinance Fund for Inner City Residents
Jamaica’s Diaspora community and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) are partnering to launch a microfinance loan fund for Jamaicans living in inner cities. To date, approximately USD 100,000 has been raised from Diaspora interests in the United States for the proposed Fund for Inner City Sustainable Transformation (FIST).
PRESS RELEASE: USAID-Sponsored Best Small Enterprise Lenders Recognized by NBP
MICROCAPITAL STORY: USAID-Funded Al-Takadum Microfinance Institution to Open in Iraq’s Al-Anbar Province, Expanding Existing Microfinance Network
A statement issued by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) indicated that the network of microfinance institutions active in Iraq will receive further expansions in new districts around the country. Specifically, the Al-Takadum microfinance institution (MFI) will open in Al-Anbar province, reports Middle East North Africa Financial Network News (MENAFN). This scheme is currently in its final stage of construction.
NEWS WIRE: Lank Orix Leasing Company Gets USD 3 Million Credit Guarantee Loan, USAID in Tie Up to Finance Rural Poor
USAID Provides 2 Grants Totaling USD 1.35 mn to the US-based Microfinance Network Opportunity International
Opportunity International, a microfinance network based in the
United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Makes a USD 400 mn Grant to Lebanon, Including USD 2 mn for Microfinance
As part of a US pledge of USD 770 mn at the Paris III donor conference, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) will provide Lebanon USD 400 mn over the next two to three years in grants for economic growth. Only USD 2 mn, or 0.5 percent of the total, will go towards microfinance. The grant does, however, include USD 5 mn for small and medium enterprises. The US Congress has not yet approved the deal, but according to the Lebanon Daily Star, the USAID office in Lebanon is expecting to launch the new projects within six months. The disbursement of the aid is tied to the country’s political situation; the money will not enter the country until the political crisis has cooled down and stability has returned.