Vatican conference encourages micro-credit for 3rd World development
February, 28 2006
Vatican - The Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace organized a two-day conference in Rome to encourage the development of "micro-credit" as a means of stimulating economic development in needy countries ...

Government to enact legislation on micro-finance
February, 22 2006
New Delhi, India - The Union Cabinet on Thursday approved enactment of a legislation for development and regulation of micro finance sector ...

World Bank, MIX, and CGAP release most comprehensive survey to date on MFI performance and transparency in South Asia
February, 20 2006
Washington - The World Bank, the Microfinance Information eXchange (MIX), and the Consultative Group to Assist the Poor (CGAP) have jointly published a report that brings to light the performance of a sector that revolutionized access to financial services as part of a project for the United Nations International Year of Microcredit 2005. ...

New tool from Grameen
February, 20 2006
- In order to better the rating tools available for the market, Grameen came up with a new tool called the PPI that stands for Poverty Progress Index ...

Millennium Development Goals: Bangladesh Situation Analysis and Future Perspective
February, 17 2006
- Since the launch of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) at the Millennium Summit in New York in September 2000, the MDGs have become the most widely-accepted yardstick of development efforts by governments, donors and NGOs. Bangladesh has made significant progress in achieving some MDGs but most of the progresses are uneven. This paper focuses on the current status of MDGs of Bangladesh and the future challenges to overcome those. Millennium Development Goal ...

Segway creator unveils his next act
February, 16 2006
San Francisco - Inventor Dean Kamen wants to put entrepreneurs to work bringing water and electricity to the world's poor ...

Symbiotics in International Securitization Report
February, 08 2006
- We have had an article published in ISR about the CDO we have done with Opportunity International in the Balkans. Because you have to register to view the article, here’s what it’s all about ...

The AFG grants two fund loans in Morocco
February, 08 2006
- The French Agency for Development (AFD) has granted two fund loans of Euro 1.5 million to two Moroccan associations active in micro-credit sector, especially in rural areas. ...

Peer to peer lending
February, 07 2006
- Two sites have been in the news recently: Prosper & Zopa. David Galipeau that we've met at lift06 told us about the Mafia’s use of same kind of systems for money laundering and bets. Wired has had an article explaining some of it ...

Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Awards $5.8 Million Grant to ACCION for Microfinance Development in Africa and India
February, 07 2006
- The grant will be mostly devoted to extend the reach of Accion in countries such as Ghana and India. ...

PlaNet Finance introduces "Undertaking in Suburbs"
February, 02 2006
Paris - French national programme to support microentreprises in sensitive urban area ...