Gabby Logan presents the Radio 4 Appeal on behalf of the MicroLoan Foundation. The MicroLoan Foundation is a specialist ‘not for profit’ UK microfinance charity that provides microfinance (small loans of on average £70), business education and ongoing mentoring support to impoverished women in sub-Saharan Africa. This provides them with a “hand-up not a hand-out” so they can develop self-sustainable livelihoods for themselves and their families, and work their own way out of poverty. 99% of the loans are repaid and then recycled in full to help more women year after year.

Women account for 75 percent of the agricultural producers in sub-Saharan Africa, but the majority of women farmers are living on only $1.25 per day, according to researchers from the Worldwatch Institute. Despite the challenging circumstances that women in developing countries face, important innovations in communications and organizing are helping women play a key role in the fight against hunger and poverty. "Access to credit, which provides women farmers with productive inputs and improved technologies, can be an effective tool in improving livelihoods in Africa and beyond," said Worldwatch Institute's executive director Robert Engelman.

Economic analysis is about understanding the workings of the economic system. Many elegant economic theories exist to analyse wealth-creating productive activities. Conventional economic theory focuses on a one-dimensional world.

The honeymoon with microfinance is over. Since the idea of lending or giving very small sums of money to poor people was introduced to the world by the pioneering Grameen Bank in Bangladesh, the approach has been taken up by many non-governmental organizations, donor agencies and the United Nations as an essential part of their poverty-reduction efforts. Microfinance has provided countless people with access to financial services.

Competition among financial institutions is intensifying in Africa as more governments relax barriers to entry and open their countries' banking sectors to new players. The flurry of fresh entrants in some countries is credited with helping to drive down banking charges, improve access to banking services and spark off a wave of new products and services.

When a scientist has to run a micro-finance firm, a different approach is inevitable. That was precisely what happened when Dr Tara Thiagarajan, Chairperson, Madura Micro Finance Ltd, a neuroscientist by profession, was called upon to take over her late father's micro-finance business. Thrust into this new role, she suddenly had to grapple with a network of almost 20,000 self-help groups in Tamil Nadu. By and by, she discovered that they were going nowhere in particular, despite the micro loans. These were at best helping them to maintain their subsistence levels.

The Ethisphere Institute, a New York City think tank, has just announced its fifth annual list of the World's Most Ethical Companies. The selection, open to every company in every industry around the globe, gives its winners an opportunity to trumpet their do-gooding ways. It is not a ranking, so they are all equally winners.

7 Women Leaders Speak On The Role Of Microfinance In Women's Entrepreneurship

Recent microfinance crises and debate over the practices of microfinance institutions (MFIs) have made it more apparent than ever that financial performance should not be the only standard by which MFIs should be evaluated. To measure an MFI's overall performance, social performance management -- the process of ensuring that an MFI acts in a socially responsible manner -- has emerged as a critical factor. Thanks to the support of the Michael & Susan Dell Foundation and the Ford Foundation, the Microfinance Information Exchange (MIX), the industry's leading source for financial and social performance data, now offers funders and other stakeholders easy access to social performance information in conjunction with financial performance information. As part of its ongoing mission to enhance transparency in the microfinance industry, MIX has taken major steps both to integrate social performance reporting with standard financial reporting and to enhance data access.

Leading aid agency CARE International UK has launched www.lendwithcare.org - an innovative micro-finance website aimed at transforming the way people give. Lendwithcare.org enables people in the UK to invest in entrepreneurs in the developing world. Investors can lend from just £15 directly to a chosen individual to help them start or improve a small business.

Last week's report from the Environmental Audit Committee : "Embedding Sustainable Development across Government" confirms that sustainable development has not been fully embedded across Government because the political will to do so has not been maintained. However, it does not go far enough in calling for urgent institutional reform to make this the "greenest government ever", say WWF-UK and FDSD.

NetSuite Inc., the industry’s leading vendor of cloud-based financials / ERP software suites, today announced the latest social enterprises to benefit from a NetSuite.org product donation. NetSuite.org is NetSuite’s unique corporate citizenship program, which enables growing social enterprises to access product donations of NetSuite’s cloud-based business software service that helps deliver increased productivity, reduced operating costs, and improved organizational flexibility.

Services called Microfinance plus services can be regarded as interesting in the framework of integrated development. Since these services include social and sanitary dimensions, indeed we can reasonably consider Microfinance to have a great potential as a powerful social and sanitary tool. Nonfinancial services can be powerful development tools in many environments and communities, provided they are designed with the populations and with care to respond to the real needs of the populations served; they can even be of greater importance to rural women via whom, their families and their whole communities can benefit from them and be empowered.

World Council of Credit Unions (WOCCU) is the leading international trade association and development agency for credit unions. WOCCU promotes the sustainable development of credit unions and other financial cooperatives around the world to empower people through access to high quality and affordable financial services. WOCCU advocates on behalf of the global credit union system before international organizations and works with national governments to improve legislation and regulation. Its technical assistance programs introduce new tools and technologies to strengthen credit unions' financial performance and increase their outreach.

Credit unions, a small part of Britain's financial landscape which has grown as banks cut back on loans after the credit crisis, aim to raise their profile further after an increase in business last year. "People are increasingly seeing credit unions as a safe and convenient place to save," Mark Lyonette, chief executive of the Association of British Credit Unions, told Reuters on Friday.

Nigeria is frequently cited as one of the most corrupt countries in the world, but its central banker has won two international banking awards. Mallam Lamido Aminu Sanusi has been named as the Central Bank Governor of 2010 for both the African continent and the entire world, by the prestigious Banker Magazine.

The Global Alliance for Banking on Values, a network of the world's leading sustainable banks, announces four new members today from South America, North America, and Europe. The banks join nine founding banks committed to building a better financial future in challenging times.

In an attempt to revive the crisis struck Microfinance sector, the International Financial Corporation, IFC a private sector arm of the World Bank Group is exploring avenues to facilitate fund flows to MFIs. This is an important development in the wake of the industry suffering continuous setbacks.

Shanti Microfinance, a not-for-profit organization, is raising a $772,000 (£500,000) fund backed by UK and Silicon Valley entrepreneurs and venture capitalists. The firm has already disbursed £10k (USD) and plans to start its operations in Gujarat before moving to Mumbai next year.

Kiva, the world's first personal micro-lending website, has teamed with KIEDF (Koret Israel Economic Development Funds) to launch its first and only partnership with an Israeli microfinance institution. This alliance will allow individuals anywhere to make small loans through the Kiva website to Bedouin women of the Negev, Arab Israelis in northern Israel, and other low-income populations throughout Israel.

Wokai is an organization that allows people to contribute directly to microfinance institutions in China, which in turn lend the money to entrepreneurs in rural China. It is a non-profit organization based in Oakland, with core operations in Beijing, supported by individual donors, corporate sponsors, fundraising events and grants.

Microfinance has lost its soul. Six fundamental shifts in the practice of microfinance have left it operating more like a for-profit bank and less like an innovative pro-poor movement.

Debate over the value of microfinance in the developing world appears to be long overdue. Arguments against microfinance center around the claim that it is a development strategy increasingly forced on the poor, and that those who are claimed to benefit from it the most--poor women--are actually its chief victims. Critics have long sought a platform to reveal the weaknesses and explode the myths supporting microfinance.

Microfinance has come under attack in south Asia. Politicians have lined up to attack the industry – whose practitioners make small loans, generally to impecunious rural borrowers – as a racket that preys on poor people. Microfinance brings a crucial service to poor people. Rather than being attacked, it should be helped to do an even better job of assisting them to assert their financial autonomy.

The Board of directors of the Asian Development Bank’s (ADB) has approved a Microfinance Risk Participation Programme, marking ADB’s first large scale private sector microfinance initiative.

Nobel Peace Prize laureate Muhammad Yunus is under pressure after critics accused him of misusing development aid. The father of microfinance told SPIEGEL ONLINE the allegations are "a total fabrication."

Jimmy Wales founder of Wikipedia is appealing for donations to support the activity of the open encyclopedia

Microfinance was supposed to mean economic empowerment for the poorest of the poor, many of them female villagers living in India's southeastern state of Andhra Pradesh. Instead, the sector has spiralled into crisis in recent weeks, where the state is blaming 57 recent suicides on aggressive loan collectors.

WAM began in 2003 after women professionals in the microfinance industry, most of them based in Washington, DC, began meeting, at first informally in each others' homes. This growing group of WAM Founders came together to discuss areas of common concern, to decide if a more formal organization made sense, to explore what such an organization might do to support women who work in the microfinance industry and, ultimately, to support the development of the industry itself. After several months of planning and program design, WAM was formally launched in October 2003. Membership has grown steadily since.

Opportunity co-founder and former president of Bristol Myers International Corporation, the late Al Whittaker, encountered poverty as he travelled throughout the world in the 1960’s and 70’s. He asked the people he met: “What do you need?” They replied: "Work. With jobs, we will solve our own problems."

Probanx Information Systems specializes in development of software for the financial institutions, offering multi-currency and multi-lingual banking systems with a large variety of modules, based on the latest technologies. We install and support turn-key international Banking Software and Microfinance Software solutions for retail banks, commercial banks, Internet banks and microfinance banks.

US$2.3 trillion has been spent by the global North on international aid in the last five decades. Nevertheless, close to half of the world's population still lives in poverty. One in five live in extreme poverty. Aid is not working as well as it should. Unless we can inject the spirit of innovation into this provision, the extreme poor we try to help in places like Bangladesh will continue to remain poor.

A new initiative to expand these programs to the broader market called the Small Business Banking Network (SBBN) will launch in November. The SBBN is designed to bolster the capacity and effectiveness of financial institutions to profitably serve small businesses in developing countries, helping to close the gap between microfinance and commercial banking.

Women entrepreneurs constitute one of the key drivers of Africa's sustainable growth. As Africa's lead development partner, the African Development Bankactively supports women entrepreneurs.

Microfinance has had a quick slide down the popularity charts— from being celebrated as a magic wand against poverty to being condemned as a business riddled with loan sharks.

Why the time is right for sustainable thinking by pension funds and institutional investors: When Roger Urwin, global head of investment content at Towers Watson, the investment consultant, turns his mind to a subject, the pensions world listens. Urwin, one of the most influential investment advisors around, has worked with many of the world’s largest retirement schemes. His recent attention to the theme of sustainable investing is notable because of his experience in the reality of pension fund practice and governance.

A group of India's largest microfinance institutions filed a lawsuit Tuesday to block strict new regulations laid down by the state of Andhra Pradesh — a crucial market for small loans — after reports that high interest and coercive loan collection by microfinance groups had led to some 30 suicides.

Samasta Microfinance is a public limited, for profit Non Banking Financial Company, established in March 2008. We offer microfinance solutions to the urban and rural poor in South India, and currently operate in the states of Tamil Nadu and Karnataka. Their aim is to drive social change and be a catalyst for entrepreneurial ambition by providing a host of financial and non-financial products to our members. Their loan products are geared towards income generation supplemented by loans for education and social commitments. Samasta's operations use the Joint Liability Group (JLG) model.

The three-day Asian Microfinance Forum 2010 wrapped up bringing to a close three full days of conferences, panel sessions and seminars all of which were well attended by almost 500 delegates from 50 countries who were in Colombo for the event as well as many local industrialists, bankers and other interested parties.

Newton Microfinance Institution is the leading private financial institution in Lao PDR. Their vision is to make sure that every Lao resident not only has access to but also benefits from the financial blessings globally enjoyed. They are installing Internet banking services to their clients in several languages including Lao, English, french, etc.

Oikocredit, the innovative development financing organisation, has been given an award in recognition of its contribution to socially responsible investing. The award has been made by The Consultative Group to Assist the Poor (CGAP).

Highlighting the vast untapped potential of the sector, SBP acting governor said that Pakistan is among the few countries in the world where microfinance activities have been gradually mainstreamed into the formal financial system.

Microfinance doesn’t help the very poor. While the argument that all the attention the microlending industry attracts sometimes diverts funds from reaching programs that need it more is not new, we were surprised to see it outlined by Vikram Akula, the founder of SKS Microfinance Ltd.

This AfricaFocus contains a diverse selection of recent books likely to be of interest and new to AfricaFocus readers. You will find, for example, new books by Africa's distinguished elders, such as Achebe, wa Thiong'o, and Mandela. Selected new books from publishers such as Africa World Press, HSRC Press, and Aflame Books. Books on topical themes such as SMS activism and other ICT developments, on India and China's relations with Africa, and on xenophobia and migration. And more.

Matthias Omeh, president, National Association of Microfinance Banks (NAMB), on Monday advised microfinance banks to partner with credit bureaux to ascertain the status of their customers.

Because now Sustainable development has become a lifestyle and a source of daily inspiration, because beauty and fashion can help spread the word in a very attractive way, several big names in fashion such as Agatha Ruiz de la Prada, Jean-Claude Jitrois, Jerome L'Huillier, Kenzo Takada, Marithe and Francois Girbaud, Ylan Anoufa, Swarovski by On Aura Tout Vu or Antik Batik have kindly agreed to support the operation Be Cycle & Fashion. Daily reports and bikes pictures on www.oneheartchannel.com.

The Ghana Islamic Microfinance www.ghanaislamicmicrofinance an upcoming microfinance institution that seeks to offer ethical micro financing in Ghana, campaign against predatory loans and offer interest free loans for both the Muslim and Non-Muslim community in Ghana have learnt with shock the passing away of Ibrahim Shaributu the brother of the National Chief Imam Sheik Nuhu Shaributu.

Non-profit industry leaders, telephone carriers and technologists are joining the Innovative Giving Conference entitled ‘Mobile Giving and Communication Demystified’ held September 27th – 28th in Malibu

Khula Enterprise Finance (KEF) of South Africa provides funding to financial institutions to be channeled to socially-oriented causes.

Probanx Information Systems specializes in development of software for the financial institutions, offering multi-currency and multi-lingual banking systems with a large variety of modules, based on the latest technologies. We install and support turn-key international Banking Software and Microfinance Software solutions for retail banks, commercial banks, Internet banks and microfinance banks.

Newton Microfinance Institution is the leading private financial institution in Lao PDR. Their vision is to make sure that every Lao resident not only has access to but also benefits from the financial blessings globally enjoyed.

First Global Investments Holdings (FGIH) recently launched its Islamic Microfinance programme which was targeted at alleviating poverty in the suburbs of Colombo.

Oikocredit, as a worldwide cooperative society, promotes global justice by challenging people, churches and others to share their resources through socially responsible investments and by empowering disadvantaged people with credit.Oikocredit believes that poor people can build themselves a better life, if only given the chance. If only given credit.

Recently the EU has decided to tax such locations and even swiss banks would have to have taxes applied to them. This news is very recent and it is uncertain in which direction this news would take us. Nonetheless there are always banks out there such as in South America that are not subject to this rule.

Ethical banks have different policies that consider a different set of questions than conventional banks do with regard to what they will or will not invest in and to whom they will or will not lend to.

The bank will be the product of a fusion between NEF (France), Banca popolare etica (Italy) and Fiare (Spain). it will take the form of a European cooperative.

Welcome to this blog about Microfinance, Innovations and Sustainable Development