CGAP, Deutsche Bank, Grameen-Jameel and Islamic Development Bank have joined forces to challenge the Islamic microfinance industry to develop new ideas for business models.

CGAP, an independent microfinance center based at the World Bank, today announced a new partnership with the UK Department for International Development (DFID) to expand ongoing global efforts to use information and communication technologies (ICT), especially mobile phones, to increase access to basic financial services for the poor. In addition to a 2006 grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and CGAP funding, DFID will provide GBP 8 million to the CGAP Technology Program.

Kiva President Premal Shah on the company's mission to fight poverty by lending to entrepreneurs. Video at Forbes.com

The Microfinance Association (MA), an international membership organization for practitioners in the microfinance industry, has launched its Global Academy Program (GAP). The three-month program, developed by MA and Marconi University of Italy, is aimed at graduates seeking to develop a professional career in microfinance or international development.

In Mongolia, a microfinance system supported by The World Bank and its international partners helps create business opportunities in poor rural areas through the Mongolia Microfinance Development Fund and brings development to remote areas that have been severely affected by the global economic downturn.

Microfinance: Trading bread for briquettes—MFIs are a new type of charity. Just because the holidays are over doesn’t mean you have to give up on giving. While supporting traditional environmental charities is a wonderful way to make a difference, you might also want to consider giving to eco-oriented microfinance institutions (MFIs). An MFI differs from a traditional aid program in that it lends, rather than donates, money at a low interest rate, which allows people to invest in small scale entrepreneurial projects of their own choosing.

Bill and Melinda Gates announced plans Friday to invest $10 billion in the fight against a number of illnesses including AIDS and said the record donation could save nearly nine million lives. Speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, they said the 10-year program will focus on vaccines for AIDS, tuberculosis, rota virus and pneumonia.

Founder of an international nonprofit, a speaker before the World Bank, Presidential Scholar, a veteran in microfinance, participant in a discussion with the Dalai Lama — the graduating senior from San Jose's Notre Dame High School has packed more into her slender years than most people do into a lifetime. And she's not yet 18.

Jacqueline Novogratz interviewed by David Serchuk (Forbes). Jacqueline Novogratz is the founder and chief executive officer of Acumen Fund, a nonprofit global venture fund that uses entrepreneurial approaches to combat global poverty.

The urgency with which the Obama administration, members of Congress, and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke have been working to keep credit available reminds us how critical credit is to the economy. These folks know that without widely available credit, our economy would descend into a debilitating depression.

NetHope has grown to 26 members, including locally based nonprofits Mercy Corps, PATH and World Vision, and major supporters such as Microsoft. Seattle has become a hub for technology and philanthropy, so it's not surprising that a nonprofit consortium combining both would find fertile ground here.

End Water Poverty is the international campaign that aims to bring an end to the global water and sanitation crisis. The coalition is formed of like-minded organisations from around the world who are demanding urgent action and leadership from donors and governments alike. Only together, with one voice, can we tackle this devastating crisis that affects billions of poor people across the world.

Richard Horton: Climate change will have a catastrophic effect on human health, but the NHS could do much to protect people from it.

The Economist Intelligence Unit has released its latest world innovation rankings, which show China climbing up the ranks faster than other countries. But while the emerging markets are moving up the pecking order, the developed world still hogs the top spots. Japan and Switzerland remain first and second respectively. The report includes innovation predictions for the next five years, and more gains for the emerging world are expected. China, India and South Africa will continue to rise. Even so, Japan, the US and European countries such as Switzerland, Finland, Germany and Sweden are expected to retain their top-ten rankings in 2013.

A searchable global map forms the new heart of www.reegle.info, the specialist search engine for renewable energy and energy efficiency. Users can click on a specific location and get the latest events, news, and a sampling of green energy development projects in that area. There is also a catalogue of stakeholders and an energy-oriented profile of the relevant country, including up-to-date statistics and information on local green energy policies and regulations.

A hive of social activity: where French entrepreneurs benefit from collective intelligence. After graduating, Charlotte Hochman worked with several grassroots organisations in India and Brazil, one of which was Village Action. She then launched La Ruche, or ‘The Beehive’ in English, a NGO that is open to anyone proposing an innovative solution to a social or ecological challenge...

Parminder Bahra, Times' correspondent finds doubts raised about the effectiveness of one of the big ideas in the fight against poverty.

The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), a specialized agency of the United Nations, has announced the theme for its annual World Intellectual Property Day to be held on April 26 will be “promoting green innovation as a key element in meeting the challenges of climate change”. In his message to mark the day, WIPO Director General Francis Gurry highlights the contribution that a balanced intellectual property (IP) system can make in enabling the development of technology-based solutions to mitigate the impact of climate change.

Insurers should think small to tap into one of their biggest opportunities for growth: serving poor people. The financial services industry is facing unprecedented challenges worldwide due to excessive risk-taking. Complicated investment vehicles, insufficient transparency and excessive swapping of credit default risk have had a severe and pervasive impact on confidence. The world's most advanced markets for financial services are reeling in uncertainty.

In recognition of Mother's Day (May 10, 2009), Calvert Foundation is undertaking a major "Honor Mom" campaign to channel new resources from investors and donors into international microfinance and microlending initiatives benefiting women, who are lifting themselves and their families out of poverty.

Forty percent of the world's population lives on less than $2 per day, according to the World Bank. Yet even in the midst of the current economic meltdown, there is reason for new optimism in the fight to reduce global poverty. The optimism starts with the evolution of microfinance, which has proved not only that the poor are credit-worthy, but that banking institutions serving the poor are investment-worthy. In addition, microfinance is tapping into a technological revolution that enables areas with deficient land phone service to leapfrog ahead to cellphones and broadband. And, as this takes place, both philanthropy and capital markets are paying careful attention.

The European Microfinance Platform [e-MFP] was founded formally in 2006. They are a growing network of approximately 100 organisations and individuals active in the area of microfinance. Their principal objective is to promote co-operation amongst European microfinance bodies working in developing countries, by facilitating communication and the exchange of information. They are a multi-stakeholder organisation representative of the European microfinance community. e-MFP members include banks, financial institutions, government agencies, NGOs, consultancy firms, researchers and universities.

“Innovation” is one of those rich words, a word that carries significant weight in our society. It’s a word we immediately recognize, even if we can’t properly define it. But who needs to define innovation? We all know what innovation is. We know what it looks like, where to find it, how to value it, and how to chase it. We can all point to examples of innovation as seen through our eyes: ultra-thin cell phones, shiny MP3 players, new engines in sleek new cars. We see products, ideas, services and toys…and we see innovation, the cool, sleek child of invention.

“IF WE stop thinking of the poor as victims or as a burden and start recognising them as resilient and creative entrepreneurs and value-conscious consumers, a whole new world of opportunity will open up.” That “simple proposition” begins a controversial new management book that seems destined to be read not just in boardrooms but also in government offices. “The Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid. Eradicating Poverty Through Profits” (Wharton School Publishing), is essentially a rallying cry for big business to put serving the world's 5 billion or so poorest people at the heart of their profit-making strategies.

IEEE, the world's largest technical professional association and its members, are collaborating with organizations from around the world to educate and address key issues surrounding sustainability ranging from energy and resources both natural and man-made, to the technologies that are needed to overcome many of today's most pressing sustainability problems. IEEE is commemorating its 125th anniversary in 2009 by "Celebrating 125 Years of Engineering the Future" around the globe.

In today’s microfinance industry, there is still some debate about whether and when long-term subsidies might be justified in order to reach particularly challenging groups of clients. But there is now widespread agreement, within the industry at least, that in most situations MFIs ought to pursue financial sustainability by being as efficient as they can and by charging interest rates and fees high enough to cover the costs of their lending and other services...

U.S. President Barack Obama gave a spirited defense of his economic strategy on Tuesday, saying there were signs of progress in battling the recession, but "by no means are we out of the woods just yet." In his most comprehensive speech on the U.S. economic downturn, now in its 16 month, Obama offered no new policies but gave a detailed review of the steps he has taken to rescue the economy and rebuffed critics who say he is spending with "reckless abandon."

Report from CGAP finds that MFIs are well-positioned to contribute to energy efficiency in developing countries, but recommends shift in priorities from loans to financial services that include savings.

Two years after being launched as the first poverty-focused social business in the Arab world, Grameen-Jameel Pan-Arab Microfinance Limited (Grameen-Jameel) is celebrating significant milestones that are helping to transform microfinance’s impact across the Arab World.

The global micro-credit industry has been hurt by the financial crisis but loan defaults by the world's poor remain low and private equity money will still fuel growth, a micro-finance group said. But Women's World Banking, billed as the world's biggest network of micro-finance institutions, said micro-financiers were struggling to raise funds to loan to the poor because of soaring borrowing costs and predicted growth would slow sharply.

Many of the world’s life-changing conveniences wouldn’t be possible without utilities. Utilities provide water for drinking, cooking, and washing; and electricity to power everything from light bulbs to vacuum cleaners. But there is another service whose convenience also transforms lives by enabling economic livelihoods and supporting social relationships, but that does not enjoy the benefit of a utility’s delivery infrastructure: electronic cash payments. The notion of the payments utility may be a rather utopian view of how retail payments in developing countries could enable universal access to finance. Despite the attention, and even hype, that branchless banking has been getting in industry circles and in the media, there are still fundamental challenges – like understanding what drives customers, making the economics work for agents, providing accounts for all, and building workable business models. But it’s never too soon to start thinking big.

Informal employment is at record levels worldwide with severe consequences for poverty in poor countries, according to “Is Informal Normal?”, a new report by the OECD Development Centre.

Consultancy Gartner predicts that “By 2010, social-banking platforms will have captured 10% of the available market for retail lending and financial planning.”

Russia will ask the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to carry out a study on the potential for a new international reserve currency, Kremlin aide Arkady Dvorkovich said on Tuesday. China and Russia, the world's No.1 and No.3 reserve holders, have been pushing for a discussion on making greater use of the International Monetary Fund's Special Drawing Rights basket.

Jeffrey Sachs, director of the Earth Institute and economics professor at Columbia University reacts to the decisions made at this week's G20 summit and answers questions on the plight of poor countries in the midst of the global economic crisis: "There is considerable work to do still to put the urgent concerns of the poor countries on the world's agenda." "There is a real possibility of rising political instability in many countries, including street violence, coups, assassinations, or political paralysis."

Cloud-computing technology has come along way. For example a single server can host several virtual servers on one machine. That is a simple example of cloud-computing. Cloud-computing is when any virtualised resources are provided as a service. This is expected to become a huge industry. And this is now concerning the Microfinance Institutions.

President Barack Obama wrapped up his first international summit by declaring the event “historic” and a “turning point” toward recovery from a worldwide recession. Obama, who used personal diplomacy to help push through an agreement on regulations and emergency aid, said he and his counterparts at the Group of 20 summit are taking “unprecedented steps” to prevent another financial crisis.

G20 media reaction is a mixture of cautious optimism and scepticism.

While the industry has grown at a healthy 30% in recent years, the future of microfinance rests on modern approaches to scaling the industry and leveraging the entrepreneurial energy employed in Silicon Valley.

Planet Finance President, Jacques Attali, on Monday, March 30, 2009, in Tunis, Tunisia, said that micro-finance could seriously help cushion the impact of the global financial crisis on Africa. Mr. Attali made the statement during a presentation chaired by the African Development Bank (AfDB) Group President, Donald Kaberuka.

This week's G-20 summit is essentially an echo chamber for the world's wealthy to talk macrofinance. The world economy might rebound more quickly if they listen to what the poor have to say about microfinance.

New York based Women's World Banking (WWB) has signed on UBA Microfinance Bank as its only network partner in Nigeria. With the admittance of the microfinance subsidiary of United Bank for Africa Plc as a network partner of the WWB, UBA Microfinance Bank has joined the global network of partner microfinance institutions and banks including ASA, the number 1, and other top 9 Microfinance Finance Banks in the world.

In the face of major client protection failures in the mainstream financial sector, leaders of the microfinance industry came together this month seeking means to ensure that microfinance providers worldwide remain committed to serving their clients' best interests.

The combined effects of the financial crisis, increased protectionist policies, continued rich country subsidies, and climate-induced changes in patterns of agricultural production are likely to hit developing countries hardest. Thanks to the confluence of these factors, a long-term solution to the global food crisis has not been reached, experts agreed at two recent summits on agriculture. But producers in some poor countries that lack strong links to the international market may not yet be feeling the full effects of that price drop. In some cases, particularly in Sub-Saharan Africa, prices remain high for key staples.

As G20 leaders gather in London on 2 April, the focus of their agenda will be on working together to promote effective, coordinated responses to the global economic crisis and to the state of global trade. In the context of the crisis, the immediate priority of many governments and trade experts is rightly to create and implement a strategy that will offset declining trade and investment, particularly in developing countries where the crisis threatens to impede economic growth and development progress made in recent years. In an effort to address these pressing issues and provide suggestions for G20 leaders’ deliberations, ICTSD partnered with the Global Economic Governance Programme (GEG) to gather short essays from a broad range of scholars and experts around the world.

Billionaire investor Gorge Soros has said the G20 summit will be a "make or break" event for the world's economy. He said the G20 meeting had to come up with concrete solutions to help the developing world in particular, which had been been worst hit.

WaterPartners projects are funded through grants, loans, or a combination of grants and loans. Our loan program is called WaterCredit, and is the first of its kind. The idea of building community-based water supply projects through a combination of grants and loans is new to the water sector. Until now, almost all water projects facilitated by other organizations have been funded entirely by grants, even when the individuals served by the project have the means to share costs.

Gramalaya, in association with WaterPartners International, USA, WaterAid, UK, and Arghyam, Bangalore, organized World Water Day 2009, which is held at its National Institute of Water and Sanitation (NIWAS) Training Centre in Tamil Nadu.

According to Mr. Attali, who is President of PlaNet Finance, micro-credit plays a key role in development efforts targeting the poorest segments of the population, and micro-finance sources need to be preserved at a time when the global financial crisis is severely hitting Africa. The continent has made steady progress over the last decade, building the foundations for higher growth rates and poverty reduction.

Government policy responses to the global financial meltdown must focus on the role of women as economic agents in order to address the all-too-familiar trend of women and girls suffering disproportionately during times of economic crisis, speakers told the Commission on the Status of Women this afternoon as it held an expert panel discussion on the gender perspectives of the crisis.

The head of China's central bank proposed Monday a plan to displace the American dollar as the world's standard and replace it with a global reserve currency operated from the International Monetary Fund.

A panel of experts set up by the United Nations has proposed creating a Global Economic Council tasked with promoting worldwide economic and financial cooperation, according to a draft panel report obtained by Kyodo News on Monday.

Microfinance ought to be high on the agenda of policymakers looking for an imaginative response to the global financial crisis. As an ethical, responsible financial system that serves productive businesses through intimate knowledge of the client, it is founded upon principles that are diametrically opposed to those practiced by the conventional bankers that sparked the crisis. However bold the prescriptions of political leaders in the developed world may be, the fact remains that these economies are so saturated with excessive debt that it will be years before they generate the demand required to get the global economy moving again. That demand will have to come from elevating the world's poor. Microfinance, with its proven record and ethical purpose, is the key to that goal. The potential for growth among the poor is enormous. A responsible financial system that stimulates entrepreneurship at the bottom and earns income for the poorest is a benefit to us all.

Islamic banking banks have not been affected by the sub prime crisis which has become a world wide crisis. Because they do not allow speculation on money, because they do not give money just on an interest basis, but invest in businesses with a risk sharing program.

Islamic banks are generally doing better in today’s uncertain economic times than their Western colleagues. So our financial institutions have a lot to adopt from Islamic economic system.

Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammad Yunus from Bangladesh earlier this week made a valiant call for a bailout package for the world’s poor. At a recent meeting in Tokyo, the microfinance guru warned that the global economic crisis will hit the world’s poorest people the hardest and that “there is no bailout package for them.”

The Islamic banking industry today is worth at several hundred billion dollars (estimates vary), and consists of more than 300 financial institutions in the world. It is the product of the collective effort of bankers, economists, and Islamic legal scholars over the past several decades to develop financial solutions that meet the religious requirements of the Muslim society today.

Forget multibillion-dollar bailouts. Muhammad Yunus thinks the solution to the global financial crisis can be found in loans of much smaller size, backed with more prosaic assets: ducks, chickens, and cows. Microcredit could soon spread across the stricken U.S. as big banks contract. On the strength of local invitations, Grameen is considering setting up shop in Washington, D.C., Baltimore, and Omaha, Neb., where Susan Buffett, daughter of resident sage Warren Buffett of Berkshire Hathaway approached the bank.

Small budgets can yield big gains with the help of high technology. Researchers expect interest and investments in microfinancing to grow significantly in coming years. A December 2007 report by Deutsche Bank Research predicts that U.S. institutional and individual investments in microfinancing will jump from $2 billion in 2006 to $20 billion in 2015.

Credit, according to Professor Muhammad Yunus, is a fundamental human right. However, if not handled with care, the magnification effect inherent in leverage can make it dangerous. One need only look at the current economic spiral to see the result of the provision of credit gone dangerously awry. Credit must be deployed to microfinance borrowers judiciously in order to minimize the risk of non-repayment, as this would cause lenders, themselves levered, to suffer magnified losses. Vinay Nair, an Executive Director at J.P. Morgan currently on sabbatical, explains that it is imperative to avoid over-leverage to avoid losing control.

The effective collapse in 2008 of the US government-Wall Street-driven model of liberal capitalism is an event of major historical importance. As with the collapse of an earlier wall in 1989 – the Berlin Wall – transition to a new economic model is now required, and is indeed underway. The microfinance industry is in no less a need for radical change. This is because many of the flawed character traits that have ultimately destroyed Wall Street also lie at the heart of the increasingly commercialised microfinance industry. In a very uncomfortable parallel with the spectacular rise of Wall Street’s most hallowed institutions and individuals, now consigned to the grubby margins of business and economic history, careerism, personal greed and the related drive for profit have also blinded the microfinance industry to the fact that microfinance is ultimately destroying the goal of reducing poverty and promoting sustainable economic and social development.

The World Bank president has said that 2009 is turning into "a very dangerous year" for the economy. Robert Zoellick also warned G20 members against protectionist policies, ahead of a G20 finance ministers' meeting in the United Kingdom on how to tackle the economic downturn.

Finance officials from 20 of the world's leading economies pledged Saturday to substantially boost funding for the International Monetary Fund and "take whatever action is necessary" to stimulate growth around the world. The meeting came after days of disagreement between U.S. and European officials about the best approach to tackling the economic problems. The United States has urged countries to enact bigger spending programs to fuel growth, while some European countries have focused on passing new regulations for financial markets.

The global economy will shrink this year for the first time since the second world war as the "Great Recession" ravages businesses, consumers and financial institutions around the world, the International Monetary Fund warned. Speaking in Tanzania, IMF managing director Dominique Strauss-Kahn said the economic downturn would be more severe than previously thought.

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.

Last year, despite the advancing global economic malaise, mobile financial services gained traction-particularly in developing countries. From enabling m-payments via SMS, to full internet banking via a smartphone browser, it looks like we'll be seeing a lot more mobile money in the future.

If the Group of 20 leading and developing nations meeting in London this weekend pushes the food problem to the back burner to focus only on financial stabilization, the annual begging for emergency food aid -- the most expensive, least sustainable form of foreign aid -- will never end. And neither will the suffering.

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.

Microfinance in China is poised for a significant expansion as the government, Non-governmental Organizations (NGOs) and commercial banks begin to explore ways to provide the country's most impoverished people with greater access to credit. According to Bai Chengyu, secretary general of the China Association of Microfinance, after 10 years of development, microcredit has entered a transition phase and is now moving "from experiment to large-scale commercial development."

While world markets are teetering in a global banking meltdown, another banking drama is playing out in Switzerland that could end the way private banking has been done there for centuries. U.S. tax authorities have challenged long-standing Swiss banking secrecy laws, demanding that UBS AG release the names of 52,000 Americans suspected of opening secret accounts to evade taxes.

More than 106 million of the world’s poorest families received a microloan in 2007, surpassing a goal set ten years earlier, according to a report released today by the Microcredit Summit Campaign. Microloans are used to help people living in extreme poverty start or expand a range of tiny businesses such as husking rice, selling tortillas, and delivering cell phone services to remote villages.

Launched in the fall of 2003, WAM was created to support women in the microfinance industry. The mission of Women Advancing Microfinance International is to advance and support women working in microfinance through education and training, by promoting leadership opportunities, and by increasing visibility of their participation and talent while maintaining a work/life balance.

Praseeda, honoured for her activism and microfinance work with India’s destitute women, won the award alongside a myriad of Indian film stars, doctors, corporate achievers, authors, artists and healthcare workers.

The Analysis of the World Statistics of Internet Users per continents shows huge differences that can be matched with the proverty level of the continents. Africa is far behind the others with les than 6% of the population that have access to the Internet when the Average for the World is at 23.5% and the developped countries have more than 50% of their people connected to Internet.

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.

Microfinance refers to financial services provided to low-income people, usually to help support self-employment. By providing very poor families with small loans to invest in their microenterprises, Village Banking empowers them to create their own jobs.

Access to financial services is a fundamental tool for improving a family’s well-being and productive capacity. Access to financial services empowers the poor by reducing their vulnerability, and offering them opportunities to improve their lives.CGAP works toward a world in which poor people are considered valued clients of their country’s financial system. We aim to help build efficient and equitable local financial markets that serve all poor people with convenient and affordable financial services.

In economics, the bottom of the pyramid is the largest, but poorest socio-economic group. In global terms, this is the four billion people who live on less than $2 per day.

The 2008 Global Hunger Index (GHI) shows that the world has made slow progress in reducing food insecurity since 1990, with dramatic differences among regions and countries. In the nearly two decades since 1990, some regions — South and Southeast Asia, the Near East and North Africa, and Latin America and the Caribbean — have made significant headway in improving food security. Nevertheless, the GHI remains high in South Asia. The GHI is similarly high in Sub-Saharan Africa, where progress has been marginal since 1990.

In the fall of 2008, the US credit crunch ballooned into Wall Street’s biggest crisis since the Great Depression. In response, the US federal government adopted billion and trillion bailout plans meant to reassure the markets and get credit flowing again. But the crisis began to spread to Europe and to emerging markets, with governments scrambling to prop up banks, broaden guarantees for deposits and agree on a coordinated response.