Weitzenegger's Microfinance Report

Building Inclusive Financial Systems: How Can Funders Make a Difference?
http://cgap.org/direct/training/training.php
Dubrovnik, Croatia, 8-12 September 2008
Kigali, Rwanda, 10-14 November 2008 en français
This CGAP/MFMI course is tailored specifically to donors, investors, and policymakers interested in keeping up with the rapidly evolving world of microfinance while gaining practical skills in microfinance appraisal and performance-based management.

Microinsurance Conference 2008
http://tinyurl.com/5ugvj3
Cartagena, Colombia, 5-7 November 2008
There are many challenges in providing microinsurance. Low-income persons are vulnerable to risks, but so far insurance has been accessible only to a few, often through informal or mutual schemes. In most countries, commercial insurers have largely stayed away from the low-income market, mainly because of high costs and small premiums. Yet that is beginning to change, as new cost-effective models are emerging to extend insurance to the poor.

Field Manual: Supporting Microfinance through Grants in Post-Crisis Settings
http://www.microfinancegateway.com/files/44668fileFieldGuideFINAL.pdf
This DAI field manual offers guidance to small grant program managers on supporting microfinance institutions (MFIs1) in countries recovering from conflict or natural disaster through small, shortterm grants.2 These guidelines will help practitioners - particularly those with limited experience in financial services - (i) determine if investment in microfinance is appropriate given a number of environmental and institutional factors, and (ii) outline options for supporting MFIs in postcrisis environments through grants and other forms of technical assistance.

Protecting the poor: A microinsurance compendium
http://tinyurl.com/6djkvf
This authoritative IKO compendium brings together the latest thinking of leading academics, actuaries, and insurance and development professionals in the microinsurance field. The result is a practical, wide-ranging resource which provides the most thorough overview of the subject to date. The book allows readers to benefit from the valuable lessons learned from a project launched by the CGAP Working Group on Microinsurance analysing operations around the world. It also discusses the various institutional arrangements available for delivery such as the community-based approach, insurance companies owned by networks of savings and credit cooperatives and microfinance institutions. The roles of key stakeholders are also explored and the book offers insightful strategies for achieving the right balance between coverage, costs and price.

Microfinance and Disaster Management
http://tinyurl.com/5c9563
'This paper by Stuart Mathison enunciates policies and strategies to help MFIs prepare for the impact of natural disasters. MFIs will be better placed to respond effectively when a disaster strikes if they has worked through the issues, designed policies and products, and negotiated collaboration with Disaster Management Agencies (DMAs), before disaster strikes rather than in the midst of it.'

Microfinance in post-disaster and post-conflict situations: Turning victims into shareholders
http://tinyurl.com/5c9563
The goal of this article by Marek Hudon and Hans Dieter Seibel is to study the role of member-owned institutions (MOIs) in the provisions of the reparations for victims of human rights abuses or reconstruction in post-conflict and post-disaster situations.

The Imp-Act Consortium
http://www2.ids.ac.uk/impact/
The Imp-Act Consortium is global group of organisations working to promote and support the management of social performance by MFIs. ''We are a catalyst for change in microfinance understanding and practice. By connecting practitioners around the world we demonstrate practical action and support each other in managing towards our social goals.''

The MicroInsurance Centre
http://www.microinsurancecentre.org
This site is intended to provide practical tools to assist in the success of these relationships between regulated insurers, and MFOs and banks. It is focused on a partnership model of microinsurance provision.

The Virtual Library on Microcredit
http://www.gdrc.org/icm/
Repository of information on alternative, non-conventional financial systems and microfinance/microcredit issues.

A Billion to Gain?
http://tinyurl.com/68lmym
The reports of ING Microfinance Support systematically chart large global financial institutions’ activities and future plans in microfinance. This third edition in the ‘A Billion to Gain?’ series provides an update of the latest report and serves three main objectives: To update global financial institutions’ activities and future plans regarding microfinance; to discover recent major developments and trends in global financial institutions’ involvement in the microfinance sector; and to reveal the impact of global banks’ involvement in the development of the microfinance sector.

CGAP Good Practice Guidelines for Funders
http://tinyurl.com/5euxvx
Good Practice Guidelines for Funders of Microfinance provides operational guidance for staff of donors and investors in the field and at headquarters who conceptualize, design, implement, and monitor programs related to improving poor people’s access to financial services.

Country-Level Savings Assessment Tool
http://www.microfinancegateway.org/files/45915fileCLSATool.pdf
CGAP produced this Draft Country-Level Savings Assessment (CLSA) Tool to help guide analysts and researchers who wish to undertake CLSAs and to guide governments and donors who wish to commission CLSAs. It explains the areas of analysis covered, the methodology, and how it can be tailored to the needs of the agency commissioning the CLSA. This draft tool is a work in progress.''

Delivering Microfinance and Social Services in Conditions of Fragility in Nepal
http://www.microlinks.org/even.php?ID=19700201&ID2=DOTOPIC
USAid, Field Report no 3. Natural disasters, civil conflicts and the HIV/AIDS pandemic are forcing an increasing number of people to live in conditions of fragility, complicating the delivery of basic public services. Despite the obstacles posed by these fragile conditions, relief and development organizations as well as national governments have been able to increase their outreach to affected populations by developing new approaches and strategies. This case study documents the strategies used by microfinance institutions (MFI), non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and private businesses to deliver financial and non-financial goods and services (e.g., business development services; health and education services; basic consumer goods; sanitation services) to populations affected by the Maoist insurgency in Nepal.

Financial literacy - a comparative study in selected countries
http://www.sparkassenstiftung.de/uploads/media/FinancialLiteracyStudy.pdf
Financial literacy is not only an issue for industrialised nations; it is even more important for developing and transformation countries. When combined with other measures of development cooperation, financial literacy can essentially contribute to combating poverty. By Sparkassenstiftung für internationale Kooperation, Bonn, Germany.

Mobile Banking: DFID Knowledge map & possible donor support strategies
http://tinyurl.com/5p24xc
Mobile banking (m-banking) involves the use of a mobile phone or another mobile device to undertake financial transactions linked to a client’s account. M-banking is one of the newest approaches to the provision of financial services through ICT, made possible by the widespread adoption of mobile phones even in low income countries. The roll out of mobile telephony has been rapid, and has extended access well beyond already connected customers in developing countries. There is mounting evidence of positive social impact on poorer people and communities as a result. There are sound reasons for the hope that m-banking could have similar impact.

Banking With The Poor Network
http://www.bwtp.org
The Banking With The Poor Network is a network of some 30 national policy institutions, commercial banks and NGO's from nine countries in Asia - namely Australia, Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Nepal, Pakistan, Philippines, Sri Lanka and Thailand. The BWTP objective is to link microfinance with the financial system and to support the provision of inclusive financial services in Asia. It pursues this objective through capacity building, information sharing, policy dialogue, advocacy and research.

European Microfinance Platform (e-MFP)
http://www.microfinance-platform.eu
Sharing the vision that everyone on this globe has access to inclusive financial services, microfinance is a solution. e-MFP, as a multi-stakeholder and well connected European microfinance community, has the mission to promote innovative and inclusive financial sectors in developing countries.

MicroFinance Network (MFN)
http://www.mfnetwork.org
MFN is an international association of leading microfinance institutions. Through the MFN, 39 members from 31 countries share ideas, experiences, and innovative solutions to the challenges they face in search of continuous growth and progress. MFN members seek to be models of what is possible in the industry.

Banking on Development: Mobilising Private Development Finance
http://tinyurl.com/2vqc3l
At this Roundtable, co-organised in Geneva with the World Economic Forum, senior executives identified which private financial flows are most effective in stimulating economic growth and poverty reduction. They also discussed how donors can help catalyse these flows.

Credit Unions: Regulations Matrix WOCCU
http://www.microfinancegateway.com/files/47825fileModelRegulationsMatrix.pdf
The World Council of Credit Unions (WOCCU) and the US Agency for International Development (USAID) have published this regulatory matrix. It covers a variety of regulatory issues, such as capital requirements, provisioning, restrictions on lending, auditing, dissolution, and others.

Does Participation in Productive Associations Signal Trust and Creditworthiness? Evidence for Nicaragua
http://www.microfinancegateway.com/files/47758file17.pdf
This article studies the extent to which participation in productive associations in Nicaragua contributes to increase individuals’ access to social programs and credit services.

Microfinance Banana Skins 2008: Risk in a Booming Industry, CGAP
http://www.microfinancegateway.com/files/47464fileCSFIMicrofinanceFINAL.pdf
The Banana Skins report reflects the views of more than 300 respondents from 74 countries, and is a comprehensive survey of the risk outlook for microfinance. The report was sponsored by CGAP and Citi Foundation, with support from the Council of Microfinance Equity Funds (CMEF) and the Microfinance Information eXchange (MIX).

Policy Level Response to Financial Exclusion in Developed Economies: Lessons for Developing Countries, University of Bristol, DFID
http://info.worldbank.org/etools/library/latestversion.asp?232700
This study commissioned by the Department for International Development (DFID) provides a brief overview of the policy-level response to financial exclusion in a number of developed economies. It also draws lessons that can be applied in those countries that have less developed banking systems.

Servicios Financieros para las Micros y Pequeñas Empresas, CAATEC
http://tinyurl.com/2xxb99
Este libro desafía al lector con dos dimensiones novedosas en Costa Rica. Por un lado, los autores describen la evolución de un programa (BN-Desarrollo) que, paradójicamente, está rompiendo con viejos paradigmas. Este programa ha venido adaptando, al entorno nacional, las innovaciones en tecnologías de crédito asociadas con las microfinanzas y las ha incorporado exitosamente a las operaciones de un banco. Por otro lado, la evaluación que este libro persigue no se contenta con reportar los tradicionales resultados financieros del programa en el banco, donde en cualquier caso constituye una de sus más importantes fuentes de rentabilidad. Como evaluación, el trabajo más bien aporta dos nuevas perspectivas.

Commonwealth Micro Finance (CMF)
http://www.commonwealthmf.com
Commonwealth Micro Finance (CMF) has been established by the Commonwealth Business Council (CBC) to provide a range of financial services including international remittances, micro-savings, micro-loans and other banking services for individuals and small businesses in 52 Commonwealth countries. CBC provides leadership in increasing international trade and investment flows, creating new business opportunities, promoting good governance and corporate social responsibility, reducing the digital divide and integrating developing countries, in the Commonwealth, into the global market. Pre-register online for your Zipp™ card. It dramatically reduces transaction costs for Migrant remittances and banking transaction costs.

Microscope on the Microfinance Business Environment in Latin America 2007
http://topics.developmentgateway.org/microfinance/rc/filedownload.do?itemId=1132367
The Scoring Model (Excel) - Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) - In this inaugural Microscope on the Microfinance Business Environment in 15 Latin American and Caribbean (LAC) countries, the Economist Intelligence Unit - in association with the Inter-American Development (IDB) and Andean Development Corporation (CAF, in Spanish) charts the industry's strengths and weaknesses across the region.

Banking on Development : private banks and aid donors in developing countries
http://lysander.sourceoecd.org/vl=1107072/cl=11/nw=1/rpsv/cgi-bin/wppdf?file=5l4bhbfrf037.pdf
The aim of this ECD Working Paper No. 263 is precisely to contribute to this debate and process. It highlights how private banks and other private financial operators like private equity firms and investments funds, can play a pivotal role in economic development. All in all, they are interesting potential partners for public aid donors willing to deepen impacts on developing countries. As documented, some of the private banking firms are more active in specific regions. UK and French banks seem, for example, to be potential interesting partners for aid donors in Africa while Spanish banks or US counterparts are more relevant for Latin America and German, Swiss and Italian banks for Eastern Europe. Beyond international banks, local private banks in Brazil, India, South Africa, Morocco and other developing countries are becoming increasingly aware and sensitive to economic, social and environmental impacts.

New Microinsurance Initiative from the ILO and GatesFoundation
http://www.microinsurancefocus.org
The International Labour Organization (ILO) and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation recently announced a new partnership to develop or improve insurance products to promote decent work for tens of millions of low-income people in the developing world. Over the course of the next three years, the facility will issue bi-annual requests for proposals and provide funding to pilot new insurance products, improve efficiency in the field, and use technology to create new products that better meet people’s needs. The facility will also train technical specialists to help replicate successful models. This facility builds on the successful efforts of the CGAP Working Group on Microinsurance to document the experiences of microinsurance operations around the world. Funded by DFID, GTZ, ILO and SIDA, this ''Good and Bad Practices” project conducted a series of case studies of insurance companies, microfinance institutions and community-based schemes that provide insurance to the poor. See case studies on

Microfinance Passport distance learning course
http://www.microfinancepassport.com
Plural India announced the launch of its ''Microfinance Passport'', a four-month distance learning course for those interested in the emergent field of microfinance. The course comprises two comprehensive modules spanning an expansive range of topics in microfinance, both at the macro and micro level, Freestyle (debate sessions) and GroundZero (field visits to partner microfinance institutions).

''Microfinance Fever” by Matthew Swibel
http://www.forbes.com/forbes/2008/0107/050.html?partner=email
A lot of people are chasing returns in barefoot banking. Here's what you should know before you follow.

Good Practice Guidelines for Funders of Microfinance E-book
http://www.cgap.org/portal/site/CGAP/menuitem.929eeda637b63d5167808010591010a0/
To help funding agency staff translate guidance into daily operations, CGAP has developed an e-book version of the Good Practice Guidelines for Funders of Microfinance. The e-book version goes one step further than the Good Practice Guidelines that help to raise awareness of good practice and improve the effectiveness of donors and investors' microfinance operations--it provides links to practical operational tools.

New ILO Study on Microfinance and Efficiency
http://topics.developmentgateway.org/microfinance/highlights/viewHighlight.do~activeHighlightId=115288?intcmp=920
An estimated US$4 billion is invested annually in microfinance around the world. But while microfinance institutions must have strong business models in order to survive, they face the challenge of making profits while creating lasting social change. A newly published study entitled Microfinance and public policy: Outreach, performance and efficiency edited by Bernd Balkenhol, the head of the Social Finance Programme at the International Labour Office (ILO) provides practitioners and policy makers with guidance on how to deal with the issue of balancing business and poverty reduction by defining criteria for supporting microfinance institutions. This research study seeks to clarify an issue that practitioners of microfinance and donors often face: how to preserve the dual commitment of microfinance institutions (MFIs) to both poverty reduction and profitability, whilst ensuring their progressive integration into the financial market and the phasing out of subsidies.

World Council of Credit Unions (WOCCU)
http://www.woccu.org
This improved Web site this eerything you need to know about WOCCU's programs, international remittances, partnerships and credit union statistics in any given country is now available in one place in both English and Spanish. WOCCU’s Web site also offers an archive of valuable resources on best practices in credit union development.

EC proposes new options to reinforce development of micro-credit in Europe
http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=IP/07/1713&format=HTML&aged=0&language=EN&guiLanguage=en
Regional Policy Commissioner Danuta Hübner presented an initiative which seeks to improve access to finance for small businesses and for socially excluded people, also ethnic minorities, who want to become self-employed. This initiative, in line with the Lisbon Strategy for growth and jobs, aims to make small loans, or micro-credit, more widely available in Europe to satisfy unmet demand. Micro-credit has been used very successfully in less developed countries, and there has already been some action in this field in the EU, both at Community and at national level. In the EU, demand for this type of finance – typically, loans averaging around €7,700 – is overwhelmingly from people setting up small companies in the service sector. Be it services to businesses, individuals or households, they range from personal computer wizards to window cleaners, gardeners, or carers for people or pets – micro-credit can help make a business of an individual's skills and abilities.

Microfinance Profits: Muhammad Yunus challenges Compartamos bank
http://psdblog.worldbank.org/psdblog/2007/10/muhammad-yunus-.html
Is it ok to make a big profit from lending to the poor? Where does microcredit end and loan sharking begin? Carlos Danel and Carlos Labarthe, the CEOs of Compartamos, a nonprofit-cum-commercial bank which charges an annual interest rate of nearly 100 percent, believe that only the lure of profits will motivate people to lend to the poor. Today Compartamos reaches 700,000 borrowers and 88 percent of its clients come back for more loans. In 2006, it was rated as Mexico's most profitable bank. Muhammad Yunus, the Nobel laureate who pioneered the movement three decades ago and has made loans to some 7 million borrowers in Bangladesh, disagrees. Poor people's willingness to pay high interest is not a justification for charging it, he says. Compartamos is not microcredit, it's ''raking in money off poor people desperate for cash.''

World Bank calls for broader access to finance
http://econ.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/EXTDEC/EXTRESEARCH/EXTPRRS/EXTFINFORALL/0,,menuPK:4099731~pagePK:64168092~piPK:64168088~theSitePK:4099598,00.html
Between 50 and 80 percent of adults in many developing countries have inadequate access to financial services, finds a new World Bank policy research report entitled ''Finance for All? Policies and Pitfalls in Expanding Access”. According to the report, failure to provide more households and small and medium enterprises with the financial services they need acts as a brake on development. While noting the microfinance industry’s progress in delivering credit to poor people, the report calls for a broader financial strategy that delivers services to all excluded people and firms. Inclusive financial systems ultimately benefit the poorest people and the smallest firms the most, by creating more jobs, raising incomes, and generating more opportunities for small businesses. The report says that governments should strengthen institutions and adopt new technologies to bring down transaction costs. Research suggests that governments should also encourage competition—including foreign bank entry—and provide the right regulatory incentives. In contrast, direct interventions by governments, such as through credit subsidies or government-owned financial institutions, can be counter-productive, reducing incentives for the private sector to deliver services to the poor.

Rural Credit and Microenterprise Development
http://topics.developmentgateway.org/microfinance/rc/filedownload.do?itemId=1119420
This is a descriptive report by Bandeth Rosdrawn from various literature to indicate the roles of microcredit and microfinance in rural development. This is an assignment to fulfill one of my paper (International Rural Development Paper)

Microfinance in Mozambique: Achievements, Prospects & Challenges
http://www.microfinancegateway.org/files/38648file10microfinanceinmozambiquereport2006.pdf
This report by Fion de Vletter traces the development of microfinance activity in Mozambique. It also assesses the current status of microfinance sector in Mozambique.

Sustainability of Self-Help Groups in India: Two Analyses
http://www.cgap.org/portal/binary/com.epicentric.contentmanagement.servlet.ContentDeliveryServlet/Documents/OccasionalPaper12.pdf
The massive outreach of SHGs has generated interest in the model’s sustainability and replicability in India and elsewhere. Although SHGs have been widely studied, relatively little information has been published on their financial performance.
The CGAP studies look primarily at the financial viability of these SHG programs and its methodology.

Social Performance Resource Center
http://microfinancegateway.org/resourcecenters/socialperformance
The Social Performance Resource Center on the Microfinance Gateway is designed to serve as a common platform for those in the industry who see a double bottom line as intrinsic to the vision of expanding financial services to the poor. Browse this site for: definitions, debates, and links to ongoing initiatives; practical resources for MFIs and funders; answers to FAQs, training opportunities, and links to the Social Performance Task Force.

EU/ACP Microfinance Framework Programme
http://www.euacpmicrofinance.org
In January 2005, the EU and the ACP Group launched the EU/ACP Microfinance Framework Programme. With a budget of 15 million Euro for 4 years from the 9th European Development Fund, the EU/ACP Microfinance Programme intends to support the development of innovative solutions and dissemination of good practices in microfinance. The Programme builds on successful microfinance experiences in ACP countries and promotes South-South learning. With this pilot programme, the EU seeks to advance the overall effectiveness of its microfinance operations in ACP countries, including those not directly funded by this Programme.

Online Course in Practical Microfinance
http://www.snhu.edu/856.asp
rn New Hampshire University's School of Community Economic Development will host an online course in Practical Microfinance this fall. The 11-week course, to be held from Sept 17 - Dec 18, is the first in a series of three courses for SNHU's Graduate Certificate in Microfinance Management. SNHU Professor Malcolm Harper will facilitate the program, which is open both to the students pursuing a master degree and to development practitioners working in the development field.

Beyond Good Intentions: Measuring the Social Performance of Microfinance Institutions
http://www.microfinancegateway.org/files/42300fileFocusNote41.pdf
A publication in the CGAP Focus Note Series of the Consultative Group to assist the Poor (CGAP). This Focus Note highlights the emerging emphasis on social performance in microfinance and reviews some of the assessment tools recently developed.''

Combining microinsurance and new technologies to protect the poor
http://www.ilo.org/public/english/bureau/inf/features/07/microinsurance.htm
Microcredit can help the poor rise above poverty. Microinsurance can help them stay there. By providing protection against certain perils, microinsurance complements other financial and social services. Still, its development relies on significantly reducing operating expenses relative to premiums. A new ILO co-publication entitled ''Protecting the poor: A microinsurance compendium” says new technologies may hold the key to boosting microinsurance as an effective poverty-reduction strategy.

MicroVest
http://microvestfund.com
MicroVest One's global investments reach viable, proven MFIs seeking capital to continue their growth. Instruments include debt, subordinated debt, loan guarantees, equity (with an exit strategy), and quasi-equity sub-debt. Investments are made in existing financial institutions that: Provide financial services to low-income based enterprises, and Are profitable, growth-oriented, and well-managed.

Kiva
http://www.kiva.org
Kiva is an online service that connects lenders to small business borrowers in developing countries. Kiva partners with existing microfinance institutions. By choosing a business on Kiva.org, a lender can ''sponsor a business'' and help a few of the world's working poor stride towards economic independence. Loans can be made instantly via PayPal, which does not charge for the service. Throughout the course of the loan (usually 6-12 months), the lender can receive email journal updates from the business you've sponsored. As loans are repaid, you get your loan money back. Borrowers, screened by the local microfinance institution, can get small amounts of money relatively quickly. The website claims over US$4 million in loans, with an excellent repayment scheduler.

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