Bulletin Board
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GT TARGETS 10 MILLION OF THE POOREST In a meeting of the Grameen Global Network (GGN) organized by GT in the Meeting of Councils on 26 June, 1999. GGN members and other participants discussed the problems faced by practitioners in mobilizing resources to work towards reaching the goal of MCS. |
ADB MICROFINANCE STRATEGY
The Asian Development Bank has approved a regional technical assistance grant of US$400,000 to prepare a microfinance strategy.
Microfinance � providing the poor with loans, savings facilities and other financial services such as insurance � is recognized as a powerful tool for poverty reduction and has been particularly successful in countries such as Bangladesh and Indonesia.
However, despite the rapid growth in microfinance services in the region, an estimated less than 5 percent of poor households in the Asia and Pacific region have access to formal financial services. The ADB�s strategy will include expanding access of the poor to such services. An ADB Task Force on Microfinance will carry out in country consultations in several
of the Bank’s developing member countries. Other activities under the technical assistance will include a regional workshop in Manila to obtain further inputs for the strategy and a study of the role of central banks in microfinance development.
The consultations and the study will cover 12 countries: Bangladesh, People’s Republic of China, Philippines, India, Indonesia, Kyrgyz Republic, Nepal, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, Sri Lanka, Vanuatu, and Viet Nam.
GRAMEEN IN CAMEROUN
Grameen Trust fielded a mission to two partner organizations in Cameroun after the Microcredit Summit Meeting of Councils, in Abidjan in June. The first organization, BERDSCO, has provided credit to 400 very poor members, 90% of whom are women, through two branches in Southwest and Northwest provinces of Cameroun respectively. The recently setup microcredit program of VOCADER is operating in Kumbo, also in the Northwest province. It began its activities in March 1999 and is working exclusively with very poor women.
A meeting of the Grameen Global Network (GGN) took place during the mission in Cameroun at which participants were updated on the activities of GGN and the Microcredit Summit campaign. This was followed by the establishment of the Cameroun Grameen Network of which Mr Forzi Ngu, executive director of BERDSCO was made the coordinator.
