Pathways Out of Poverty: Innovations in Microfinance for the Poorest Families - Edited by Sam Daley-Harris http://www.microcreditsummit.org/papers/papers.htm http://www.kpbooks.com/ Six recently commissioned papers were discussed in Plenary Session at the Microcredit Summit +5 and have been compiled in a book entitled Pathways Out of Poverty: Innovations in Microfinance for the Poorest Families, published by a leading publisher in the international development field, Kumarian Press in November of 2002. Microfinance is a key intervention in helping poor families in developing countries move out of poverty. The Microcredit Summit Campaign has been working since 1997 to promote microfinance, with the aim of reaching 100 million of the world's poorest families by 2005. Notable Feature(s): Background on Kumarian: Kumarian's range of topics has expanded to include issues of globalization, peace and conflict resolution, the environment, women and gender, NGOs, civil society, microfinance, health, and the interaction between the richer and poorer societies. Kumarian is a pioneer in publishing books emphasizing the people-centered approach to development. Contact Information: Krishna K. Sondhi, President and Publisher Kumarian Press, Inc 1294 Blue Hills Avenue Bloomfield, Connecticut   06002 USA Telephone: 860.243.2098   Email: kpbooks@kpbooks.com Poland's first food bank - by David Bornstein http://www.civnet.org/journal/vol3no2/rpdborn.htm An outstanding model (and presentation) of initiative and problem-solving in the face of official inertia. The Barefoot Bank With Cheek - by David Bornstein http://www.theatlantic.com/issues/95dec/grameen/grameen.htm The Grameen Bank, in Bangladesh, which makes small loans to some of the poorest people on earth, has become a model for economic developers all over the world. Tiny Loans Have Big Impact on Poor - by Saritha Rai http://www.changemakers.net/library/temp/nyt041204.cfm In India, microloans are usually disbursed to poor women whose total family assets are less than 20,000 rupees ($459) and whose monthly income is smaller than 350 rupees. Yet microfinance initiatives have a phenomenal repayment rate averaging more than 95 percent, better than the best commercial banks in the world. Many of the programs are highly profitable.... This April 2004 article from The New York Times tells the story of Vinod Khosla who has a reputation as a visionary and as a person who is able to identify industry trends well before others," said Maggie Nielson, vice president for strategic development of Unitus, an organization based in Redmond, Washington State, that helps provide capital financing and strategic help to microfinance initiatives. "Having someone with his credibility endorse this relatively unknown industry brings significant attention." Women and Poverty: Is Grameen Bank the Answer? - by Santi Rozario http://www.capstrans.uow.edu.au/pubs/grameen.pdf There has been general agreement since at least the mid-1970s that women, particularly poor rural women, need special consideration within the development process. Awareness of this problem has increased in recent years, as have attempts at appropriate strategies, but effective responses are hard to find. This research paper examines the features of Grameen microcredit and other microfinance approaches that are being applied around the world to great effect. Notable Feature(s): Discussion of the establishment of Gonoshashtha Pharmaceuticals in Bangladesh and its successful struggle to achieve a National Drug Policy to make locally-made generic versions of essential pharmaceuticals available widely at low prices. ACCION International http://www.accion.org/ ACCION is a private, nonprofit umbrella organization for a network of microfinance institutions in 13 Latin American countries and 8 U.S. cities. ACCION seeks to create a permanent answer to poverty through financially sustainable microlending to the smallest of small business people, the poor and low-income people who start their own tiny businesses. Notable Feature(s): Access to "Ventures," an on-line magazine of first-person accounts of self-employment success because of ACCION help. Contact Information: Robin Ratcliffe ACCION International 120 Beacon Street Somerville, MA   02143 USA Telephone: (617) 492-4930   Fax: (617) 876-9509 Email: info@accion.org rratcliffe@accion.org Consultative Group to Assist the Poorest (CGAP) http://www.cgap.org/ The Consultative Group to Assist the Poorest (CGAP) is a consortium of 29 bilateral and multilateral donor agencies who support microfinance. Our mission is to improve the capacity of microfinance institutions to deliver flexible, high-quality financial services to the very poor on a sustainable basis. CGAP serves microfinance institutions, donors and the microfinance industry through the development of technical tools and services, the delivery of training, strategic advice and technical assistance, and action research on innovations. Research demonstrates that participation of the poor in credit and savings systems enhances income generation, improves the family's welfare, health and nutritional condition, and raises educational levels and lowers birth rates. Notable Feature(s): On-line publications, notes, and occasional papers, bibliographies, and links to other institutions in the microfinance network. Contact Information: CGAP Secretariat The World Bank 1818 H Street NW Room Q4-023 Washington, DC   20433 USA Telephone: 202.473.9594   Fax: 202.522.3744 Email: cgap@worldbank.org Development Finance Network http://www.fao.org/WAICENT/FAOINFO/AGRICULT/ags/AGSM/dfn.htm An E-mail service to enhance communication among researchers, practitioners, donor employees, and policymakers who are interested in developing financial markets, especially in low-income countries or in economies in transition. Contact Information: R.A.J. Roberts FAO Marketing and Rural Finance Service Viale delle Terme di Caracalla Rome   00100 Italy Telephone: +39 06 570-53817   Fax: +39 06 570 56850 Email: Richard.Roberts@fao.org ELDIS - Economics http://nt1.ids.ac.uk/eldis/econ/ecn.htm Produced by the British Library for Development Studies, ELDIS offers electronic information on development and environmental issues: development economics, children, development education, food security, gender, statistics, participation, forestry, health, climate, development aid, disasters/refugees, waste management, environmental monitoring. Contact Information: Peter Ferguson Eldis Programme, Institute of Development Studies University of Sussex Falmer Brighton   BN1 9RE UK Telephone: +44 1273 606261   Fax: +44 1273 621202 Email: eldis@ids.ac.uk Enterprise Foundation http://www.enterprisefoundation.org/ http://www.horizonmag.com/ The Enterprise Foundation is dedicated to bringing lasting improvements to distressed communities. Enterprise is a national, nonprofit housing and community development organization. It was launched in 1982 by Jim and Patty Rouse. Since then, Enterprise and its related organizations have raised and leveraged $3.4 billion and helped to create more than 107,000 homes affordable to low-income Americans and to place more than 31,000 people in jobs. The Foundation's mission is to see that all low-income people in the United States have the opportunity for fit and affordable housing and to move up and out of poverty into the mainstream of American life. As the nation's leader in community development, Enterprise cultivates, collects, and disseminates expertise and resources to help communities across the United States successfully improve the quality of life for low-income people. Through its online resources, the Enterprise Foundation provides replicable, programmatic models and information to help nonprofit and others interested in community development save money and work more successfully. Notable Feature(s): Online Enterprise Resource Database to access downloadable resources on housing, financing, economic development, safety, childcare and more; Funding programs for information on funding sources for community development and related work; MoneyNet; a host of materials and contact information on Enterprise Foundation programs in the U.S., including The Enterprise Social Investment Corporation(ESIC), an Enterprise Foundation subsidiary, that works with partners to finance, develop and acquire affordable housing and other community development initiatives in underserved neighborhoods across the country. Contact Information: The Enterprise Foundation 10227 Wincopin Circle Suite 500 Columbia, MD   21044 USA Telephone: 410.964.1230   Fax: 410.964.1918 Email: mail@enterprisefoundation.org Enterweb http://www.enterweb.org A comprehensive source of information on management, business development, education and training for entrpreneurial activity. The focus is on micro, small and medium enterprise development both in developed and developing countries. Contact Information: Email: jlorin@synapse.net FAO - Agricultural Finance Revisited http://www.fao.org/WAICENT/FAOINFO/AGRICULT/ags/agsm/faogtz.htm Contact Information: FAO/Marketing and Rural Finance Service Agricultural Support Systems Division Viale delle Terme di Caracalla Rome,   00100 Italy Fax: +39 06 570 56850 Email: Anthony.Slangen@fao.org FIELD - Microenterprise Fund for Innovation, Effectiveness, Learning and Dissemination http://www.fieldus.org/home/index.html The microenterprise Fund for Innovation, Effectiveness, Learning and Dissemination (FIELD) is a program of the Aspen Institute. Funds to launch FIELD were provided by the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation, the Ford Foundation, the Citigroup Foundation, and the Levi Strauss Foundation. FIELD's mission is to identify, develop, and disseminate best practices in the field of microenterprise, and to publicize the value of microenterprise as an anti-poverty intervention. One of FIELD's core functions has been to make grants and create learning clusters in key areas of importance to the microenterprise field. To date, FIELD has made 33 grants totaling $3 million. Currently, FIELD has no plans to make additional grants. FIELD is envisioned as the next generation of the Self-Employment Learning Project (SELP), an evaluation and public education program that has served as the leading information resource on microenterprise in the U.S. FIELD operates as a program of the Aspen Institute and has its own Advisory Board, comprised of practitioners, donors and other experts in microenterprise. Notable Feature(s): Case studies of successful business launches. Contact Information: The Aspen Institute One Dupont Circle, NW Suite 700 Washington, DC   20036 USA Telephone: 202.736.1071   Fax: 202.467.0790 Email: fieldweb@aspeninstitute.org FINCA International Banking http://www.villagebanking.org/ Launched in 1985, the nonprofit Foundation for International Community Assistance (FINCA)provides small loans of working capital to low-income families to help alleviate poverty. Known for having pioneered "village banking" and for leadership in the burgeoning field of microfinance, FINCA now serves more than 70,000 poor families in 14 countries. Notable Feature(s): Descriptive materials on village banking in different countries: how it works, how to organize; Press Room for stories. Contact Information: FINCA International, Inc. 1101 14th Street, NW 11th Floor Washington, D.C.   20005 USA Telephone: 202 682-1510   Fax: 202 682-1535 Email: finca@villagebanking.org Global - Home-Based Workers http://www.unifem.undp.org/ec_povh7.htm In order to improve conditions for home-based workers, andguarantee their rights, UNIFEM and the Self-Employed Women's Association (SEWA) of India, a 200,000-member women's trade union, organized a regional consultation of high policymakers from 10 Asian countries to sensitize them to the needs of home-based workers. This site tells the story. Contact Information: United Nations Development Fund for Wome 304 East 45th Street, 6th floor New York, NY   10017 USA Telephone: 212/906-6400   Fax: 212/906-6705 Email: unifem@undp.org Global Poverty Report http://www.worldbank.org/poverty/library/G8_2001.htm http://www.worldbank.org/poverty/index.htm The Global Poverty Report considers the effects of globalizing markets on poverty in developing countries. It outlines the channels through which increased trade openness can affect poverty and examines the evidence from four regions: Sub-Saharan Africa, Asia and the Pacific, Eastern Europe and Central Asia, and Latin America and the Caribbean. Written at the request of the G8, and presented at the G-8 Genoa Summit (July 2001), the report is the result of a joint effort of the African Development Bank, the Asian Development Bank, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, the Inter-American Development Bank, the World Bank, and the International Monetary Fund. Notable Feature(s): A wealth of resources resources for people and organizations working to understand and alleviate poverty around the world; vast library of publications, documents, reports, evaluations, and data on poverty; country contact directory for World Bank offices. Contact Information: The World Bank 1818 H Street, N.W. Washington, DC   20433 USA Telephone: 202.477.1234   Fax: 202.477.6391 Email: feedback@worldbank.org Grameen Dialogue http://www.grameen-info.org/dialogue/ http://www.grameen-info.org/ The Grameen Trust of Bangladesh, created to promote awareness and action for the elimination of poverty and hunger, publishes this on-line journal of articles on different aspects of microenterprise, including grassroots experience, the legal climate, and possibilities and models for replication. Notable Feature(s): Country reports (Argentina, Chile, Bolivia, Vietnam, Mexico) and special features, including, in the October 2001 issue, the report "Microcredt: Grassroots Capitalism"; information on all Grameen programs, including credit for the poor, telecommunications, fisheries, handloom industries, newsletters, the Grameen Trust, the Grameen Foundation USA, and more; archive of past issues of the newsletter. Contact Information: Grameen Foundation USA 1709 New York Ave., NW, Suite 101 Washington, DC USA Telephone: 202.628.3560   Fax: 202.628.3880 Email: info@gfusa.org Grameen Foundation USA http://www.gfusa.org/ Grameen Foundation USA works in partnership with the Grameen Bank, pioneer of small loans to the poor, to fight poverty all over the world. The Grameen Bank was started in Bangladesh in 1976 as an experiment of how a small amount of credit could affect the lives of the rural poor. It has since loaned more than 2 billion dollars to millions of people. Grameen Foundation USA was founded to advance the philosophy and work of Grameen. Notable Feature(s): Replicating the Grameen approach, with examples from the United States and elsewhere in the world; a collection of documents on the replication program; Contact Information: Grameen Foundation USA 1029 Vermont Avenue, NW Suite 400 Washington, DC   20005 USA Telephone: 202.628.3560   Fax: 202.628.3880 Email: info@gfusa.org Grameen Telecom's Village Phone Programme: A Multi-Media Case Study http://www.telecommons.com/villagephone/contents.html http://www.grameen-info.org/grameen/gtelecom/ Full on-line text of March 2000 case study of Grameen's effort at poverty reduction by providing micro-credit cellular phone service. The case study contains in-depth analysis of the operation of the Village Phone initiative, its impact on poverty reduction, the business case for rural telecommunications in Bangladesh, and analysis of gender contexts and phone use. The report also contains an extensive bibliography with hyper-text links to key documents and reports, including an earlier research report on the Village Phone initiative by Prof. Abdul Bayes. The report is accompanied by on-line video including an interview with Muhammad Yunus, Managing Director of the Grameen Bank. This study was commissioned by the Strategic Planning & Policy Division of the Asia Branch Poverty Reduction Project, Canadian International Development Agency, as a case study among many undertaken as part of the Asia Branch Poverty Reduction Project, to investigate the impact of the GrameenPhone and Grameen Telecom provision of micro-credit cellular phone service on poverty reduction and the socio-economic situation of women Village Phone operators and users at large. Contact Information: Don Richardson TeleCommons Development Group 512 Woolwich St., Suite 200 Guelph, Ontario   N1H 3X7 Canada Telephone: 519.821.5787 x 241   Fax: 519-821-4868 Email: don@tdg.ca Grassroots Development Journal http://www.iaf.gov/jrnl19-2/toc.htm This issue of the Journal of the Inter-American Foundation examines a host of issues involved in mobilizing resources for sustainable development at the local level. Contact Information: The Inter-American Foundation 901 North Stuart Street 10th Floor Arlington, VA   22203 USA Telephone: (703) 306-4301   Fax: (703) 306-4365 Green Pages – The Global Directory for Environmental Technology http://eco-web.com/ This comprehensive guide to a full spectrum of environmental products and services features 3,773 leading suppliers from 89 countries. Information about organizations, conferences and publications is complemented by editorial contributions from distinguished experts in their respective fields. A practical reference source for government departments, utility companies, engineering consultants, development agencies, importers and traders, educational institutes, non-governmental organizations and individuals engaged in environmental activities. Incubator Hatches New Businesses in Economically Depressed Areas in Bulgaria - by Clive Leviev-Sawyer http://www.undp.org/dpa/choices/2003/june/bulgaria.html The JOBS Programme, supported by Bulgaria's Ministry of Labour and Social Policy, Belgium, Norway and UNDP, was launched two years ago with the goals of job creation and poverty alleviation. Implemented by UNDP, the project provides a range of instruments to establish and strengthen micro and small enterprises to the point where they can promote sustainable job creation in economically depressed regions. Inter-American Development Bank (IADB) http://www.iadb.org Established in 1959 to help accelerate economic and social development in Latin America and the Caribbean, the IADB is the oldest and largest regional multilateral development institution. Its "Inter-American Investment Corporation" (IIC) promotes the economic development of member countries by financing small and medium-scale private enterprises. In 36 years of operation, the Bank has become a major catalyst in mobilizing resources for the region. The Bank seeks to benefit low-income populations, particularly through its innovative Small Projects Program that provides financing to microentrepreneurs and small-scale farmers. Contact Information: The Inter-America Development Bank 1300 New York Avenue, NW Washington, DC   20577 USA Telephone: 202-623-1000   Inter-American Foundation (IAF) http://www.iaf.gov/iaf1.htm Created in 1969 as an experimental U.S. foreign assistance program, the Inter-American Foundation is an independent agency of the U. S. Government. Since then, the IAF hasworked in Latin America and the Caribbean to promote equitable, responsive, and participatory self-help development by awarding grants directly to local organizations throughout the region. The IAF also enters into partnerships with public- and private-sector entities to scale-up support and mobilize local, national, and international resources for grassroots development. Contact Information: The Inter-American Foundation 901 North Stuart Street 10th Floor Arlington, VA   22203 USA Telephone: (703) 306-4301   Fax: (703) 306-4365 International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) http://www.unicc.org/ifad/home.html Established in 1977 as a specialized agency of the United Nations, IFAD finances agricultural development projects primarily for food production in the developing countries. It has a specific mandate to combat rural hunger and poverty, e.g., in the form of loans and grants to improve (in a sustainable way) the lives of farmers, herders, fishermen, and particularly women. Notable Feature(s): Case studies of partners' success. Contact Information: IFAD International Fund for Agricultural Development 107, Via del Serafico Rome   00142 Italy Fax: (3906)54591 Email: ifad@ifad.org Life in Africa http://www.lifeinafrica.com/ Life in Africa is a community-based social purpose enterprise. Life in Africa emphasizes job creation and then encourages members earning new incomes to leverage their earnings for investing in the long-term security of their families. LiA offers qualified members in good standing the opportunity to apply for small loans on the Internet, backed by a LiA community guarantee. After the member loan plans have been prepared and approved by LiA's loan review committee, Kiva.org promotes them to global grassroots investors for funding. Members who earn an income at Life in Africa are connected with commercial banking services and training on how to use their account through Stanbic Bank. For most members this is the first bank account they have ever had. Life in Africa is a membership community of grassroots changemakers in Kampala, Uganda. LiA produces social-awareness-raising craft products, provides practical earn-and-learn training opportunities, and offers services that connect its community and others to global resources for local change. Members include families from some of Uganda's most impoverished residential settings. Its uccess as a community is driven by its unique Webbed Empowerment (WE) approach, that guides both online and offline activities. Notable Feature(s): LiA blog. MicroAid http://www.microaid.net Founded by Richard Beresford out of a United Nations Development Project in Indonesia with a small team of dedicated professionals, MicroAid has been working with poor families and their local community organisations since 1998. Based in the UK, MicroAid builds on over 25 years of experience of poverty eradication using small-scale enterprise, microfinance, and family development as the tools of self-help for poor families. The "micro-aid" development model is brand new, not a development program per se, but actual micro-projects implemented by poor families. Before providing families with a micro-credit loan MicroAid suggests that development organisations provide a risk-free grant first ('micro-aid') that allows the families to develop a profitable enterprise. From this firmer foundation they can then go on to micro-credit. Without that first step families end up paying back loans while struggling with their existing unprofitable enterprises thus potentially sending them deeper into poverty. MicroAid provides integrated managed services for poverty eradication online. The network currently reaches 14,000 poor families in Indonesia and can scale to reach many thousands more. MicroAid uses a simple home enterprise process that families can learn in the village. Local community organisations facilitate ideas for poor family enterprise improvement online. MicroAid's Internet system allows funds to be sent directly to poor family bank accounts for their ideas. MicroAid measures success by the new, profitable relationships and networks created by poor families. Notable Feature(s): Reports on programs underway or in development around the world; MicroAid's Monthly News; see MicroAid's innovative development model in action through the micro-projects of poor families along with the individual budgets down to the last cent. Contact Information: Toby Beresford Managing Director, MicroAid Shakespeare House 168 Lavender Hill Battersea SW11 5TF UK Telephone: +44 (0) 207 801 6344   Fax: +44 (0) 207 801 6345 Email: directors@microaid.net Microbanking Standards Project http://www.microbanking-mbb.org/about.html The MicroBanking Standards Project, started in 1997 by Robert Peck Christen, is based in Washington DC and funded by the Consultative Group to Assist the Poorest (CGAP). The project, managed from 1997 to 1998 by the Economics Institute in Boulder, Colorado, and by Calmeadow, a Canadian non-profit organization, from 1999 to 2000, is now temporarily set-up in the CGAP premises where it continues to function as an independent project. In the course of the past four years, the project has grown to include 124 leading microfinance institutions from 45 countries, of which 64 are financially self-sufficient. Notable Feature(s): The MicroBanking Bulletin is now published twice a year, April and October, and is widely disseminated. Contact Information: MicroBanking Bulletin 1919 Pennsylvania Ave NW Suite 4-082 / 4-084 Washington, DC   20006 USA Telephone: 202.659.9802   Fax: 202.659.9816 Email: mbb@microbanking-mbb.org Microcredit Summit http://www.microcreditsummit.org/ The Microcredit Summit was held February 2-4, 1997. At the Summit more than 2,900 people from 137 countries gathered in Washington, DC. They launched a nine-year campaign to reach 100 million of the world's poorest families, especially the women of those families, with credit for self-employment and other financial and business services by the year 2005. The Microcredit Summit Campaign brings together microcredit practitioners, advocates, educational institutions, donor agencies, international financial institutions, non-governmental organizations and others involved with microcredit to promote best practices in the field, to learn from each other, and to work towards reaching its goal. Notable Feature(s): State of the Microcredit Summit Report 2001; newsletter; Best Practices and institutional action plans; regional updates. Contact Information: The Microcredit Summit Campaign 440 First St. NW, Suite 460 Washington, D.C.   20001 USA Telephone: 202.637.9600   Fax: 202.637.3566 Email: info@microcreditsummit.org Microcredit Summit: Countdown 2005 http://www.microcreditsummit.org/newsletter/newsletter.htm Contact Information: Microcredit Summit c/o RESULTS Educational Fund 440 First St. NW, Suite 460 Washington, D.C.   20001 USA Telephone: (202) 637-9600   Fax: (202) 637-3566 Email: microcredit@igc.apc.org Microenterprise Best Practices Project: Research and Publications http://www.mip.org/default.htm The Microenterprise Best Practices (MBP) Project is expanding the knowledge base of microenterprise practices in developing countries through: research and publications, a grant facility, and information sharing. MBP is the research and learning component of the U.S. Agency for International Development's Microenterprise Innovation Project (MIP). Notable Feature(s): An excellent collection of reports, concept papers, technical documents, business models, and innovations in microenterprise; archive of MBP newsletters. Contact Information: Yolanda Hodge Weidemann Associates 933 N. Kenmore Street, Suite 405 Arlington, VA   22201 USA Telephone: 703.522.3075   Fax: 703.525.6169 Microenterprise Innovation Project http://www.mip.org/ The Microenterprise Innovation Project is the U.S. Agency for International Development's (USAID) initiative supporting technical and financial assistance, as well as research and training on best practices in microenterprise development and finance. The Microenterprise Best Practices (MBP) Project is expanding the knowledge base of microenterprise practices in developing countries Notable Feature(s): Best Practices documents, case studies, tools, review papers, events, and Information on grant funding. Contact Information: Development Experience Clearinghouse 1611 N. Kent Street Suite 200 Arlington, VA   22209-2111 USA Telephone: 703-351-4006   Fax: 703-351-4039 Email: docorder@dec.cdie.org Microfinance Gateway http://nt1.ids.ac.uk/cgap/index.htm The Gateway is a one-stop microfinance information hub. It is a forum for MFI practitioners, NGOs, donors, and others to learn about microfinance topics and to share their knowledge. The Microfinance Gateway is a collaboration between CGAP (the Consultative Group to Assist the Poorest) and ELDIS, a leading organization in on-line information gateways (based at the Institute of Development Studies, U.K.). Notable Feature(s): An on-line library with a search function that allows access to an extensive collection of over 12,000 documents and practical tools, including 1,300 abstracts and 700 documents for download. Contact Information: Rupert Brown The Microfinance Gateway Eldis Programme, Institute of Development Studies University of Sussex Brighton BN1 9RE U.K. Telephone: +44 (0)1273 877423   Fax: +44 (0)1273 621202 Email: cgmonitor@lyris.ids.ac.uk MicroFinance Network (MFN) http://www.bellanet.org/partners/mfn/ The MicroFinance Network is a global association of leading microfinance practitioners. The members of the Network are committed to improving the lives of low-income people through the provision of credit, savings and other financial services. The Network believes that this sector of the population should be served by sustainable and profitable microfinance institutions (MFIs). It has a three-part mission: To promote the financial systems approach to micro sector finance among policy makers, donors and practitioners To facilitate the process of transformation of microfinance organizations into formal financial institutions To provide Network members with access to information and expertise that increases their knowledge about best practices in micro sector finance and accelerates their process of transformation Notable Feature(s): Occasional Papers series, including Regulation and Supervision of Microfinance Institutions: Experience from Latin America, Asia, and Africa, and other publications available upon ordering; contact information for microfinance NGOs and related financial institutions around the world. Contact Information: MicroFinance Network 733 15th Street NW, Suite 700 Washington, DC   20005 USA Telephone: 202.347.2953   Fax: 202.347.2959 Email: mfn@mfnetwork.org New Economics Foundation (NEF) http://www.neweconomics.org The New Economics Foundation (NEF) works to construct a new economy centered on people and the environment. Founded in 1986, it is one of the UK's most creative and effective independent think tanks, combining research, advocacy, training and practical action directed at eliminating poverty and enhancing neighborhood development through micro-credit and other means. Notable Feature(s): Tools for measuring sustainable development; background on the Social Investment Task Force that has taken innovative approaches to revitalising Britain's poorest communities; extensive publications list. Contact Information: Bryant Goulding New Economics Foundation 6-8 Cole St London   SW1 4YH UK Telephone: 0207407 7447 Ext 244   Fax: 0207 407 6473 Email: Bryant.Goulding@neweconomics.org Opportunity International http://www.opportunity.org/home.html Opportunity International's mission is to provide opportunities for people in chronic poverty to transform their lives. Its strategy is to create jobs, stimulate small business, and strengthen communities among the poor by working through indigenous partner organizations able to provide small business loans, training, and counsel. Opportunity International seeks transformation in the lives of poor men and women in developing countries. It provides entrepreneurs with access to capital and business training to start and expand small businesses. Communities are strengthened as local economies improve and entrepreneurs join forces to solve societal problems. The Opportunity International Network includes 52 "implementing partners" in 25 developing countries in Africa, Asia, the Philippines, India, Eastern Europe, Latin America, and the Middle East. Notable Feature(s): On-line publication Impact, with microenterprise news and success stories from around the world. Contact Information: Opportunity International 2122 York Road Suite 340 Oak Brook, IL   60523 USA Telephone: 630.645.4100   Fax: 630.645.1458 Email: getinfo@opportunity.org PlaNet Finance http://www.planetfinance.org/ http://www.planetfinance.org/en/library/library.htm PlaNet Finance is a new international non-governmental institution that aims at using the potential of the Internet to develop microcredit. PlaNet Finance supports organisations offering financial services to people who do not have access to formal financing. PlaNet Finance's direct clients are the microfinance institutions and the other organisations banking with the poorest. PlaNet Finance will not compete with commercial banks. On the contrary, it will help them develop this new sector of their activity in the most efficient way. Facilitating the access to new information technologies in the poor countries is regarded by PlaNet Finance as a priority. This is why PlaNet Finance offers its support to the actors of micro-finance by providing them with hardware and offering them access to the Internet, training, etc. Notable Feature(s): Library of more than 2,000 microenterprise organizations; documents, research, training on microfinance; English , French and Spanish versions. Contact Information: Jacques ATTALI PlaNet Finance 76, Rue de Faubourg Saint-Denis 75010 Paris France Telephone: + 33 1 53 24 31 31   Fax: +33 1 53 24 11 57 Email: contact@planetfinance.org PovertyNet http://www.worldbank.org/poverty/index.htm Hosted by the World Bank Group, PovertyNet is a comprehensive Web portal on information and reports on poverty around the world and myriad ways in which development projects can do a better job of alleviating the human tragedies, crises, and inequality stemming from it. Notable Feature(s): Information on health; collection of library materials, papers, and reports; newsletter. Contact Information: Email: PovertyNet@ForumOne.com povertynet@worldbank.org Pro-Poor Tourism (PPT) http://www.propoortourism.org.uk Pro-Poor Tourism (PPT) is tourism that generates net benefits for the poor. PPT strategies aim to unlock opportunities for the poor, rather than to expand the overall size of the sector. Opportunities may be for economic gain, other livelihood benefits, or engagement in decision-making. PPT strategies are not confined to a specific product or sector of tourism, as PPT is an approach to the industry. PPT strategies involve a range of stakeholders operating at different levels, from micro to macro. Stakeholders include government, the private sector and civil society, as well as the poor themselves who act as both producers and decision-makers. 'Practical strategies for pro-poor tourism' is a collaborative research project of the Overseas Development Institute (ODI), the International Institute for the Environment and Development (IIED) and the Centre for Responsible Tourism at the University of Greenwich (CRT), together with in-country case study collaborators. It is funded by the Economic and Social Research Unit (ESCOR) of the UK Department for International Development (DFID). Notable Feature(s): Background case studies of practical strategies for pro-poor tourism; extensive collection of publications about pro-poor tourism and analysis; Contact Information: Centre for Responsible Tourism University of Greenwich Medway Campus Pembroke, Chatham Maritime, Kent   M4 4AW UK Telephone: +44 (0) 20 8331 7586   Fax: +44 (0) 20 8331 9805 Email: ppt@odi.org.uk Self-Employed Women's Association (SEWA) of India http://www.sewa.org/ SEWA is a trade union registered in 1972. It is an organisation of poor, self-employed women workers. These are women who earn a living through their own labour or small businesses. They do not obtain regular salaried employment with welfare benefits like workers in the organised sector. They are the unprotected labour force of our country. Constituting 93% of the labour force, these are workers of the unorganised sector. Of the female labour force in India, more than 94% are in the unorganised sector. However their work is not counted and hence re-mains invisible. In fact, women workers themselves remain uncounted, undercounted and invisible. SEWA is both an organisation and a movement. The SEWA movement is enhanced by its being a sangam or confluence of three movements : the labour movement, the cooperative movement and the women's movement. But it is also a movement of self-employed workers : their own, home-grown movement with women as the leaders. Through their own movement women become strong and visible. Their tremendous economic and social contributions become recognised. Notable Feature(s): SEWA services, including bank, health care, legal, work security insurance, child care, video; information on SEWA campaigns: food security, forest workers, water, recognition of midwives, minumum wages, construction workers, and more; organization links. Contact Information: Self-Employed Women's Association SEWA Reception Centre Opp.Victoria Garden Ahmedabad   380 001 India Telephone: +(91-79) 5506444   Fax: +(91-79) 5506446 Email: mail@sewa.org Sustainable Banking with the Poor - A World Bank Project http://www-esd.worldbank.org/HTML/ESD/agr/sbp/home.htm Contact Information: The World Bank ASTHR/AGRPW 1818 H Street, N.W. Washington, D.C   20433 USA Telephone: (202) 473-3153   Fax: (202) 477-2978 Email: CCuevas@WORLDBANK.ORG The Grameen Bank Story http://grameen-info.org/agrameen/index.html This site includes a biography of Muhammad Yunus, the founder of the Grameen Bank. The Grameen newsletter Dialogue provides an excellent gateway to all the initiatives of the Grameen Trust and Bank of Bangladesh that has influenced the spread of microenterprise around the world. Notable Feature(s): Grameen publications; news reports from many countries; technical reports; links; archives. Contact Information: Grameen Foundation USA 1709 New York Ave., NW, Suite 101 Washington, DC   20006 USA Telephone: (202) 628-3560   Fax: (202) 628-3880 Email: info@grameenfoundation.org The People's Fund http://www.peoplesfund.org/ The Grameen Trust (GT) created the People's Fund to support the Grameen Bank Replication Program as part of its worldwide objective of reaching the poorest of the poor with microcredit. The ultimate goal of this five-year project is to enable Grameen Trust to reach 10 million extremely poor families with credit by the year 2005 by supporting a growing number of intermediary organizations throughout the world. Notable Feature(s): Information on the microcredit movement; reading lists; data on world poverty and Grameen Replication Program. Contact Information: Microcredit Summit c/o RESULTS Educational Fund 440 First St. NW, Suite 460 Washington, D.C.   20001 USA Telephone: (202) 637-9600   Fax: (202) 637-3566 Email: microcredit@igc.apc.or UNIFEM - United Nations Development Fund for Women http://www.undp.org/unifem/ Working for women's empowerment and gender equality, UNIFEM is a famously engaged partner on many fronts concerning critical issues throughout the world. Notable Feature(s): Information on the Global Campaign to End Violence against Women; legislation and constitutional reform; conflict resolution. Contact Information: UN Development Fund for Women 304 East 45th Street, 15th floor New York, NY   10017 USA Telephone: 212.906.6400   Fax: 212.906.6705 Email: unifem@undp.org Virtual Library on Microcredit http://www.gdrc.org/icm/ The VLM was set up to be a repository of information on microcredit (in a broad meaning of the term to include microcredit, community development, NGOs, poverty, environment, and microenterprises). Its main aim is to support microfinance and related activities with information on policies, strategies, tools, case studies and more. Notable Feature(s): Networking links to the world of microfinance associations. Contact Information: Hari Srinivas Global Development Research Centre 5-13-3-1601, Nakano-cho, Miyakojima-ku Osaka - 534-0027 Japan Telephone: +(81-6) 6925-8005   Fax: +(81-6) 6925-8005 Email: hsrinivas@gdrc.org Women and Trade http://www.unifem.undp.org/trade/index.htm http://www.unifem.undp.org/economic.htm The impact of trade liberalisation reaches almost every community in the world, both directly and indirectly. Women's livelihoods, in particular, are affected in many ways. Since the founding of the WTO in January 1995, a number of organisations and researchers have been working on trade liberalisation and its consequences for sustainable livelihoods, including women's livelihoods. The term "sustainable livelihoods" was first used by the Brundtland Commission in Our Common Future (1987) to denote sustainability in resource ownership and access, basic needs and livelihood security especially in rural areas. This concept has received growing legitimization through several major international fora. Agenda 21 from the 1992 UN Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) noted the integrative power of the concept in linking socioeconomic and ecological issues to policy-making. Notable Feature(s): Special UNIFEM focus on "Strengthening Women's Economic Capacity" and tools to eradicate the feminization of poverty. Contact Information: Women and Trade United Nations Development Fund for Women 304 East 45th Street, 15th floor New York, NY   10017 USA Telephone: 212/906-6400   Fax: 212/906-6705 Email: unifem@undp.org