Microfinance Community Gathers to Scale Up Programs to Reduce Global Poverty
Annual knowledge sharing roundtable to explore ways to speed up poverty reduction.
Washington D.C. (PRWEB) October 28, 2005 -- Reducing global poverty through microfinance will be the focus of Grameen Foundation USA (GFUSA)’s annual microfinance practitioners Knowledge Sharing Roundtable on November 5 in Dallas. Now in its fifth year, the roundtable is part of GFUSA’s annual Microfinance Practitioners Awards Program and will begin at 2:30 p.m. at the Wyndham Anatole in downtown Dallas.
GFUSA president, Alex Counts, will convene a select group of international thought leaders—just days before the United Nations officially ends the “International Year of Microcredit” —for a critical exchange of ideas, experiences, and best practices to strengthen the industry and enhance the short- and long-term impact of microfinance on poverty.
Microfinance is a proven poverty reduction strategy. Very poor people, mostly women, receive very small loans to start income producing businesses. The income allows them to improve their lives and help their families overcome the ravages of severe poverty.
“With the United Nations International Year of Microcredit drawing to a close, the strategy is well defined,” said Counts. “The microfinance community must scale up, mobilize resources, and sustain support for microfinance among the philanthropic community, thought leaders, public policy officials, and social investors.” Of critical importance are strategies for achieving the eight Millennium Development Goals established by the United Nations to meet the needs of the world’s poorest people by 2015.
The roundtable also provides a unique opportunity for U.S.-based practitioners to share experiences with their international counterparts. The participants include the 2005 winners of GFUSA’s Excellence and Pioneer Awards, Vikram Akula, founder and chair of India-based Swayam Krishi Sangam (SKS) and Anne Hastings, director, Fonkoze of Haiti, as well as Anthony Pace, executive director of The PLAN Fund, a Dallas-based GFUSA partner microfinance institution. Roundtable participants will also visit the PLAN Fund headquarters prior to the event.
In addition to the roundtable, there will be several microfinance-related activities taking place in Dallas. On Friday, November 4, the Dallas Federal Reserve Board will host a seminar on “Microenterprise: Building Assets in a Growing Market,” with a keynote luncheon speech by Alex Counts. The Chiapas Project, a GFUSA-affiliated microfinance support organization, will also launch its Latin American Initiative at a fundraising dinner that night in support of GFUSA programs.
About Grameen Foundation USA
Grameen Foundation USA (GFUSA) is a global non-profit organization that combines microfinance, technology, and innovation to empower the world's poorest people to escape poverty. Founded in 1997, GFUSA has established a global network of 52 partners in 22 countries that has impacted an estimated 5.5 million lives in Asia, Africa, the Americas, and the Middle East.
The Foundation sprang from the Grameen Bank of Bangladesh. Grameen Bank was started in 1976 by an economics professor, Dr. Muhammad Yunus, who was convinced that women could break through poverty by taking tiny loans to start or expand tiny businesses. Today, Grameen Bank serves nearly 5 million borrowers, with 10,000 families escaping poverty every month. As strategic global partners, GFUSA and Grameen Bank share a common vision, knowledge and success models to
accelerate the microfinance industry's impact on the world's poorest people. Dr. Yunus, the founder and director of Grameen Bank, is a founding and current board member of GFUSA. For more information on Grameen Foundation USA, please visit www.gfusa.org.
GFUSA Media Contact:
Michelle Tennant
828.749.3200
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