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NOW IS THE TIME TO INVEST IN GRAMEEN NOTES
Grameen Investment Notes will promote a unique opportunity for socially responsible investment by allowing direct investment in the work of Grameen to eradicate poverty. 

As Grameen has grown, it has created supporting companies to meet the diverse needs of its borrowers. These companies work in sectors ranging from textiles and fisheries to energy and telecommunications and information technology. As members of the Grameen “family of organizations”, these spin-offs contribute to the Grameen goal of improving the lives of the rural poor in Bangladesh and around the world. Grameen Investment Notes will allow investors to participate directly in the work of Grameen by financing these companies. Potential investments include the Grameen Software Initiative, the Village Internet Program, and the Village Pay Phone Project. The notes will have a $1,000 minimum, a three-year term, and a rate of return chosen by the investors between 0 and 3 percent. Grameen Foundation USA will market the notes and the Calvert Foundation will facilitate registration and investment administration. The notes will meet all federal and state registration requirements to be sold to the general public and will be secured by $ 3.2 million in subordinated investments from the Ford Foundation and the MacArthur Foundation. 

For more information contact Geoff Davis at gdavis@grameenfoundation.org 

ACCION INTERNATIONAL WEBSITE
ACCION International launched its new and expanded web site at www.accion.org. In an effort to better serve microenterprise organizations around the world and to promote the dissemination of best practices globally, ACCION’s publications draw from the field experience of its network affiliates and of many organizations around the world. 

The enhanced site includes a number of comprehensive sections including “The World of Microfinance”, which highlights leading organizations involved in training, testing, research, policy advocacy and publication on key microfinance issues.
 

World Habitat Award Goes to Grameen Housing

The housing program of Grameen Bank which had won the Aga Khan Award for Architecture in 1989, has received the World Habitat Award in 1997. In 1984 the bank started to lend money for housing the rural poor and 448,000 housing units have been built so far using these loans. Averaging US$350 each, the loan includes the provision of four concrete columns for a house of 20 sq. meter, bamboo and wooden supports for a corrugated iron sheet roof and one sanitary latrine. In a flood-prone country, these houses provide secure shelters. Families can build the houses themselves with the help of neighbors and using materials of their choice. Most important, the title deed to the house is vested with the borrower and in 95 percent cases it is the woman of the family or the wife who becomes the owner. This helps her obtain financial security and an improved status within the family and society.  The World Habitat Awards were initiated in 1985 as part of the UK based Building and Social Housing Foundation’s contribution to the UN’s International Year of Shelter for the Homeless in 1987. The objective was for every nation to draw up strategies, policies and programs that would enable practical and attainable improvements to be made in the shelter and neighborhoods of all poor and disadvantaged people by the year 2000.

 

TRAINING ON GRAMEEN BASICS
Eleven staff members from Grameen Bank replication projects in Togo, Central African Republic, Uganda, Tanzania, India and Nepal, participated in a training program on Grameen Basics. The program was jointly organized by Grameen Bank and Grameen Trust from November 28 to December 18, 1998. 

The training program was designed to provide Grameen Bank replicators with in-depth knowledge of the essentials of the Grameen Bank Management System at the branch level. Emphasis was placed on financial and operational aspects of Grameen Bank, including initiation of a branch, maintenance of credit discipline, supervision, accounting, fund management, financial viability and expansion. 

THIRTIETH GRAMEEN INTERNATIONAL DIALOGUE PROGRAM
The Thirtieth Grameen International Dialogue Program was held from 15 - 27 November, 1998. Twenty seven participants from eighteen countries i.e. Albania, Australia, Belgium, Bulgaria, Democratic Republic of Congo, Croatia, El Salvador, Hungary, India, Kazakhstan, Mongolia, Moldova, the Philippines, Romania, Slovakia, Sri Lanka, United States of America and Uzbekistan, attended this program. Fifteen of the participants from Eastern Europe, Central Asia and the USA were sponsored by the Open Society Institute, which is affiliated to the Soros Foundation. The Program laid the foundation for future collaboration between Grameen and Soros. Two delegates from AusAID also attended the program. 

The participants were able to observe Grameen Bank operations in practice at the field level in selected branches around the country. This gave them the opportunity to see how Grameen Bank and its members had coped with the recent floods that had affected large inland areas of Bangladesh. Some of the participants prepared follow-up plans to initiate future action research or pilot projects that aim at alleviation of poverty through microcredit programs. 
 

For further information contact the Microcredit Summit at fax +1 (202) 637 3566; E-mail: microcredit@igc.org, or at 440 First street, #460, Washington, DC 20001, USA. 

Members of the Grameen family emphasized the need to identify common problems, arrange exchange visits and set up an umbrella committee for coordination. The network would necessitate practical ways of solving problems learning from each other’s experiences, and field training of staff through attachment with similar organizations. The focus would be on networking by complementing rather than competing with each other.