INDNET also organized a public lecture by Professor Muhammad Yunus
on 20th November. It was sponsored by the Oriental Bank of Commerce, India. A press
conference of Professor Muhammad Yunus was also organized by INDNET following the public
lecture. Professor Yunus was in India in connection with the Indira Gandhi Prize, which
was awarded to him on November 19th .
National network meetings were also held with participants from Nepal,
India, Bangladesh and Pakistan. The issues related to fund mobilization, policy advocacy,
future action plans, standards for the microfinance sector, capacity building, support
from Grameen Trust/GGN, essentials for scaling up etc. were discussed in the meetings.
Grameen Management
Training held in 1999
Grameen Trust has been
providing training and technical assistance to its partner projects and to other Grameen
replicators all over the world. During the last quarter, a program on Grameen Basics
was organized in November - December, 1999 for members, staff from GT funded projects.
Participants from India, Indonesia, Nigeria, Nepal, Philippines and Senegal, participated
in the training program.
In 1999 GT organized 6 Basic and 3 other training programs for the
Grameen replication projects working in 12 countries. 81 staff members from different
projects participated in these training activities.
The programs were designed to provide Grameen Bank replicators with
know how 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, credit discipline, accounting, fund management, financial
viability.
34th International Dialogue Program
The Thirty Fourth
International Dialogue Program organized jointly by Grameen Bank and Grameen Trust,
was held on November 21-December 3, 1999. Eleven participants from Argentina, England,
Ecuador, India, Mexico, Nepal, Pakistan, Philippines and Samoa attended the program.
Ms. Rose Marie V Rivera from MILAMDEC Foundation Inc. Philippines and
Mr. Nurur Rahman from BAWPA Bangladesh, attended the Dialogue as resource persons. Both of
them shared their experience regarding methodologies used in Grameen replication in their
respective countries.
Ms. Rafia Hossain(Pakistan), Mr. Sambasivarao(India), Mr. Nayan
Tripathi (Nepal), Mr. Manoo Mulitano(Samoa), Mr. Luis Renteria(Mexico) and Mrs. Celia
Varea(Ecuador) presented their action plans which they proposed to implement upon return
to their respective countries. All participants of the 34th Dialogue, who called
themselves "Group 34", decided to keep in touch through e-mail. They further
registered their names as members of the Grameen Global Network (GGN).
Grameen Management
Workshop on Micro-credit Technology held in Uganda
Twenty staff members from
Grameen Bank replication projects in Uganda, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe participated in
a regional Grameen Management Workshop on Micro-Credit Technology. The program was
jointly organized by Ugandan Grameen Network and Grameen Trust from October
27 to November 5 , 1999.
The training workshop was designed to provide Grameen replicators with
in-depth knowledge of the essentials of Grameen Banks management and operation system at
the branch level . Emphasis was on financial and operational aspects of including
targeting, formation of groups and centers, basic discipline in micro-credit program, role
of the credit assistant, characteristics of a good branch, accounting system, monitoring
system, fund management, repayment problem and resolution of crisis, internal auditing,
institutional and financial viability. At the end of the workshop, the participants set
for themselves the following objective:
"All participating micro-finance institutions will within the next
one year have 200 clients per field assistant, each field assistant will attend at least
one center meeting a day, with a clean loan portfolio of Ugandan Shs 20M. With this plan
and 100% repayment, any new branch will be able to achieve financial viability in three
years".
CFTS and SRI Audited
Grameen Trust conducted an
audit of the Society for Rural Improvement (SRI), and CASHPOR Financial and
Technical Services Pvt. LTD in India.
The audit program was designed to evaluate in-depth the implementation
of Grameen essentials, the field level performance and the accounts of the project. Both
management audit and accounts audit of the two projects were undertaken following Grameen
internal audit procedures.
Technical Assistance to
Zambia and India
Two resource persons from
Grameen Trust visited Micro-Financing Zambia (MFZ) from November 6 to 9. They visited
center meetings, examined their accounts, book keeping systems and verified their fund
utilization. One resource person from Grameen Trust visited the project ESAF in Kerala and
also IMSE, VSS in West Bengal in India, last December. He provided technical assistance in
the field of group formation, center formation, targeting, expansion, utilization of fund,
basic accounting, forms, and record keeping.
CGAP Web site
CGAP web site has moved to a
new URL: http://www.cgap.org.
Please bookmark the new location and share this information with others.
Kelvin DeRard Mims
Information Specialist
Consultative Group to Assist the Poorest(CGAP)
The World Bank, 1818 H Street NW, Room Q4-031, Washington, DC
20433
Tel: (202) 473-3603
Fax: (202) 522-3744
http://www.cgap.org
GRAMEEN
DIALOGUE IN OTHER LANGUAGES
Grameen Dialogue is now available in the following languages:
Bengali, Tamil, Hindi, Nepali, and available from different distribution points. The Dialogue
is also being reprinted in the Chinese magazine, published by Rural Woman Knowing All in
China. Please contact Grameen Trust for more information. |
Training Manual on
Internal and External Audits
Edited by Ratan Kumar Nag,
David S. Gibbon and Grameen Trust. This is a part of the management Manual Basic Series,
that focuses on the internal and external audit system for replication projects. Practical
exercises are included at the end of each section to facilitate self learning.
For more information write to
CTS (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd, 6 Lorong Permata, 4/1 Taman Permata (Lobak), Seremban 70200,
Malaysia; Fax: 606 764 2307, E-mail: gibbons@pc.jaring.my
GRAMEEN SOFTWARE LIMITED
IS LAUNCHED!
Grameen Software Ltd. (GSL)---
the newest member of Grameen family of enterprises has been duly incorporated by the
Registrar of the Joint Stock of Companies recently. Grameen Fund owns sixty five percent
of the equity while thirty five percent of the equity has been provided by Mr. Sohel
Sharif & Associates, who had been operating a local software company for the last
seven years in Bangladesh. The primary objective of the new venture is to open up untapped
potential for IT related services. It will concentrate on software development, software
exports and data processing. It is equipped with IBM AS/400, HP 9000 midrange systems as
well as LINUX, MS NT & NOVELL servers. GSL will have four software platforms (Oracle,
MS SQL, Multimedia & AS/400) as well as network & training departments. It is also
setting up a data-processing factory. Those interested may contact:
Sohel Sharif, CEO
Grameen Software Ltd
Grameen Bank Bhaban , 11th floor
Tel: 882 23 71, 882 58 80 Fax: 882 13 32 E-mail: eandc@citechco.net
We Mourn
We mourn the untimely death of Alay
Jolis, who had co-authored BANKER TO THE POOR —the autobiography of
Muhammad Yunus. He passed away the day before New Year’s Eve, "……. an
incredible man, so full of passion for life, of curiosity and compassion."
We condole the death of Akhter Hameed Khan, who passed away
recently fulfilling a life long mission to eradicate poverty through village
co-operatives. He founded the Academy for Rural Development in Comilla and promoted the
two tier co-operatives for development of small farmers, which ultimately led to the
integrated rural development program in Bangladesh.
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