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Field
Visits to IDF and Green Hill
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Grameen Trust resource person visited Mohra branch of Integrated
Development Foundation on May 24-25, 2003 . This IDF branch
began its activities in November, 2000 in Chandgaon, Chittagong
district. Grameen Trust and IDF signed a seed capital agreement
amounting US$40,000 to expand Mohra branch in August, 2002.
The branch has 57 centres, 250 groups, 1190 members and 1113
loanees. To date it has disbursed as loans Tk.98,03,500 with
a recovery rate of 100%. The branch is implementing both loan
and savings activities as well as health care program, following
closely the Grameen system. An internal audit of the branch
had been completed , and the accounting and controls system
of the branch are clear. A recommendation was made to increase
the formation of groups and loan utilization.
The resource person also visited Green Hill’s Baghaichari
branch in Khagrachari hill tracts region in Chittagong. The
branch began activities in February 1999 and is implementing
loan & savings activities for both indigenous and non
indigenous members in an area that has good potential for
expansion. So far the branch has disbursed Tk.21,09,000 to
431 members in 23 centers. The resource person recommended
an audit for the branch and technical assistance improve planning
and administration of the branch.
Report
by Tapan Kumar Debnath
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Grameen
Trust and Institute for Motivating Self-employment (IMSE)
, India, a Grameen Trust partner organization in West Bengal
jointly organized a training program on Grameen Basics in
Labpur, India from June 13-17, 2003. Fifteen officers and
staff of IMSE in India participated in the training, including
a resource person from Grameen Trust participated. The training
program was designed to provide Grameen Bank replicators with
in depth knowledge on the essentials of Grameen Bank and provide
them with tools to reach the poor and achieve their organizational
goals and targets.
Report
by Khalilur Rahman
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GB
Deposit Balance Crosses Taka Ten Billion Mark !
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In
June, 2003 Grameen Bank (GB) just crossed the magic figure
of Tk. 10 billion (US $ 173 million) in its deposits. GB’s
deposit balance is growing at 2.18 percent per month during
the last 12 months. Ratio of borrower deposit stands at 4:11.
Of the total deposit personal savings account for 31%, pension
fund 29% and special savings account 19%. |
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GGS
Workshop in Philippines
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An
International Workshop on Grameen Generalised System (GGS)
was held from 28-30, June 2003 in Manila, jointly organised
by Grameen Trust and PHILNET. A total of 28 participants from
NGO MFIs, Rural Banks, Microfinance Banks, Wholesale Organisations,
Networks and Foundations attended the workshop.
The
workshop discussed the different features of GGS including
loan and savings products, loan loss provision and write-off
policy, star system and the Grameen microcredit highway.
The participants, divided into groups, examined the different
aspects of the system and observed that the system has developed
practicable solutions for problems of default, drop out,
sustainability and financing faced by microfinance industry.
The system is flexible and client friendly. It is tension
free for both staff and clientele.
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The
workshop also included a presentation on Management Information
System (MIS) for microfinance program developed by ASHI,
Philippines, in collaboration with Grameen Communications,
Bangladesh. Participants took keen interest in the design
of the MIS and tried to understand how it could be used
to establish or improve their own system.
Report
by H. I. Latifee
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Regulatory
environment for microfinance in Philippines
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A
joint meeting of the Grameen Global Network and PHILNET
was held in Manila on 29 June 2003 in order to identify,
understand and discuss the issues that are yet to be resolved
for the rapid growth of microfinance industry especially
in the contest of the Philippines.
Philippines
is a country where microfinance program is technologically
quite advanced and where regulatory requirements are in
place but where there is still the need for further work
in regulatory areas in order to create an enabling environment
for the unhindered and rapid growth of microfinance industry.
Given
that the Philippines has still a high incidence of poverty
and that microfinance has demonstrated its success and
ability to quickly reduce poverty, the participants argued
that there is the need for more work in the areas of savings,
taxation, licensing, interest rate and commercialisation
to help microfinance industry to grow . All the actors
including rural banks, NGO MFIs and microfinance banks
could achieve more if these issues were immediately taken
care of in consultation with all the parties concerned.
Report
by H. I. Latifee
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Vietnam:
Microfinance will become an effective tool against poverty |
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International
experts in microfinance met for the first time, in a three-day
seminar on May 22-24, in Ho Chi Minh City, to evaluate the
experience of microfinance organizations providers of small-scale
loans, to help the poor get out of poverty.
The
Seminar on “Microfinance in Poverty Reduction and
its Challenges” was organized by HCM City Labor Federation
and Vietnam’s Capital Aid Fund for Employment of the
Poor (C E P), coordinated with the Australian Aid Agency,
AusAID. HCM City Vice Chairwoman, Huynh Thi Nhan told the
seminar that poverty fell from 9.5% of the city population
around 10 years ago, to 3% last year. An average of 8000
poor famalies have escaped poverty annually in the past
decade (last year alone, 25,824 poor households never out
of poverty). It was due to the governments preferential
social policies directly applied to the poor in education
and health care services, hunger elimination and poverty
reduction program, job creation. Many poor people have been
able to lift themselves out of poverty with small-scale
loans offered by the microfinance organizations without
any collateral.
It is
necessary to have a secure legal framework to help microfinance
providers deal with challenges and operate in a sustainable
manner in the future, she said.
Extracted
from Thoi Bao Tai China, May 23, 2003.
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Turkish Grameen Microcredit Project Launched |
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The
Turkish Grameen Microcredit Project was officially launched
in Diyarbakir, south-eastern Turkey on June 11, 2003. Professor
Muhammad Yunus, on behalf of Grameen Trust and Professor Aziz Akgul,
on behalf of the Turkish Foundation for Waste Reduction signed an
agreement for the implementation of a Grameen Trust build-operate-transfer
microcredit project for the poor communities in urban and rural
Diyarbakir. Professor H.I. Latifee, Managing Director of Grameen
Trust and Mr Nusret Miroglu, Governor of Diyarbakir were present
as witnesses.
In
March 2003, Professor Aziz Akgul, who is also a member of Turkish
National Assembly came to Bangladesh carrying a letter from the
Prime Minister of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdogan inviting Grameen
to begin a microcredit project in Turkey. This was followed by a
mission from Grameen Trust and the development of a project plan
that was approved for funding by the Turkish Foundation.
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Prime
Minister R. T. Erdogan of Turkey with participants of
the International Conference for Poverty Reduction through
Microcredit in Istanbul |
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The
project launch followed the International Conference on Poverty
Reduction through Microcredit which took place in Istanbul
from 9-10 June 2003.The conference, organized by Turkish Foundation
for Waste Reduction in consultation with Grameen Trust,
was inaugurated by Prime Minister Erdogan, who reiterated
the commitment of the Turkish Government to poverty alleviation
and microcredit in Turkey.
Participants
included high-level representatives of the Turkish government,
NGO leaders, bankers, academics, journalists and donor organizations.
Microcredit practitioners from the Philippines, United Kingdom,
United States, Nepal, Bosnia, Bangladesh, Vietnam and Kosovo were
invited to discuss the experience and impact of microcredit programs
in those countries, focussing on issues such targeting of the
very poor, achieving sustainability, options for financing and
guidelines for regulatory environment of microcredit programs.
The
Project Director and the two branch managers from Grameen have
started preparatory work at the project sites in and around Diyarbakir.
The recruitment of local staff is also in process. The first disbursement
of loans to members is expected to take place during July 2003
Report by Lamiya Morshed |
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