The 47th International Dialogue Program, organized jointly by Grameen Trust and Grameen Bank, was held in Bangladesh on December 6-16, 2003. Ten participants from five countries including Bangladesh, China, India, Tanzania, and the United States, attended the program.

The participants underwent a six day long village immersion, in course of which they met and interacted with the bank members as well as the branch level staff. They had a first hand experience of GB microcredit activities on the ground and its impact on the lives of the poor. The flexibility and other client friendly features of Grameen Bank II or the Grameen Generalised System impressed them most. Participants also visited one of the urban partners of Grameen Trust and met their staff and clientele to see for themselves the urban microcredit operations which try to follow the Grameen Bank approach.

The participants presented their action plans and project proposals in the concluding session of the Dialogue. They indicated their interest to work as partners of Grameen Trust.

Grameen Trust in collaboration with Yayasan Mitra Usaha (YMU) organized a training program on Grameen Basics. Senior staff member of Grameen, eight replication partners and staff from micro finance programs in Indonesia, participated in the training.

The training program was designed to provide a clear understanding of the essentials of the Grameen Bank Generalized System. It included topics on loan and savings products, maintaining loan portfolio quality, increasing institutional efficiency and impact on poverty. The issues of targeting, monitoring and auditing, provisioning and writing off policy, challenge of scaling up operations, were also examined in depth. Participants visited a branch of YMU to see its operation on the ground and evaluate its performance.

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A four member technical mission consisting of officials from Grameen Trust and UNV, visited Zambia on December 7-13,2003. The purpose of the visit was to assess the situation, nurturing the partnership and clarifying role of key partners and cooperative actors, before the implementation of the project, which is currently under review and finalization by UNV.

The project “Micro finance for Poverty Reduction in Zambia” was initiated by the Government of the Republic of Zambia, UNDP and Grameen Trust, after the Southern Africa Regional Microcredit Summit held in Lusaka in 1998. In October 2003, Professor H I Latifee, Managing Director of Grameen Trust and UNV officials, met in Bonn to discuss future collaboration in Zambia. They concluded to hold a joint mission to Zambia in December 2003.

The Mission met a number of organizations including UNDP, CIDA, ICAZ, MBT, AMIZ, MPU, the Central Bank, MCDSS, two ministries, and NGO association in Zambia. The mission discussed with government officials, NGO representatives, microcredit practitioners and poor women from the rural areas. It also shared with them the global experience of Grameen Trust activities and future possibilities of developing microcredit programs in Zambia, following Grameen Bank approach.

The proposed program is expected to be on the ground by the end of March 2004.

On January 3, 2004, tropical cyclone Heta roared through the west coast of the Somoan Islands. The cyclone battered most severely the northern coast where majority of the people lived, including the capital city of Apia. Majority of Samoans are still without running water and electricity even after 10 days. Many SPBD members have been severely affected.

 

Please Help

SPBD has urgently requested for help. It is looking to raise US$20,000 through this special onetime appeal.

Please send donation to:
SPBD-USA
3102 Circle Hill Road
Alexandria, VA, 22305

Donors in New Zealand can send their contributions to:
South Pacific Business Development Foundation, 6 Buchanan Street
Devonport, Auckland

Donors outside of the US or NZ can send their contributions to:
South Pacific Business Development Foundation, PO Box 1614
Apia, SAMOA