Grameen Foundation : Resource Center : Print Newsletter : Spring 2006 : Letter From the President
Letter From the President
2006 as a year of growth, innovation and synergy.
Dear Friends:
I was recently in Haiti where I saw poverty that would break your heart. Hungry mothers skipping meals so the rest of their family can eat sadly occurs every day for thousands of women there. Regrettably, Haiti is just one country that makes up a larger global poverty crisis. To enable microfinance to reach the international demand for micro-loans, estimated at $300 billion, Grameen Foundation USA (GFUSA) is focusing on 2006 as a year of growth, innovation and synergy.
We are developing groundbreaking tools that are designed to work together to address specific barriers to growth in the industry. Microfinance institutions (MFIs) have limited access to affordable technology to increase productivity and few tools to measure the impact of their work. Mifos (Microfinance Open Source), a management information system and platform for innovation, addresses these challenges by using an open source framework to lower the barrier to entry for technology. Ultimately, it is designed to free up resources and strengthen operations so that the MFIs can reach more vulnerable women. For more information on Mifos, visit www.mifos.org.
GFUSA’s Poverty Progress Index is a tool that allows MFIs to measure the poverty levels of their borrowers and how they change over time. The information generated by the PPI enables MFIs to adjust their programming to accelerate borrower progress on the path out of poverty. It generalizes and builds on the Grameen Bank’s “10 point scale” for measuring a family’s progress in overcoming poverty. This tool will allow us to hold ourselves accountable for ensuring that half of the clients our partners serve cross the poverty line within five years of joining their program. We make the PPI available to any MFI in the world that wishes to apply for it, regardless of their affiliation (or lack thereof) with GFUSA. Importantly, the Mifos platform will be designed to support the PPI, and many other innovations.
In 2006 these innovative tools will come together in many countries around the world that we work in, including Haiti, and create synergies that will enhance our ability to reach even more of the poor. In the true spirit of the Grameen Bank, which has created hundreds of “public goods” that have benefited the entire microfinance movement, we hope that these tools will have impact well beyond our network of 52 MFIs in 22 countries that currently reach 1.5 million families.
Thank you for sharing in the journey to help end global poverty, one woman’s life at a time.
Sincerely,
Alex Counts
President
Grameen Foundation : Resource Center : Print Newsletter : Spring 2006 : Letter From the President
Grameen Foundation uses microfinance and innovative technology to fight global poverty and bring opportunities to the world's poorest people. With tiny loans and financial services, we help the poor, mostly women, start businesses and escape poverty. Our global network of 55 microfinance institution (MFI) partners including our Growth Guarantee partners has touched more than 34 million people in 24 countries. In addition, we introduced and now sustain technology initiatives (Mifos and Village Phone) in Cameroon, Kenya, Rwanda, and Uganda, bringing our total country outreach to 28.
+1-202-628-3560 www.grameenfoundation.org
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