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Press release: The MasterCard Foundation Fund for Rural Prosperity Launches New Funding Opportunity for Financial Services Providers to Improve the Lives of Poor People in Rural Africa
The 2017 competition will follow a ‘rolling’ format. It will be open throughout the year with applications submitted and evaluated periodically. The first submission period will close for judging on August 10, 2017. Unsuccessful applicants will be able to refine and resubmit their applications subsequently, along with new entrants in the competition.
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- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Seeking the Anti-Poverty Holy Grail: Can a ‘Trust Mark’ Boost Microfinance’s Social Impact?
In an effort to find which microfinance practitioners are most successfully alleviating poverty, Truelift – with the help of other microfinance rating agencies and technical experts – designed an assessment tool and beta-tested it on nine institutions around the world. The result, essentially, is a global “trust mark” for anti-poverty action. Organizers are looking for opportunities to use the tool to support assessment of a variety of service providers.
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SPRING announces 19 startups joining East Africa cohort
Disrupt Africa reported in 2015, SPRING launched its inaugural program in East Africa, focused on supporting startups improving the lives of adolescent girls living in poverty. 18 startups were selected to join the first cohort, receiving an average of US$80,000 each. A second program was conducted in Asia.
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- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Making Microcredit Charities Better
While supporting women entrepreneurs is commendable, no data suggest that lending to women—or men, for that matter—is a miracle poverty cure. That’s primarily because lenders commonly charge the poor about 25% for loans. Six randomized studies of microlending programs from 2003 to 2012, published in the American Economic Journal, found no correlation with improved welfare. Although the loans can be helpful in some situations, there’s no evidence of a transformational effect.
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Post offices urged to develop financial inclusion strategies
Africa alone is believed to have more than 30 million migrants with over $65 billion in potential remittances and Minister Mandiwanzira challenged the post offices to sweat their expanisve network reaching out to even the very remote areas, as well as their ability to foster local and international business partnerships.
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Demonitization May Lead To Equity Erosion For Microfinance Institutions, Says India Ratings
India Ratings had warned about a build up of risks in microfinance even before demonetization was announced in November last year. Since then, the cash shortage brought on by the currency exchange program and increased instances of farm loan waivers, have disrupted the market further.
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- Uncategorized
- Region
- South Asia
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- microfinance
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Why India needs to work on financial literacy now more than ever
India is home to 17.5% of the world’s population but nearly 76% of its adult population does not understand even the basic financial concepts. Empirical evidence shows that digital efforts on financial education have had a far greater impact than the traditional media.
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- Region
- South Asia
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Announcing NextBillion Financial Health: New Partnership with MetLife Foundation Reflects the Evolution of Financial Inclusion
NextBillion is officially re-launching our Financial Innovation site with a new name and partner. The site will now be called Financial Health, and it’s being sponsored by MetLife Foundation. The Foundation shares our concept of how the new NextBillion Financial Health site can best serve our readers: By providing a platform for sharing insights, data, and analysis through articles that ask the big question of what works – and what doesn't – in the movement to help more people use financial services to improve the quality of their lives.
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