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Where Cherries Bring No Cheer
Editor: What is the issue most responsible for the problem here: the lack of loans available to farmer co-ops? The excessive number of microloans made with no accompanying support system of skills training? Or the continued farming coffee, a plentiful (often oversupplied) crop that fetches a low sales price? Muchemi Wachira A farmer picks her coffee. Although the Government has written off a Sh5.8 billion debt owed by the sector, many farmers are still reeling under debt ...
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Provision of financial services to the poor through micro finance has seen significant growth over the last few years in India. However, more than 300 million people in India are still under-served, believe industry representatives, making it imperative for micro finance to gather momentum and reach. Addressing a seminar on micro finance, Ramesh Arunachalam, director, MicroSave India, said, "Micro finance delivers financial services like credit, savings, insurance, leasin...
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In a first, UN agency buys insurance against drought
Marc Lacey In a pilot project that could someday transform the world’s approach to aid emergencies, the World Food Program, a United Nations agency, has taken out an insurance policy that will pay the agency should Ethiopia’s notoriously fickle rains fail in 2006. The policy’s creators are calling it the first natural disaster insurance coverage for an international aid agency. The policy, which costs $930,000, is designed to create a way of financing natural disaster...
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Hydropower ’can benefit the poor’
Chris Van Gass, Cape Town Hydropower has the potential to contribute to reducing Africa’s energy poverty, says a report published today. The report, Meeting Africa’s Energy Needs -- the costs and benefits of hydropower, details two case studies from Zambia and Kenya that show how hydropower can deliver benefits with minimal effect. The report, by the Worldwide Fund for Nature (WWF), Oxfam and WaterAid, coincides with the opening in Johannesburg of an African ministerial c...
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Now a Multimedia PC for just 7,500 Rs
HYDERABAD: An affordable computer enabled with multimedia and Internet will soon be available in the Indian market for just Rs.7,500 ( ed: approx. USD $169 ) a scientist said here Friday. The Nova NetPC has been developed by Chennai-based Novatium Solutions, a consortium of Indian partners, Mumbai-based Netcore Solutions, the Telecom and Networks Group of the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT)-Madras and the US-based Analog Devices. It would cost much less than the current price of Rs....
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IFC Partners with Key Microfinance Institution in Morocco, to Benefit More Than 45,000 Microenterpre
The International Finance Corporation, the private sector arm of the World Bank Group, and the Foundation for Local Development and Partnership (Fondep), a microfinance institution in Morocco, have signed a partnership agreement whereby IFC will provide a partial credit guarantee and technical assistance support. IFC?s package will help Fondep access long-term sustainable financing and maximize its microfinance operations through its 43 agencies across Morocco. These agencies offer services t...
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Emami devises self-employment project for rural youth
Emami Limited, as a part of its corporate social responsibility has devised a project of self-employment micro-interior rural areas with the objective of providing employment to the unemployed rural youth, to empower village women, to help in poverty eradication in villages and to contribute to social and economic development. The self-employment scheme provides an opportunity to earn a regular and sustainable income to the unemployed rural youth and women who have no fixed income. E...
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Metro Water Board goes all out to deliver at the doorstep
Brand new water tanks, one each for two streets, a community enterprise comprising households that decides on individual timings and equitable distribution of drinking water among themselves and the Hyderabad Metro Water Supply and Sewerage Board (HMWSSB) reaching out to an area where it has never gone before. Notwithstanding the searing heat, the dusty urban sprawl of Ambedkar Nagar in Jawahar Nagar gram panchayat of Shamirpet mandal in Ranga Reddy district, came alive on Friday wit...