NextBillion - A WDI Publication

Empowering Women With Microfinance: From Oxford, England to Lima, Peru

One week ago, I was on stage for the opening plenary of the Skoll World Forum in the scholarly, well-ordered university town of Oxford, England. Today, I am in the ramshackle home of an able, but very poor, businesswoman in the impoverished, raggedy outskirts of Lima, Peru. The connection? The Skoll World Forum is the preeminent global gathering of social entrepreneurs. Over 1,200 of the smartest, most...

Source

The Huffington Post (link opens in a new window)

Region

Latin America

UNHCR Assists Microcredit Projects for Sex Workers in Ecuador

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, UNHCR is providing support to a microcredit project in Ecuador to help the country’s ’vulnerable’ refugees break out of poverty and exploitation. Over the last year, the agency has been working with several organizations to set up self-reliance programmes for Colombian refugees and their hosts in Ecuador, which is home to the largest number of refugees in Latin America. Of the 53,342 recognized refugees, 73 per cent are wome...

Source

Microfinance Focus (link opens in a new window)

Region

Latin America

Haitian-made Crafts Land at Macy?s

With its tin roof and tiny façade hemmed in with razor wire, the shambling structure sitting on the edge of Cité Soleil - Port-au-Prince’s most notorious slum - is not what you’d imagine a toy factory to look like. The one-room shack doubles as the home of Reggie Jean-François, a muscle-bound Haitian man in his mid-30s who has first-hand experience of a U.S. federal prison, the U.S. deportation system and the rehabilitative power of Jesus Christ. Jean-Fran&c...

Source

The Globe and Mail (link opens in a new window)

Region

Latin America

PepsiCo Foundation Announces $5 M Grant to IDB’s AquaFund

The PepsiCo Foundation recently announced a $5 million grant to the AquaFund, launched by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), to facilitate investment in water supply and sanitation, water resources, solid waste management and wastewater treatment. The AquaFund agreement was signed by Luis Montoya, President of PepsiCo Latin American Beverages, and Luis Alberto Moreno, President of the IDB, at the International Environment Summit in Guayaquil, Ecuador. The grant will fund a...

Source

Microfinance Focus (link opens in a new window)

Categories

Health Care

Region

Latin America

Microcredit’s Quiet Revolution Takes Root in Brazil

SOROCABA, Brazil - When people talk about Brazil’s economy, figures numbering in the billions of dollars are usually bandied about to underline the success -- and the potential -- of this vast Latin American market of 193 million people. But for one 25-year-old woman, Alessandra Franca, just a handful of cash is all it takes to make a difference for the 40 percent of Brazil’s population who are still poor. A year ago, Franca founded Banco Perola, a lending institution spec...

Source

AFP via Google News (link opens in a new window)

Region

Latin America

Patagonia, Adidas, Walmart Join Sustainable Apparel Coalition

What happens when you put executives from Walmart and Patagonia in a room? This isn’t the start of a bad joke--it’s how the Sustainable Apparel Coalition was born. The seeds of the Sustainable Apparel Coalition were planted in 2009 when Patagonia and Walmart teamed up to help the latter company create a sustainability assessment tool for its supply chain (Patagonia was also working o...

Source

Fast Company (link opens in a new window)

Categories

Education

Region

Latin America

For Pepsi, a Business Decision With Social Benefit

SAN GABRIEL, Mexico - In the past, farmers would make the dangerous trek north from this tiny town hidden in the rugged folds of the Jalisco mountain range to the United States, hoping to earn enough money doing odd jobs to cover debts incurred while cultivating the small plots of land that have been in their families for generations. But more recently, many have managed to avoid the trips, staying home as the result of a new venture with ...

Source

The New York Times (link opens in a new window)

Region

Latin America

IDB, Oikocredit, Incofin and Calvert Foundation Back Credit Cooperative in Ecuador

The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) has closed a $9 million syndicated loan with Jardin Azuayo, a community-based savings and loan cooperative in Ecuador . The loan will fund the co-op’s Credits for Community Development project, which channels funds to municipalities, community organizations and other local entities to finance improvements in social infrastructure such as schools and roads. Th...

Source

iadb.org (link opens in a new window)

Region

Latin America