Results
Blog Post
After decades of faith in the ability of tiny loans to transform people’s lives, quantitative research has revealed that microfinance rarely lives up to the hype. But in spite of their lackluster impact, microfinance projects have persisted – the question is, why? After seven years of observing various actors throughout the microfinance value chain, Erin Beck, an assistant professor at the University of Oregon, has an answer. She discusses how policymakers, MFI leaders, employees and even customers contribute to microfinance’s persistence.
When Failure is Hard to Recognize: Facing Hard Truths about Microfinance
News
If countries in Asia and the Pacific, like the Philippines, will achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030, their governments must turn to innovative financing models. In a report, the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (Unescap) and Korea’s Science and Technology Policy Institute (Stepi) said meeting the SDGs worldwide could amount to $2.5 trillion.
Shift to ‘innovative’ financing to achieve 2030 SDGs pushedNews
U.S. companies are still among the most ambitious in setting targets to combat global warming despite President Donald Trump’s plans to quit the 195-nation Paris climate agreement, a 2017 survey showed on Tuesday.
U.S. Companies Are Leading the Way in Setting Climate Change Policies Despite TrumpNews
"This is a situation you can find across all of Pakistan - these bags are not biodegradable and people carelessly discard them. They don't really think about recycling," Zymal says.
Could this 10-year-old fix Pakistan’s waste problem?Blog Post
Smaller businesses require smaller loans, which are generally less practical or profitable for financial institutions. Group lending solves these issues for institutions – but it’s not always ideal for customers, who often prefer an individual loan. With support from MetLife Foundation grantee Women’s World Banking, Egypt’s Lead Foundation set out to design and deliver this type of product – specifically to low-income women entrepreneurs.
Good Intentions Are Not Enough: How Microfinance Can Truly Serve Low-Income Women EntrepreneursNews
The MIT Initiative on the Digital Economy has awarded over $1 million in prize money in its second annual MIT Inclusive Innovation Challenge (IIC) in recognition and celebration of for-profit and non-profit organizations using technology to improve economic opportunity for base- and middle-level income earners.
Press release: MIT’s Inclusive Innovation Challenge awards over $1 million to organizations harnessing technology to create greater economic opportunity for workersBlog Post
Elisabeth Rhyne of the Center for Financial Inclusion at Accion reviews two new books that take a look Americans' increasingly precarious financial lives. Both books examine America's top economic challenge – the crumbling of the economic foundation for many working-class and middle-class families – and they do so through the lens of financial services, an unusual but revealing perspective, Rhyne writes.
The Financial Lives of Struggling Americans: The Financial Diaries and The Unbanking of AmericaCalendar Event
UNWTO Global Tourism Conference
