More
than a billion people the world over survive on less than a dollar a
day. But those who work with the poor, say giving them tiny loans can
have a tremendous impact...
This
week we're bringing you the show from Halifax, where we've found a
gathering of people who want to revolutionize the way the
world’s
poorest people get access to money. Imagine, 90 percent of the
world’s population can never access the banking services you
and I
take for granted. Today, we'll talk with a Nobel Peace Prize winner
who says extreme poverty can become history.
Also
today, Listen Up will talk with the banker to the poor for the
world's richest family; Bill and Melinda Gates. Why are they getting
involved? And we'll talk one-on-one with Canada's Minister of Foreign
Affairs on why your tax dollars are going to help the micro credit
revolution. Financial services that transform lives.
Micro
Credit is the provision of just loans and Microfinance is the
provision of loans as well as other financial services such as
savings, insurance and remittance products and deal with only one
aspect of poverty.
Microenterprise
development takes the foundation of microfinance and adds to it
business training, mentoring, personal, leadership and spiritual
development.
“Microcredit
is a critical anti-poverty tool and a wise investment in human
capital. Now that the nations of the world have committed themselves
to reduce by half by the year 2015 the number of people living on
less than $1 a day, we must look even more seriously at the pivotal
role that sustainable microfinance can play and is playing in
reaching this Millennium Development Goal.” - United
Nations
Secretary General Kofi Annan
In
February 1997, RESULTS Educational Fund convened the Microcredit
Summit, launching a nine-year Campaign to reach 100 million of the
world's poorest families, especially the women of those families,
with credit for self-employment and other financial and business
services by the end of 2005. This historic event, held in
Washington, D.C., brought together over 2,900 delegates from 137
countries. After the Summit, Margaret Catley-Carlson, the
Chair
of ICARDA and the Global Water Partnership and Past President of the
Canadian International Development Agency said, “There just
aren't
enough words to describe how good I feel about the outcome of the
Microcredit Summit and what a wonderful job you and your colleagues
did in making it one of the most amazing events in which I ever
participated.”
Continuing
on the success of the 1997 Summit, a series of Global and Regional
meetings have been successfully held and attended by more than 10,000
delegates from more than 140 countries. From 1997 to the
present, the Microcredit Summit Campaign has relentlessly pursued its
goal, maintaining a steadfast commitment to the Summit's four core
themes: 1) reaching the poorest, 2) reaching and empowering women, 3)
building financially self-sufficient institutions, and 4) ensuring a
positive, measurable impact on the lives of the clients and their
families. The Microcredit Summit Campaign is a global effort
to
put first those whom society has put last - to restore to people
control over their own lives and destinies.
As
of December 31, 2003, 2,931 microcredit institutions had reported
reaching 81 million clients, 55 million of whom were among the
poorest when they took their first loan. Of these 55 million
poorest clients, 82.5 percent are women. Seven hundred
seventy-nine institutions submitted a 2004 Institutional Action Plan
outlining their progress. Together these 779 institutions
accounted for 90 percent of the poorest clients reported. Assuming
five persons per family, the 55 million poorest clients reached by
the end of 2003 affected some 274 million family members.
It
takes the Campaign ten months to collect and verify the previous
year's data. End of 2005 data will be released at the Summit
in
Halifax.
In
addition to marking the culmination of the first phase of the
Campaign, the Global Microcredit Summit will also officially launch
the Campaign's extension to 2015 with two new goals:
1.
Working to ensure that 175 million of the world's poorest families,
especially the women of those families, are
receiving
credit for self-employment and other financial and business
services by the end of 2015.
2. Working to ensure that 100
million of the world's poorest families move from below US$1 a day
adjusted for purchasing power parity (PPP) to above US$1 a day
adjusted for PPP by the end of 2015.
“Access
to financial services for the poor is a critical condition for the
attainment of the United Nations Millennium Development
Goals.” -
James D. Wolfensohn, Former President, The World Bank in
a 2004 letter to 700 parliamentarians
More
than 2,000 delegates from over 100 countries are expected to attend
the Global Microcredit Summit 2006, including heads of state and
government and other dignitaries. This summit will offer the
opportunity for microcredit practitioners, advocates, donors, and
others committed to the Summit's goals to assess progress, discuss
challenges to achieving the new goals for 2015, and identify
strategies for overcoming those challenges.
The
Global Microcredit Summit will include:
1) the release of the State
of the Microcredit Summit Campaign Report 2006, outlining progress
towards our 100 million poorest goal,
2) five new commissioned papers
discussed in plenary
sessions,
3) 34 official workshop
sessions
at
the
beginner, intermediate, and advanced levels, for both
developing and industrialized countries,
4) 34 additional associated
sessions organized
by delegates,
5) ten day-long
courses,
6) presentation of two Institutional Action Plans in plenary session
and 14 more in seven breakout Council
meetings,
and
7) release of the most extensive directory of microcredit
institutions ever assembled.
When
Business Week hailed 2006 as the year of Microfinance, one reason was
this man: Bangladeshi economist Muhammad Yunus, who shared the Nobel
Peace Prize with the bank he founded 30 years ago. Yunus pioneered
the practise of giving tiny loans to the poor. He found that putting
even minimal financial resources in the hands of those with no
collateral or credit history can give them a major boost towards
self-sufficiency.
Professor
Muhammad Yunus, Founder and Managing Director of Grameen Bank
in
Bangladesh, is internationally recognized for his work in poverty
alleviation and the empowerment of poor women. Grameen Bank, admired
and replicated around the world, is a microcredit institution
dedicated to providing small amounts of capital to the poor, without
collateral, for self-employment. The bank has proved beyond any
doubt that the poor are very much creditworthy. From its origins as
an action-research project in 1976, Grameen Bank has grown to provide
collateral-free loans to 6.4 million borrowers in Bangladesh, 96% of
who are women. Grameen Bank today lends 750 million dollars a year to
the poorest, including beggars, while maintaining a repayment rate of
99%. Professor Yunus' autobiography, "Banker to the Poor:
Micro-lending and the Battle against Poverty," has been
translated to 17 languages. He has received many awards, both
national & international honorary doctorate degrees, and also
serves as a member of various committees and advisory boards within
the country and abroad.
Muhammed
Yunus :
“People
in the beginning were not sure that it would work, because how can
people pay back if you are not tying them down with something solid
that they cannot ignore? But we ignored that advice and went around
and gave loans on the basis of trust. Basically is what we do is
banking on trust. And it works. People say Bangladesh must be some
funny country … it wouldn’t work anywhere else in
the world,
today it works in almost every single country in the world.”
It’s
a hand up—according to the Nobel prize
winner who began his
work in 1976—not a hand out. And thanks
largely to the
Grameen bank Yunus founded, 80 percent of poor families in Bangladesh
today are on the road to economic independence. Their goal is to
reach 100 percent by the year 2010. But, says Yunus, that’s
only
the beginning.
Muhammad
Yunus :
“We
are a long way from the number of people that we want to reach. One
sweeping number I can give is that almost 2/3 of the world’s
population have no access to conventional banks, financial services.
So you have a big vacuum out there. At one time I used to say that
conventional banks are practicing some kind of commercial apartheid.
They draw a line and … 2/3 of the world’s
population is on the
other side of that line. Credit should be accepted as a human right,
so you don’t debate about it any more. So go right ahead and
establish that human right for everybody.”
The
Opportunity International Network combines worldwide reach with local
expertise in the life-changing arena of microfinance. Small loans in
the hands of a poor entrepreneur can transform families and entire
communities. Multiply that by 42 partners running microfinance
programs in 28 different nations, and you can change the world. The
Opportunity International Network provides the infrastructure for it
all — offering support as well as access to powerful
strategies and
technology. Larry
Reed is Chief Executive Officer of Opportunity International
Network, a global coalition of 42 microfinance organizations in over
25 countries. Beginning his service with Opportunity-US in 1984,
Larry has held a variety of senior positions within the organization.
In 1991, he founded Opportunity's Africa Regional Office in Zimbabwe,
and served as Africa Regional Director until 1996. Upon returning to
the US, he became Vice President of Opportunity-US for global
operations. Opportunity internationalized its structure in 1998, and
Larry was asked to lead the new Opportunity International Network.
From 1999 to 2002, Larry served as chair of the Small Education
Enterprise Promotion (SEEP) Network, a research and advocacy group of
microfinance industry practitioners. He has also published several
articles on microfinance and served as a contributor to "The New
World of Microfinance" (Rhyne, Otero, et. Al.,1996), “Serving
with the Poor in Africa” (Yamamori, Myers, Bediako and Reed)
and
“Globalization and the Kingdom of God” (Goudzwaard,
2001). Larry
is a graduate of Wheaton College and the John F. Kennedy School of
Government at Harvard University.
Lawrence
Yanovitch – The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation
Financial
Services to the Poor
The
Challenge
Like
people everywhere, people living in developing countries need
financial services. By saving and borrowing money, for example, they
can build homes and pay health and education expenses. With access to
a small amount of investment capital, they can start or expand the
types of businesses that are common in countries that don’t
offer
stable employment, which often means work as tailors, street vendors,
and smallholder farmers. And by accessing health and life insurance,
the poor protect themselves from the potentially devastating
financial consequences of falling sick and not being healthy enough
to work.
However,
more than 90 percent of the world’s population that survives
on
less than $2 a day have no access to these types of services.
Necessity forces them to rely on informal financial systems, such as
moneylenders or money clubs. In the former, interest rates
can
be extremely high and in the latter, they can carry substantial risk.
The
Hope
Access
to more conventional financial services can reduce vulnerability to
financial setbacks and open opportunities for families to increase
income and rise from poverty. The foundation’s Financial
Services
for the Poor initiative focuses on four areas that can lead to the
development and improvement of suitable services, as well as
dramatically increase service availability. We believe that a sharp
focus on these four goals can make a difference for hundreds of
millions of families over the next 12 to 15 years.
Develop new and
improved financial services
for the poor.
Today,
institutions that offer financial services to the poor often focus on
making working capital loans to the poor. We support efforts to
develop additional services, such as improved business lending,
savings, and insurance products. We think these new, sometimes
experimental services can be provided in a cost effective way and may
reach more people and have a greater effect on reducing human
suffering.
Develop business
models that dramatically
accelerate growth.
To
improve access, we believe that a variety of financial services
providers are needed and that they must compete on price and quality
to serve the poor. To this end, we support a variety of groups and
distribution channels that offer (or could offer) financial
services, including commercial banks, public banks, post offices,
credit unions, cooperatives, and non-profit organizations. We also
support the development and use of technologies (e.g. rural ATMs)
that can improve outreach and reduce the costs of doing business.
Provide more
predictable capital flow.
Financing
from social and commercial investors is responsible for much of the
growth in the financial services industry. We want to stimulate these
types of funding sources to encourage the industry to keep growing.
When appropriate, we also want to help improve the consistency and
coordination of donor financing.
Improve
information for policy-making.
We
support work that improves policy analysis and the quality of
information collected about financial services and their
effects.
Better information can help us focus on the best financial strategies
for alleviating poverty.
Representative
Grants
Our
Global Development Program was officially launched in April 2006.
However, in 2005, we began making a series of exploratory grants in
Financial Services for the Poor, including:
$1.5
million to Unitus, Inc. to identify, study, and test ways to increase
the efficiency of businesses providing financial services to the poor
to help expand services and lower costs
$5.5
million to Aga Khan Foundation to develop and test a range of
insurance products – including health, life, and business
catastrophe insurance – for the poor in South Asia and Africa
$2.2
million to Opportunity International to test new technologies that
can help expand outreach into rural areas of East Africa to serve
clients with insurance, loans, and savings facilities
$5.8
million to ACCION International to provide technical assistance to
commercial banks in Africa and India to begin serving the urban poor
with a variety of lending and savings
Based
on our learning from these grants and continued research, our
Financial Services for the Poor initiative will continue to seek ways
to promote greater access to a range of high-impact financial
services for the world’s poor.
Lawrence
J. Yanovitch has 20 years of operations management and public
policy experience in microfinance. He currently serves as Senior
Program Officer in the Financial Services for the Poor division of
the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. He previously served
as
Director of Policy & Technical Assistance at FINCA
International.
Mr. Yanovitch has managed and supported the development of
microfinance institutions in 34 countries. He holds a B.A. in
Business Administration from the University of Washington and a DEUG
in International Studies from Université de Paris, la
Sorbonne. He speaks five languages.
CHRISTOPHER
SHORE – WORLD VISION USA
Christopher
Shore is the Director of the Microenterprise Development Group, World
Vision USA www.worldvision.org
Our
Holistic Approach
World
Vision aims to transform the lives of the poor with assistance that
is holistic and synergistic, addressing multiple inter-related needs
such as clean water, healthcare, education, secure food sources, and
economic growth. Ultimately, our goal is to build a
community’s and
individual’s capacity to solve their own problems.
A
vital component of building that capacity is to create an
“economic
engine” that allows a poor community to escape poverty. The
best
way to do this is to invest in the entrepreneurial spirit among the
poor themselves, providing them with the tools to participate in the
marketplace and work their way to a better life.
By providing
credit, business coaching, and access to markets, World Vision
enables the poor to generate income and create new jobs. Find
out how we work.
The
majority of our loan clients live in communities served by World
Vision development programs. Here, our clients may benefit from clean
water, food, agricultural training, education, health care, and
economic assistance like skills training — the macro
foundations on
which microbusinesses can begin to flourish.
World
Vision began it’s first microcredit program in Colombia in
1993;
today we operate microlending programs
in more than 40 countries.
Microenterprise development enables
the world’s poor to experience a dramatic increase in
standard of
living, health, and happiness. With hard work and assistance from
World Vision, our loan
clients’ lives are changed.
How
We Work
1.
The entrepreneurial poor apply for loans:
A
traditional bank loan is unattainable for most of the world’s
poor.
They have no credit, they may own no property, and if they have a
business, it’s likely struggling despite long hours of hard
work.
Through a variety of strategies like group lending through community
banks, and cross-guarantees, loans can effectively and efficiently be
provided to people who lack collateral but who demonstrate an
entrepreneurial spirit, trustworthiness, a good work ethic, and sound
business ideas. The proof it works: 96% of loans are repaid
on
time!
(Back
to top) 2.
World Vision disburses microloans:
Loan sizes vary
from $50 to $5,000, most typically in the $100 to $2,000 range.
Usually loans are given to groups of five to 30 microbusiness
operators who band together for self-administration, mutual
encouragement, and accountability. This ensures that even the poorest
of the poor can have access to credit because these entrepreneurs
cross-guarantee each other’s loans and support each
other’s
businesses. Most World Vision loan recipients are women, who
consistently use their extra income to benefit their children.
(Back
to top) 3.
Credit officers coach loan recipients:
Credit officers
begin coaching clients before they receive their first loan, and
continue with regular follow-up throughout the term of the loan.
Business coaching includes assistance with accounting, marketing, and
managing—all based on biblical and ethical business
principles.
(Back
to top) 4.
Growing businesses thrive:
With a loan, entrepreneurs
start carpentry shops, improve farming, operate flower businesses,
purchase livestock, run food services, and weaving businesses, to
name a few. These businesses create jobs and generate additional
goods and services, thereby enhancing the entire community. Last
year, over 185,000 jobs were created or sustained through our
clients’ business successes.
(Back
to top) 5.
Loans are repaid:
The poor are a good credit risk,
repaying their loans more than 96 percent of the time. As loans are
repaid, borrowers become eligible for larger loans. The reasonable
interest rate sustains the loan program, while maintaining low
arrears and efficient operations.
(Back
to top) 6.
Families gain self-sufficiency:
Families who receive
small loans report better family health, an increase in their
business earnings, and the ability to spend more on food, medicine,
and education. According to a study by George Washington University
of microloan recipients in World Vision projects:
More
than 90 percent reported improved business skills.
75
percent reported an increased sense of empowerment.
80
percent reported
improved family health in East
Africa.
(Back
to top) 7.
Loan is recycled:
Repaid loans are recycled to help an
ever-growing number of poor entrepreneurs to grow their businesses,
better support their families, generate jobs, and aid their
communities.
(Back
to top) >>
Community Banks
Community Banking is World Vision’s primary
lending methodology. These loan-and-savings circles provide efficient
and cost-effective delivery of financial services to some of the
poorest in the world. Integrated with other interventions to meet
development needs, World Vision helps transform entire communities.
Opportunity
for the poorest - Community
Banking creates an opportunity for the poorest to obtain credit.
Entrepreneurs typically band together in self-selected groups of 15 to
30 members to form a lending group and elect their own leaders. It is
important that groups self-select responsible members whom they trust,
because the entire group acts as a guarantor for every
member’s loan. Members are then trained in effective loan
management and leadership skills.
Cost-effective
- Because
loan officers work with groups rather than individuals in training and
handling loans, the costs of Community Banking are low. This
methodology also enables cost-effective provision of loans as small as
$50. World Vision lends money to the Community Bank, which in turn,
lends money to each member. Members must save a specified amount before
they receive a loan.
High
loan repayment rates - Loan
repayment rates in community banks are extremely high. The group
requires weekly meetings, where loans are tracked and repaid. These
meetings also provide an excellent forum for encouragement and
spiritual input, as well as training in business management, or in
topics such as health care, HIV/AIDS education, or improved nutrition.
This extra education is taught by the World Vision development project
staff according to their areas of expertise.
Positive
impact - Ultimately,
Community Bank members improve their entrepreneurial skills, their
incomes increase, their businesses thrive, jobs are created for the
community, and families and the entire community benefits. Household
heads can more easily afford school fees, provide improved nutrition,
and adequate health care. The enterprise-minded begin to lift
themselves and their families out of poverty and fuel their
community’s economy.
As
Community Bank members repay their loans, they are eligible for
larger loans. Eventually, enterprising members with a good repayment
record are allowed to form smaller Solidarity Groups and receive more
sizable loans. >>
Solidarity Groups
Designed for more experienced and larger
enterprises, Solidarity Groups are smaller than Community Banks, with
an average of three to six people who guarantee each other’s
loans.
Members who make repayments on time become eligible for large
individual loans. Loan sizes range from $300 to $800. >>
Individual Loans
Clients who have either grown their own
businesses successfully through a solidarity group or have
medium-sized businesses qualify for loans ranging from $500 to
$5,000. These loans typically require either two guarantors or
collateral. Borrowers often create a formal business plan in
consultation with their loan officer.
Maimouna
Kebe – Centre for Advanced Study of
International
Development, Michigan State University
“In
my country you are considered young if you are under 35 years. And
this category of population is more than 77 percent of the
population. How can we develop our country if they are out of the
social/economic process? They need to be integrated in this
process…
We
have to identify what is our main resource. Our main resource today
is our human being – human being. That’s why we
have to focus our
development on human being.”
What
we've learned at the micro credit conference is that over 80 percent
of the world’s population lives with just one percent of its
resources. But there are a few things that tie us together and one
of them happens to be television. In fact, in this home in India
where I visited, a television set was on. Somehow electricity was
getting into this home.
These
stories are shared around the globe, and we have a responsibility to
help our neighbours who live on far less than one dollar a day. If
you're watching us from that part of the globe—Listen Up is a
program which goes all over the world—write to us at an
internet
cafe if you can, and we'll try to connect you to the micro credit
revolution we've discovered here. For the rest of you watching from
the North American audience, we need to get behind what’s
happening
for the world’s poorest families. Check it out in detail at
our
website at listenuptv.com. Find an agency you can partner with and
lets make tomorrow a better day for the world’s poorest
families.
There’s
more on this on our website. You can download the show on podcast or
watch it online. Thanks for joining us. That's this week’s
look
behind the headlines with a spiritual view.
Is
Grameen Bank Different From Conventional Banks?
By
Muhammad Yunus
August
, 2006
Grameen
Bank methodology is almost the reverse of the conventional banking
methodology. Conventional banking is based on the principle that the
more you have, the more you can get. In other words, if you have
little or nothing, you get nothing. As a result, more than half the
population of the world is deprived of the financial services of the
conventional banks. Conventional banking is based on collateral,
Grameen system is collateral- free.
Grameen
Bank starts with the belief that credit should be accepted as a human
right, and builds a system where one who does not possess anything
gets the highest priority in getting a loan. Grameen methodology is
not based on assessing the material possession of a person, it is
based on the potential of a person. Grameen believes that all human
beings, including the poorest, are endowed with endless potential.
Conventional
banks look at what has already been acquired by a person . Grameen
looks at the potential that is waiting to be unleashed in a person.
Conventional
banks are owned by the rich, generally men. Grameen Bank is owned by
poor women.
Overarching
objective of the conventional banks is to maximize profit. Grameen
Bank's objective is to bring financial services to the poor,
particularly women and the poorest ¾ to help them fight
poverty, stay profitable and financially sound. It is a composite
objective, coming out of social and economic visions.
Conventional
banks focus on men, Grameen gives high priority to women. 96 per cent
of Grameen Bank's borrowers are women. Grameen Bank works to raise
the status of poor women in their families by giving them ownership
of assets. It makes sure that the ownership of the houses built with
Grameen Bank loans remain with the borrowers, i.e., the women.
Grameen
Bank branches are located in the rural areas, unlike the branches of
conventional banks which try to locate themselves as close as
possible to the business districts and urban centers. First principle
of Grameen banking is that the clients should not go to the bank, it
is the bank which should go to the people instead. Grameen Bank's
18,795 staff meet 6.61 million borrowers at their door-step in 71,371
villages spread out all over Bangladesh, every week, and deliver
bank's service. Repayment of Grameen loans is also made very easy by
splitting the loan amount in tiny weekly installments. Doing business
this way means a lot of work for the bank, but it is a lot convenient
for the borrowers.
There
is no legal instrument between the lender and the borrower in the
Grameen methodology. There is no stipulation that a client will be
taken to the court of law to recover the loan, unlike in the
conventional system. There is no provision in the methodology to
enforce a contract by any external intervention.
Conventional
banks go into 'punishment' mode when a borrower is taking more time
in repaying the loan than it was agreed upon. They call these
borrowers "defaulters". Grameen methodology allows such
borrowers to reschedule their loans without making them feel that
they have done anything wrong (indeed, they have not done anything
wrong.)
When
a client gets into difficulty, conventional banks get worried about
their money, and make all efforts to recover the money, including
taking over the collateral. Grameen system, in such cases, works
extra hard to assist the borrower in difficulty, and makes all
efforts to help her regain her strength and overcome her
difficulties.
In
conventional banks charging interest does not stop unless specific
exception is made to a particular defaulted loan. Interest charged on
a loan can be multiple of the principal, depending on the length of
the loan period. In Grameen Bank, under no circumstances total
interest on a loan can exceed the amount of the loan, no matter how
long the loan remains unrepaid. No interest is charged after the
interest amount equals the principal.
Conventional
banks do not pay attention to what happens to the borrowers' families
as results of taking loans from the banks. Grameen system pays a lot
of attention to monitoring the education of the children (Grameen
Bank routinely gives them scholarships and student loans), housing,
sanitation, access to clean drinking water, and their coping capacity
for meeting disasters and emergency situations. Grameen system helps
the borrowers to build their own pension funds, and other types of
savings.
Interest
on conventional bank loans are generally compounded quarterly, while
all interests are simple interests in Grameen Bank.
In
case of death of a borrower, Grameen system does not require the
family of the deceased to pay back the loan. There is a built-in
insurance programme which pays off the entire outstanding amount with
interest. No liability is transferred to the family.
In
Grameen Bank even a beggar gets special attention. A beggar comes
under a campaign from Grameen Bank which is designed to persuade
him/her to join Grameen programme. The bank explains to her how she
can carry some merchandise with her when she goes out to beg from
door to door and earn money, or she can display some merchandise by
her side when she is begging in a fixed place. Grameen's idea is to
graduate her to a dignified livelihood rather than continue with
begging.
Such
a programme would not be a part of a conventional bank's work.
Grameen
system encourages the borrowers to adopt some goals in social,
educational and health areas. These are knows as "Sixteen
Decisions" (no dowry, education for children, sanitary latrine,
planting trees, eating vegetables to combat night-blindness among
children, arranging clean drinking water, etc.). Conventional banks
do not see this as their business.
In
Grameen, we see the poor people as human "bonsai". If a
healthy seed of a giant tree is planted in a flower-pot, the tree
that will grow will be a miniature version of the giant tree. It is
not because of any fault in the seed, because there is no fault in
the seed. It is only because the seed has been denied of the real
base to grow on. People are poor because society has denied them the
real social and economic base to grow on. They are given only the
"flower-pots" to grow on. Grameen's effort is to move them
from the "flower-pot" to the real soil of the society.
If we can succeed in doing that there will be no human "bonsai"
in the world. We'll have a poverty-free world.
A
Conversation with the Hon. Peter MacKay
Here
at home, the Canadian government has taken notice, and recently
pledged more than $40-million dollars to help people in the
developing world gain access to financial services. LU talked with
The Hon. Peter MacKay about his thoughts on Micro Credit:
Lorna: Tell us why the
issue of
Micro Credit matters to Canadians.
Hon.
Peter MacKay:
Well
because it (Micro Credit) works. And it’s transformative. And
it
empowers people to help themselves. That’s the beauty of
micro
credit; it gives them the access to capital to purchase the raw
materials for production and women in particular in countries that
are so impoverished, having this kind of confidence and this kind of
life altering experience that they get thru micro credit and this
kind of purpose that they gain is truly an inspiration. And Canada,
by its announcement today of an additional $40 million by our
previous commitment of our micro credit program in places like
Afghanistan we’re making a huge contribution and
that’s what
Canadians want to hear. We’re a generous country by nature
but
we’re also practical in wanting to understand how it works
and how
that difference is actually being achieved....To see the impact on
the ground… to see how this is allowing women to come out of
poverty to do more for their families and their communities, it
really it changes your life… it impresses you so much to see
their
enthusiasm, the vigour that they have to make those businesses a
success and the results that they’re achieving …
and they’re
paying money back. This is what is so remarkable. For the amount of
money, one of the first things they want to do is pay that money back
which speaks to the integrity, it speaks to the intent and it speaks
to the people themselves who just want to do more for themselves.
They just need that start. They just need that first ability to get
going.”
Listen Up with Lorna Dueck is available ON-LINE in a variety of ways.
Click here to find out more!
Pacific 1:30
am Monday
Mountain 2:30am
Central 3:30am
Eastern 4:30am
National Religious Broadcasters (NRB)
Eastern 8pm Monday
10:30am Wednesday
DVD's of all our shows are available for sale. To place an order, please call (905) 336 9777 x27. Copies are $15.00 which includes shipping. Payment can be made by cheque (made payable to Listen Up TV); VISA or Mastercard.
Read Lorna's Globe & Mail columns by searching
our archive.
Read 'Media & The Message'. Lorna says if the church wants to impact society, we need to share our stories.
On April 30, 2005 Lorna was privileged to receive an honorary Doctorate of Christian Ministries from Canada's largest Christian university, Trinity Western University. Lorna was recognized for the witness and leadership that Listen Up TV has provided in public messaging: "a leader in the voice of evangelical life in Canada."
