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ABP has said it has started investing in micro credits for small entrepreneurs in the Third World.
During the first quarter of 2005 ABP has invested €5m in an unnamed fund for micro credits. This means more than 14,000 small enterprises are being supported by an average loan of €350, aimed at providing help to an escape from poverty.
ABP said it has chosen for this kind of investment, because “it offers perspectives of reasonable returns and limited risks. Moreover micro credits will spread the investment risks of the whole portfolio”.
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With just four calls from a mobile phone, remote Bangladeshi farmer Mir Jahid Hussein can now ensure he gets the best price for his seasonal jute seeds -- something he could once only dream of.
As it is for tens of millions of poor rural-dwellers in developing countries from Bangladesh to Botswana, mobile phone technology is revolutionising Hussein's life for the better, enabling him to cut out cheating middlemen and deal directly with buyers from district markets.
What 10 years ago was mostly a trendy gadget for savvy urbanites in wealthier countries, is now a vital tool of trade in some of the world's most remote areas, many of which had never previously had access to landlines or other means of long distance communication.
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The proposed Indian network will primarily provide internet, tele- education, tele-medicine, videoconferencing and voice-over internet protocol services. It will also support government e-governance projects, as well as entertainment, resource mapping and meteorological services.
Such systems have considerable potential to deliver education and heath care to rural and resource-poor areas with the advantage of offering large cost and time savings.
Nearly four years after its launch, [New Partnership for Africa's Development] is under growing political pressure to prove that it can come up with tangible projects to improve people's lives.
The Indian proposal would see all 53 African countries connected onto the network through satellite, fibre optic and wireless links
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Today, the United States , through the Millennium Challenge Corporation, signed a four-year Compact with the Government of the Republic of Madagascar worth close to $110 million. This first Millennium Challenge Compact will reduce poverty and stimulate economic growth in Madagascar by focusing in three areas: property rights, the financial sector, and agricultural business investment.
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Developing countries where Canada can make a difference
CIDA will target its efforts in the following sectors: governance, health (with a focus on HIV/AIDS), basic education, private-sector development, and environmental sustainability, with gender equality as a cross-cutting theme that is systematically and explicitly integrated across all programming. These sectors are all fundamental to human well-being and crucial to the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals, internationally agreed, time-bound, and quantifiable targets for reducing global poverty.
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The World Association of Newspapers and the Media Development Loan Fund are teaming up to invest major funds in newspaper projects in developing countries.
WAN, the global association of the world's press, and MDLF, a non-profitorganization providing low cost financing to news businesses in developing countries, are creating a partnership to provide low-interest loans to help carefully selected independent media companies in developing democracies to become financially viable businesses.
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The microfinance industry is changing from a sector heavily dependent on external assistance to commercial operations run by some of the region's most influential financial institutions, according to the Annual Report 2004 of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) released today.
Expanded product lines and broader markets are now hallmarks of the industry, the Report says, in a special theme chapter on "The Changing Face of the Microfinance Industry: Building Financial Systems for the Poor."
"The walls between the formal financial sector and microfinance are gradually breaking down with the increasing involvement of conventional, private commercial banks, and alternative financial institutions," the Report says.
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A unique Managed care model comprising of a partnership between family doctors and the general population through Health Maintenance Organisations (HMOs) supported by general insurance companies will be launched on a pilot scale in Mumbai within the next three months.
The proposed HMO under the aegis of Padmabhushan Dr RD Lele, eminent senior physician of Mumbai is being explored with the partnership of organisation group such as the Mumbai Grahak Panchayat, a not-for-profit consumer body consisting of 20,000 members.
Says Dr RD Lele, the think-tank behind the model, "The proposed HMO will be a not-for-profit organisation. A family physician will be responsible for the health of a thousand families. For example in case of Mumbai Grahak Panchayat, there will be 20 doctors for its 20,000 members. That is one lakh population will be covered with a group health insurance cover."
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New Delhi: Major Indian companies have ventured into rural areas to tap villagers for their services and products through information and communication technologies (ICTs), including the Internet and portals. This potential of the use of ICTs for developing rural areas has also enthused the government as well as the World Bank, both of which plan to scale up their work in rural areas in India.
At a seminar on ‘Bridging the Digital Divide: Towards Developing CSR Strategy and Business Model, organised by the Indian Ministry of Communications and the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), many companies shared their plans to sell their products in Indian villages using information technology. The seminar was on how to use ICTs for achieving socio-economic development in the fields of education, health and poverty reduction.
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Yes, Africa is a land of wars, poverty and corruption. The situation in places like Darfur, Sudan, desperately cries out for more media attention and international action. But Africa is also a land of stock markets, high rises, Internet cafes and a growing middle class. This is the part of Africa that functions. And this Africa also needs media attention, if it's to have any chance of fully joining the global economy.
Africa's media image comes at a high cost, even, at the extreme, the cost of lives. Stories about hardship and tragedy aim to tug at our heartstrings, getting us to dig into our pockets or urge Congress to send more aid. But no country or region ever developed thanks to aid alone. Investment, and the job and wealth creation it generates, is the only road to lasting development. That's how China, India and the Asian Tigers did it.
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