Grameen Foundation : Resource Center : Print Newsletter : Fall 2006 : Partnership For Latin America's Poorest
New Partnership Brings Hope For Latin America's Poorest
More than 50 million people living in extreme poverty in Latin America and the Caribbean gained new hope for benefiting from microfinance, thanks to an alliance between Grameen Foundation (GF) and Global Partnerships (GP).
The partnership between the two organizations brings a tremendous boost to microfinance in the Americas and will help GF grow from reaching 133,519 of the region’s poorest to more than 250,000 people living in extreme poverty by 2008. Working with Global Partnerships will also help increase technical support and funding to GF’s microfinance institution (MFI) partners, enabling them to reach more poor borrowers.
Providing high quality financial and technical assistance to partner MFIs is key to GF’s success at scaling up microfinance in Latin America. “The exciting thing about this collaboration is that the agreement was shaped by people at all levels. From those performing on-site technical assistance at our partner MFIs to each organization’s CEOs,” says Ximena Arteaga, GF’s Regional Director of the Americas.
GF and GP offer a complimentary set of technical services that translate to higher quality support for our partners, which in turn allows those local partners to reach more poor families. This support will be directed to the partners on a more timely basis because GP has a staff member based in Latin America. The new alliance also creates increased funding for current and future MFI partners, which they can use to offer loans to more of the poorest people in the region. The alliance reduces costs by promoting collaboration in selecting new partners and monitoring existing partners. Internal training sessions including information and experience sharing will provide professional development for both organizations.
Grameen Foundation : Resource Center : Print Newsletter : Fall 2006 : Partnership For Latin America's Poorest
Grameen Foundation uses microfinance and innovative technology to fight global poverty and bring opportunities to the world's poorest people. With tiny loans and financial services, we help the poor, mostly women, start businesses and escape poverty. Our global network of 55 microfinance institution (MFI) partners including our Growth Guarantee partners has touched more than 34 million people in 24 countries. In addition, we introduced and now sustain technology initiatives (Mifos and Village Phone) in Cameroon, Kenya, Rwanda, and Uganda, bringing our total country outreach to 28.
+1-202-628-3560 www.grameenfoundation.org
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