Grameen Foundation : What we do : Knowledge Sharing : Translations
Translating Microfinance
One of the biggest challenges many microfinance practitioners face in accessing information about best practices in their own language. This is particularly acute for people living in the Middle East/North Africa because most resources on microfinance are not available in Arabic. This limited accessibility to critical information has inhibited the dissemination of best practice microfinance knowledge throughout the region.
In 2003, Grameen Foundation and the Abdul Latif Jameel Group launched the Grameen- Jameel Initiative to respond to this need, among other priorities. It has translated more than 60 publications that were identified by practitioners as priorities. One key project has been the translation of important microfinance reference books, newsletters and videos into Arabic. Some of the most significant completed translations undertaken by the Initiative include:
- Pathways out of Poverty, edited by Sam Daley-Harris and published in English by the Microcredit Summit Campaign
- The Grameen Reader, edited by David Gibbons and originally published by Grameen Trust (this is a selection of Dr. Yunus’s writings most relevant to practitioners with introductory and concluding essays by Professor Gibbons
- Social Entrepreneurs are the Solution (one of the most influential speeches ever given by Grameen Bank founder Professor Muhammad Yunus)
- Tapping the Financial Markets for Microfinance, Jennifer Meehan
- Microcredit Summit Campaign E-Newsletters (eight issues over two years after the Regional Summit for the Arab World held in Amman, Jordan)
- Building Better Lives, a Microcredit Summit Campaign training video
The Arabic Microfinance Gateway
One of the more ambitious projects within the Grameen-Jameel Initiative has been an effort to get newly available translations and other needed information to practitioners and policy-makers via the Internet. In early 2005 it joined with Sanabel, the microfinance network for the Arab World, and CGAP, a consortium of 30 bilateral, multilateral, and private donor institutions housed at the World Bank, to launch the Arabic Microfinance Gateway.
At its launch, the site contained more than 100 specialized documents in Arabic (including many translated by the Initiative) and also news features and opinion pieces. Following the model of the English and French versions of the Microfinance Gateway, it has become a community portal, offering discussion groups and a job bank for consultants.
Grameen Foundation : What we do : Knowledge Sharing : Translations
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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