Global Catalyst Group » World

Catalyst Conversation: Microfinance in the Developing World

Don Ball — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 15:25:54 +0000

Muhammad Yunus helped pioneer the concept of microcredit with the formation of Grameen Bank – meaning “village bank” – in Bangladesh in 1983. The bank is based on the principle of that loaning what would be considered tiny amounts of capital to entreprenuers – the first loan was $27 to a total of 42 craftpersons – could not only lift people out of poverty but also serve as a sound investment practice. Today, Grameen Bank has 8 million borrowers, a 99% loan repayment rate and loaned $7b billion since its formation.

During this roundtable discussion, GCG seeks to learn what the future hold for the broader state of microfinance, opportunities and challenges, and debates how well has the concept of microfinance been successfully exported from Grameen Bank & Bangladesh. GCG also discussed if the model may work in some societies/developing countries better than others. The conversation also included internet institutions such Kiva and Prosper allowed for greater adoption and/or efficiencies of micro-finance.

Please login for supporting material and the full conversation.

Foreign Aid in Developing Nations

Admin — Sun, 09 Aug 2009 14:22:11 +0000

What are the challenges and possibilities for foreign aid programs?

Prepared by Alex Johnston and Don Ball

For the video inclined, TED has two lectures which should open up the discussion about the needs which aid fails to meet:

http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/andrew_mwenda_takes_a_new_look_at_africa.html
http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/ngozi_okonjo_iweala_on_aid_versus_trade.html

The experts square off on the need for more foreign aid:

http://www.nyu.edu/fas/institute/dri/Easterly/File/ElMundoArticle_052607.pdf

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-op sachseasterly8may8,1,3796907.htmlstory?coll=la-util-op-ed

How is aid administered?

(see attached, “The Future of Aid”),

(see attached, “Why Foreign Aid is Hurting Africa.” (in particular “A constant stream of “free” money is a perfect way to keep an inefficient or simply bad government in power. As aid flows in, there is nothing more for the government to do — it doesn’t need to raise taxes, and as long as it pays the army, it doesn’t have to take account of its disgruntled citizens. No matter that its citizens are disenfranchised (as with no taxation there can be no representation). All the government really needs to do is to court and cater to its foreign donors to stay in power.”)

Aid and debt, trade, and accountability.

(see attached, “Too Big to Fail.”)

Under what circumstances is aid necessary or beneficial?
Under what circumstance can it do more harm than good?
Does foreign aid undermine accountability?

Consider some of the primary motivations behind aid:

Altruism, humanitarian, pr, trade promotion, soft power/political favors, political stabilization, investment opportunities, economic ties, military alliances, tax benefits,etc?

What are the best vehicles for aid and under what circumstances are
they appropriate?

Government to government (traditional infrastructure,
trade/custom/quota agreements, peacekeeping, disaster relief, etc)
Private to private (private investment, NGO-driven
health/education/infrastructure programs, etc)
Government to private (health research, subsidies or insurance for investment, etc)

Closing discussion:

What parties are most capable of raising, managing and distributing aid? What are some case studies where different forms of aid have been successful? What are some case studies where different forms of aid have been detrimental?What can we learn from these case studies? How does the emergence of new investor and donor nations (e.g. China) affect the aid landscape?What alternative are available to aid-based development strategies?Given growing public sector debt and private sector frailty due of the financial crisis, can we expect to see big changes in the aid landscape?

The 2009 Iranian Elections – The ‘Twitter’ Revolution?

Admin — Sun, 09 Aug 2009 13:11:04 +0000

The Twitter Revolution

Prepared by Liz Nugent and Don Ball

GCG discusses the recent presidental elections in Iran, focusing in particular on the role new media (twitter, blogs, text messaging, facebook) played in the elections – facilitating the opposition and student movements, increasing the ability of protesters to organize, and allowing candidates to communicate directly with their constituencies. Below are some links that will provide background on the elections.

Results of the election:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/06/12/iran-election-results-ahm_n_214975.html

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/06/13/iran-election-results-ahm_0_n_215169.html

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jeremy-j-stone/how-the-iranian-election_b_216882.html

Protest coverage

http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com

http://www.juancole.com/2009/06/day-of-mourning-protests-called-by.html

http://www.juancole.com/2009/06/most-elegant-scene-mass-protest-in.html

http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2009/06/irans_disputed_election.html

Obama’s reaction to election

http://www.juancole.com/2009/06/washington-and-iran-protests-would-they.html

Example of twitter accounts that were constantly updated during the protests and chaos that ensued after the elections:

http://twitter.com/persiankiwi

http://twitter.com/StopAhmadi

http://twitter.com/change_for_iran

Role of new media:

http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1905125,00.html

http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/willheaven/100002576/irans-crackdown-proves-that-the-twitter-revolution-has-made-things-worse/

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/discussion/2009/06/17/DI2009061702232.html

Recent developments

http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/meast/07/05/iran.election.clerics/