This post can also be interacted with at http://www.mficonnect.com/forum/topics/mapping-yes-we-can-africa-open

Over the last 18 months I have participated in and searched a lot of Dr Yunus' and Sam Daley-Harris' goals and mapped support networks to empower Yes We Can Africa.

Can you help collate resources on this in one thread? It would particularly help now for 2 reasons I am aware of;
 
1) Dr Yunus is inviting the world to connect up a youth ambassador 5000 network starting next month- it would be useful to have resource spaces that get yes we can youth ambassadors off to a fast start with a common set of information and ideally connections to collaboration projects
 
2) Friends of Dr Yunus are using last week's Presidential medal to try and brief all G8 leaders on yes we can opportunities with Africa and microcreditsummit Kenya plans taking on one notable connecting focus
 
If you are interested in other views of africa, by all means start other threads and I will reference them here- but I would like to get as clear a map as we can of what dr yunus and Sam Daley-Harris are planning so that we can then verify with both of them details at an next level of connecting projects to be more than the sum of their parts

Yunus 10 Downing Street Video

Yunus when giving mandela speech in july made a video inviting Fifa to celebrate end poverty as well as South Africa's world cup

Yunus has mentioned the first social business fund in Europe will make Africa one of its 2 priorities - environment being other

Yunus, Sam D-H , and Ingrid Munro started 2009 with a review of the best news of the decade. This was presented at JP Morgan. The opportunity to reveal Jamii bora as benchmark for scaling youth mobile and urban slum microcredit was celebrated

Sam D-H and Ingrid Munro celebrated announcement of Kenya Microcreditsummit 2010 by flying over to Madrid and signing up 2 intents with Queen Sofia: 1) She wants to support exchanges of knowledge across southern hemispehere with a particular focus on connecting Spanish speaking (building also on columbia mcs 09) that she can cheer on and African that Ingrid Munro networks can cheer on 2) She has signed up mardid to be world microcreditsummit host in 2011

I imagine there is lots more yes we can good news linking in for africa- can you help us connect it into one integrated open plan? Micro up is community sustainability's other way round system than global trickle down aid and I believe Africans have a transparency right to explore the differences and make a choice as to how to sustain progrtess towards millennial goals and other ways of uniting the race to end poverty. Their example can also inspite Yes We Can Americans and Yes We Can youth worldwide to collaborative network with the urgency that sustainability and humanity now requires.

kickstart is the most brillaint irrigation tool kenya has ever seen - why not replicate in other countreis

asa when owned locally is likely to be brilliant http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&safe=off&q=%2Basa+%2Bafrica+%2Bbangladesh&btnG=Search

brac is as good as any bottom-up system wherever it goes , imo http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=%2Bbrac+%2Bafrica&btnG=Google+Search&aq=f&oq=

http://www.subayo.org/

Our Vision is to Elevate Women's Standards of Living in the Accra, Denu, Volta and Ashanti Regions in Ghana as well as in Lusaka and Western Region in Zambia.

I have met the founder of this twice. She's as passionate about her goals as anyone. She's trusting to a form of community microcredit connected by developing a sector that a region can be uniquely good at. She networks New York african disapora with a gutsy approach that only a deeply caring lady can

I have never seen her exact experiment before in spite of reading up on about 200 microcredits - will it work? - hope so- could be the most inspiring micro-investment afroca has ever seen

Makes internet channels like kiva look very average if it works

News from microenergycredits.com partnerships in africa:
FINCA Uganda

MFIs are missing out on an innovative source of finance that has the potential to help borrowers improve their quality of life and the environment by switching from traditional energy to clean energy technologies. Why should MFIs encourage their clients to use clean energy technologies?  How can MFIs interact with the mainstream carbon markets? James Dailey and April Allderdice, Co-Founders of MicroEnergy Credits, explain how.  

In 2007 companies in Europe purchased US$30bn in carbon credits. What does this mean? This amount of grant financing was paid to cover the gap in cost between modern clean energy technologies and traditional “polluting” fuels. The Carbon Markets were created when the Kyoto Protocol, an international treaty designed to prevent climate change, went into effect in 2005.  Developed countries that signed the Protocol agreed to cap their carbon emissions by giving allowances to companies in key industries. When a company in a developed country pollutes beyond its allowance it is legally bound to purchase a “carbon credit” from another company that has polluted less than its allowance.  It can also purchase a carbon credit from a project in a developing country that uses a clean technology. 

Now MFIs can access this innovative source of finance to help their clients improve their quality of life and the environment by switching from traditional energy to clean energy technologies. Financing these clean energy technologies can be a sustainable product line for MFIs, and is even more attractive when Carbon Market revenue streams are considered.

Clean Energy Products Can be a Sustainable Product Line for MFIs
A successful example is Grameen Shakti, the renewable energy sister-company of the Grameen Bank in Bangladesh.  Grameen Shakti markets three energy technologies to its clients. These are solar home systems, improved cookstoves and biogas digesters.  Grameen Shakti has sold over 180,000 solar home systems to its clients in Bangladesh. These energy products enable households and microenterprises to reduce their energy expenditure on kerosene, wood and charcoal.  Moreover, clean fuels avoid health problems such as smoke and pollutants in the home or fire. Finally, these renewable energy technologies put microfinance clients on a path to achieve energy self-sufficiency.  After they pay off their systems, clients own their own source of electricity or biogas with minimal ongoing costs, and they are insulated from common problems such as power outages or increases in fuel or utility prices. 

In fact the traditional energy sources that many microfinance clients depend on are in many ways part of a vicious cycle.  Building a clean energy path may become an integral part of every microfinance clients’ journey out of poverty.

How does the Microfinance Carbon Program enable MFIs to receive Carbon Revenue?
MicroEnergy Credits is the first,company to offer a complete solution, helping Microfinance Institutions (MFIs) finance clean energy products and receive revenues from the Carbon Markets.

MEC works with Dublin-based EcoSecurities (LSE: ECO), a premier carbon trading firm, to turn the clean energy investments financed by MFIs into securities known as “carbon credits” which are marketed on either the voluntary or the compulsory carbon markets. Until now the carbon markets had focused almost exclusively on large projects, because the transaction costs associated with carbon projects were too high to justify small projects.  MEC aggregates the carbon credits from a global pool of MFIs, creating sufficient volume to reduce the transaction costs. This opens up the market for microfinance clients to take advantage of this valuable new source of finance.

Other efforts in the market target related problems.  For example, Energy Links, an initiative of Accion, launched in 2007, develops and documents new approaches to financing and marketing energy products via microfinance networks. They have initially focused on low cost, high efficiency LED lanterns.  Another player in the market is E&Co, which invests in clean energy product suppliers in emerging markets.  E&Co''s approach promotes products that MFIs might find attractive for their clients. E&Co also incorporates carbon finance in its investment package.   Arc Finance is a new organization launched in 2008 with the goal of bridging knowledge and resource gaps between the energy and microfinance sectors. Arc develops innovative linkages between microfinance institutions (MFIs) and energy businesses and also supports the improvement of existing energy lending programs in Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the Caribbean.

MicroEnergy Credits (MEC) was launched on 5 May, 2008 at Finca Uganda where it is providing carbon credit revenues for three products including solar energy systems, energy efficient stoves and efficient handheld lanterns, based on demand for those products by Finca''s customers and utilizing different suppliers. MEC is also planning to announce several new partners in Asia and Africa in early 2009.  

Who Should Receive the Revenues from Carbon Offset Sales?
In a sustainable market, many players come together to create a carbon offset. The client purchases the product; a distributor provides equipment; the MFI provides financing’ and there may also be a manufacturer, an NGO and a donor in the mix.  In the current regulatory environment all or any of these players may make the case that they should receive the carbon offset. However, in every instance the choice needs to be clear because there can be no “double counting” of carbon offsets. 

Many programs may coexist to provide carbon finance for the market served by MFIs. For example, a supplier may work with a carbon firm to receive carbon revenues for all of their products, or a donor may work with a local or national government to provide carbon finance for a set of clean energy investments. However,  MEC''s “MicroFinance Carbon Program” has key benefits in cases when an MFI is involved. MEC believes the MFI can play a critical role in “brokering” the energy product to its client base. MFIs may be the perfect conveyors of carbon revenues because they can easily structure the carbon revenues into high value benefits to the client such as reduced interest, longer loan terms, improved education or after sales service. Since the suppliers of clean energy products benefit from the expanded market, and in some cases reduced effective cost to clients, they also benefit from foregoing their claim on the carbon revenue for these markets. 

Carbon revenues are renewable every year as long as the client continues to use the clean energy product, and the MFI continues to monitor the investment. Thus, the program encourages the MFI to work to ensure that the energy technologies are maintained in good working order year after year. Additionally, microfinance institutions can benefit repeatedly when clients expand their use of clean and energy efficient technologies as their quality of life and capacity to invest increases.

The MicroFinance Carbon Program encourages MFIs to establish a long-term stake in their clients’ energy choices, helping link clients to locally available options that benefit their income, health, and the global environment.

What is the Linkage Between the Carbon Markets and the Poor?
Those following the debates about the Kyoto Protocol of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change in Bali, and recently at Poznan, realize that a key critique of this global international accord centers on the relationship between the Carbon Markets and the more than two billion people that suffer from energy poverty.  It prompts the question, “How can we ensure that a broad based clean energy future is invested in efficiently?”   These issues have been difficult to answer, not because the poor don’t need clean energy, but rather because the carbon market players in the early years of market development have been wholesalers, and have focused on the largest clean energy projects. Sadly, these large projects cannot reach the poor who do not even have access to the electric grid.

The Microfinance Carbon Program asks: “What clean energy technologies can improve your clients’ lives?”  If your client wishes to invest in clean energy technology, the global community is willing to provide some additional support to share the burden of saving the planet.

Envisioning a Microfinance Carbon Industry
In order for the Microfinance Industry to become a more significant player in the carbon markets, MFIs need to demonstrate two things.  First, they must show that they are good brokers of clean energy systems—in other words, that they can help connect their clients with the right technologies and ensure the technologies stay in good functional condition over the long term.  Second, they must prove that they are good bookkeepers of the carbon offsets. The carbon markets are a financial market and depend on transparent, verifiable records of the history and current status of the energy assets.  As MFIs build their track record in these two areas, increasingly they will be viewed as important intermediaries by the carbon markets and will be able to capture more of the value in the carbon value chain.

MicroEnergy Credits is committed to encouraging industry development and to passing on more value to MFIs as the price of carbon goes up, and as the market aggregates more volume.

MEC encourages every MFI to think about their clients and the carbon offset opportunities they have. Each microfinance client has the opportunity to get on a clean energy path by improving the lighting and cooking in their home and in their business, school and clinic—this is a value the MFI can cultivate over time, and for which they now can accumulate carbon credit revenues.

Next Steps
If your MFI is interested in providing loans for clean energy and energy efficient products, partnering with a company like MEC can help. Partners can assist in the identification of clean energy products, program design, staff training and ongoing support.  If your MFI has already established a capacity to lend for clean energy products, MEC can work with you to calculate the carbon emissions offset by the clean energy products and  incorporate the practices needed to capture carbon market revenues from the offsets created as you scale up the energy lending to more clients.

James Dailey and April Allderdice founded MicroEnergy Credits in 2008.  For more information, please send an email to info@microenergycredits.com or visit www.microenergycredits.com.

Learn more about GBM

http://www.greenbeltmovement.org/ Kenya

The Challenge for Africa

(New York: Pantheon, 2009)
The challenges facing Africa today are severe and wide ranging. Yet what we see of them in the media, more often than not, are tableaux vivantes connoting poverty, dependence, and desperation. Wangari Maathai presents a different vision, informed by her three decades as an environmental activist and campaigner for democracy. She illuminates the complex and dynamic nature of the continent, and offers "hard-headed hope" and "realistic options" for change and improvement. With clarity of expression, Maathai analyzes the most egregious "bottlenecks to development in Africa" occurring at the international, national, and individual levels—cultural upheaval and enduring poverty, among them—and deftly describes what Africans can and need to do for themselves, stressing all the while responsibility and accountability.

Buy The Challenge for Africa
Click on the links to buy The Challenge for Africa in the following countries:
North America (April 2009) || UK (April 2009) || France (Summer 2009)

From Publishers Weekly
The Challenge for Africa Wangari Maathai. Pantheon, $25 (336p) ISBN 978-0-307-37740-1

Africa's moral and cultural dysfunctions loom as large as its material problems in this wide-ranging jeremiad. Maathai (Unbowed), a Kenyan biologist and winner of the Nobel Peace Prize for organizing the tree-planting Green Belt Movement, surveys Africa's struggle with poverty and disease, political violence, climate change, the legacy of colonialism and a global economy that's stacked against it. But the deeper problem she sees is the selfishness, opportunism and shortsightedness of Africans themselves, from leaders who exploit their countrymen and loot their nations' resources to poor farmers who ruin the land for short-term gain. Maathai means this as an empowering message aimed at a mindset of dependency that would rather “wait for someone to magically make development happen”; she urges Africans to recover indigenous traditions of community solidarity and self-help, along with the virtues of honesty, fairness and hard work. Maathai shrewdly analyzes the links between environmental degradation and underdevelopment, and floats intriguing proposals, like banning plastic bags as a malaria-abatement measure. But the challenges she addresses are vast and intractable—and sadly, many of the development and environmental initiatives she extols seem to have already fizzled. (Apr.)

Attend the conference, “Lessons from the Poor: The Power of Entrepreneurship,” featuring Alvaro Vargas Llosa, former Bolivian President Jorge Quiroga, William Easterly, William Ratliff, George B. N. Ayittey, Fredrik Erixon, Gabriel Gasave, Daniel Cordova, Martin Simonetta, and Thompson Ayodele  http://ippanigeria.org (Washington, D.C., 11/13/08)

CIDA Free University Johanesburg

Tunisia Enda-Arabe
from march 09 microfinancefocus

Enda inter-arabe’s co-founders

Essma Ben Hamida, Tunisian, the executive director,

studied history and geography before becoming a

school teacher while also being a newscaster on Tunisian

television. She later opened the first office in North

America of the official Tunis Afrique Presse (TAP) and

then joined the only Third World press agency, Inter-

Press Service, based in Rome.

Michael Cracknell, British, the Secretary General, has

degrees in Arts, in Political Science and in Law. He has

worked for the UN (FAO but also as a consultant for

IFAD, UNEP and UNCTAD). Prior to setting up enda inter

-arabe, he ran the Paris-based International Federation

of Agricultural Producers

December, enda inter-arabe was

classed as the world’s 18th highest-performing MFI

by the Mix Market. And yet, its micro-credit activities

came into being almost by chance in what was then

a hostile environment.

In 1990, Essma Ben Hamida, a Tunisian, and her

husband, Michael Cracknell, a Brit, decided they

wanted to actually do something concrete about development,

something they had been writing about

for years. And where better to go than Essma’s

home country, Tunisia?

For the first few years, they organised international

or regional conferences aligned with the UN’s thematic

conferences of the ‘90s (social development,

water, women…). At the same time, they set up a

youth vocational training centre and ran a women’s

health education project, among others.

Micro-credit raised its ugly head in 1994? when a survey

of women showed they had income-generating

skills, such as traditional weaving and sewing, but

not the first bent cent to purchase supplies.

After one year studying, visiting and reading, thanks

to a Ford Foundation grant, enda inter-arabe added

micro-credit to its other activities. It began with a

capital of just $20 000 contributed by Emmaüs international,

based in France.

For the next five years, enda inter-arabe continued

on its original course, with grant-funded projects in

the area of youth, women and micro-credit. All were

basically limited to the same poor suburb of the

capital, Tunis, and the “beneficiaries” were essentially

women “without work” (apart from raising sev-
eral children and keeping the home on a shoe-string

budget…) or working as cleaners in better-off

neighbourhoods or as poorly-paid unskilled labour in

textile factories.

As time went by, and enda’s staff rose from two in

1990 to 35 in 2000, it became clear that it would be

difficult to do a good job with micro-credit while

maintaining the other activities. From 2001, enda

therefore has been concentrating its activities on

providing financial and non-financial services to micro-

entrepreneurs, with a focus on women.

Eight years on, and 14 years after the micro-credit

activity began, the wisdom of that decision taken in

2000 has been proven. If enda inter-arabe had remained

a grant-dependent NGO as at its beginnings,

it would probably have had a positive influence on

the lives of a few hundred young Tunisians, some

would have found jobs, many would have been more

sociable, a couple of thousand women would be

more conscious of how to care better for their own

and their family’s health.

The decision to concentrate on support for microentrepreneurs

has meant enda-ia’s impact has been

infinitely greater, including, indirectly, its impact on

health and youth.

Today, to the never-ending astonishment of the cofounders,

enda inter-arabe is serving 100 000 microentrepreneurs

throughout Tunisia (77% women),

from 52 branches and with a full-time staff of over

500, mainly young university graduates.

Moreover, it has been self-sufficient since 2003 –

income from the micro-finance activity covers all the

expenses as well as the cost of borrowing from financial

institutions in order to keep up with demand.

The Importance of Training ... Perspective of Peter Ryan, Founder and CEO of the Microloan Foundation By, Peter Burgess, Correspondent , New York ( Microfinance Focus) , March 2nd, 2009 I caught up with Peter Ryan last month in Boston. Peter is the founder and CEO of Micro-Loan Foundation (MLF), a UK charity that has established a successful growing microfinance organization in Malawi, and now starting to expand into neighboring countries. Peter was visiting the Boston area to celebrate the first anniversary of the MicroLoan Foundation USA that is helping to fund the growth of MLF. Peter Ryan first saw the potential of microfinance when traveling with friends in the Philippines. A small loan got paid back and did some visible good. In 1997 Peter saw the depth of poverty in Africa during a business visit to Malawi and recognized that microcredit could be the catalyst for development and poverty reduction that was not mere charity but truly sustainable. Because Peter had a business background, and had started a number of businesses, he was aware of some of the critical issues that cause business to fail ... and the MLF program he designed reduced these risks. MLF Malawi opened its first office in 2002 in Nkhotakota, a small fishing town that combined the greatest need with the least provision of microfinance services. The first loans were made in 2002 and by 2003 the MLF had a staff of five, had made over 600 loans and had a 97% repayment rate. A second office was opened in Dwangwa, north of the first office in 2004 and more offices added over the next five years so that there are now 15 offices, with 5 more to be opened this year. In addition MLF is expanding into neighboring countries starting with Zambia. It will start in other countries in Southern Africa: probably these will be Mozambique, Namibia and Botswana . The Zambia program will be headed up by the Kenson Chiphaka who was MLF Malawi CEO who built up the Malawi operation so successfully. The new Malawi CEO will be another Malawian. James Kajama with strong development and banking credentials.By some standards the interest rates charged by MLF in Malawi are high ... maybe around 66% per annum ... but this interest income makes it possible for MicroLoan to be sustainable over a long period while having a substantial microloan portfolio and providing critical training to its clients. Because people in the rural areas of Malawi are poorly educated, the people have little opportunity for progress. While the lack of money is one constraining factor, in Malawi, according to Peter Ryan, there is in addition a big deficit in education and knowing the basics of business. This is why MLF is very committed to the idea of training as an integral part of its program. Almost all of the MLF loans are made to women who are starting their own businesses. But before they may take a loan they must go through a training course. The women are required to form into business groups electing a Chairman, Treasurer and secretary and are then given a six to eight week crash course on key aspects of business management. During the initial stages of the business, they are provided with constant guidance as their modest business takes off. This includes support in practical training for very basic business skills like cash-flow planning that enables people to get businesses up and running very quickly. Within 4 months MLF trainees are running real businesses and usually have repaid the initial loan in full. Many of the businesses are trading businesses, such as buying fish from the lake (Lake Nyasa), rice or tomatoes, and selling them in the capital, Lilongwe, where they earn a profit. Others are small production or “value adding” businesses, such as bread or knitted products which are hand-made and then sold in the local street markets. Without MLF these people would have no access to the money needed to buy the equipment and materials to start these businesses.During the MLF training the potential clients are given the opportunity to learn something of what it is that they need to know to be successful. It is a comprehensive curriculum. Many businesses start ups fail because of they do no know or understand the market. Borrowers starting up a business must know about the product or service, the competition, the prices, and all sorts of hidden problems and issues. People in a poor community need the basics. They need food, and clothes, and also things like medicine, fishing lines, firewood, spare parts, and such. A good business satisfies real needs and will succeed if it supplies the goods or service at a low cost. Market research need not be complicated, but there must be a sound analysis and application of common sense. MLF helps to ensure that the potential clients know how to start the business in accordance with local custom. In Malawi, setting up a small business requires consulting with the local chief or village head man. This may not be written in the national law and regulation, but it is a customary requirement and is an important part of the ‘due diligence’ that the MLF carries out before loans are given as it helps ensure high levels of repayment. In real estate there are only three things that matter ... location, location and location. The same goes for a small business. The place where the business is set up makes a big difference. This may not be obvious ... it is part of the training. Customers must be able to get to the business easily, and it must be possible for the business owner to bring the products. Convenience is a big value in a society where walking is the norm for most travel! Growth is not the top priority ... first of all learn how to have a sustainable small business keeping costs as low as possible, and grow because there is demand for the goods and services not because there is an overly big overhead cost to be covered! It is much better to have low overhead and low costs and low prices and a growing business than to have high prices, high costs and no business. Basic business know-how and financial discipline is a cornerstones of MLF training philosophy and success. Potential borrowers are required to demonstrate that they can manage money by saving up a small sum themselves – 10% or 15% of the loan - before receiving their money. MLF does not walk away as soon as the loan is disbursed, rather they stay very much involved. The business training goes on for six weeks so that the clients can learn to run meetings, have elections for their group leadership: chairperson, secretary, treasurer, etc., keep records, bank money, manage their cashflow, budget for their business and ensure that they make a profit. Many of these people do not read or write, and they do not have calculators. All of this has to be done using talk and using mental arithmetic. MLF business start up borrowers meet every two weeks with their loan officer to review their business progress, and to make repayments against their loan. This is a tight schedule and borrowers find it difficult, but the discipline is extremely valuable. Critical problems can be identified quickly and steps taken to solve the problem with the help of the loan officer. The role of the loan officer is crucial. The loan officer's experience can be used to help a struggling business and do something to correct the problem. This is a level of engagement that is costly, but incredibly valuable. MLF uses a group lending model with business start up groups of between eight and fifteen women. The group is collectively responsible for the repayment of each individual loan. If one member of a group gets into trouble, the others have to be prepared to help her out. This happens, for example, if one member of a group becomes ill and they cannot operate the business for a while. In the case of a group member dying before her loan is repaid the loan is written off, but where someone is suffering from an illness other members of the group take responsibility for carrying her through the period of the illness.  MLF provides know-how, start-up capital, and on-going support but the individual borrowers design and run the businesses for themselves. 97% of the loans are re-paid in full. But it appears from what Peter Ryan talks about that the results are really a whole lot better than these financial results. Small rather remote communities that were doing nothing more than existing ... and declining ... have found ways to have businesses that satisfy needs and earn income. The 3% failure rate results from factors that are out of MLF control, mostly that the borrower has died. With life expectancy of only 37 years, mainly because of the high incidence of HIV/AIDS, it is a sad fact of life that some of the businesses will fail because the borrower dies. MLF Malawi is demonstrating that a very basic sensible approach to development can be sustainable and make a big impact. Training is central to the success of the MLF in Malawi. The approach does not use rocket science ... just very advanced common sense

#1 Jamii Bora, Kenya http://www.youtube.com/results?search_type=&search_query=jamii+bora&aq=f

Known as the banking's best news in 21sCentury - celebrated the world over from JP Morgan in Manhattan to Kibera Slum in Nairobi- the reality story that Hollywood's slumdog millionniare could only fictionalise

not only the best case of mobile micro banking uniting youth and women but about 20 other benchmark cass in one including lowest cost health insurance; how to build a 2000 home-town to start replacing slums; how to run a members end alcoholics anonymous; how to run your own bottom-up business school

oh what a great time to be Kenyan with the world's hi-trust leader barack Obama and the world's highest trust female banker Ingrid Munro ably supported by her youthul co-workers - partnered by all the deepest supporters in micro-up world including wholeplanetfoundation and Unitus

official web ; fan web - tell us what stories to post here or to enetr into our worldwide open source bank of fututre capitalism cases

93 USCongress members demand that world bank empowers learing round JB