Utilisateur:Maiiina/Grameen Foundation Australia

Grameen Foundation Australia

Grameen Foundation, founded as Grameen Foundation USA, is a global 501(c)(3) non-profit organization based in Washington DC that works to replicate the Grameen Bank microfinance model around the world through a global network of partner microfinance institutions. Its CEO is Alex Counts.

It is separate from organizations called Grameen Foundation in different countries, such as Grameen Foundation Australia.[1] Contents [hide]

   * 1 History
   * 2 Mission
   * 3 Programs
   * 4 Trivia
   * 5 Further reading
   * 6 References
   * 7 External links

[edit] History

The Foundation was founded in 1997 as a vehicle to replicate the model of Grameen Bank beyond the borders of Bangladesh and increase the access of poor people to microfinance by millions worldwide. Muhammad Yunus, the founder and managing director of Grameen Bank, sits on the Board of Directors. Current chair of the board is Paul Maritz, CEO of VMWare and formerly a senior executive at Microsoft. [edit] Mission

Grameen Foundation operates under the mission, "to enable the poor, especially the poorest, to create a world without poverty."[1] [edit] Programs

Rather than directly administering microfinance programs, Grameen Foundation provides funds and technical assistance to local and regional microfinance organizations. As of 2009, they had partnered with 18 microfinance organizations in Asia with over 8 million active clients, 10 partners in the Middle East and Africa with nearly 500 thousand clients, 9 partners in East Africa with more than 1.3 million clients, and 16 partners in Latin America and the Caribbean with almost 800 thousand clients.[1] [edit] Trivia

Voted into the top 25 of world changing ideas in 2007 Members Project by American Express cardholders. [edit] Further reading

   * Op-Ed by Alex Counts and Jay Bakhru on increasing U.S. Aid spending on microfinance; Foreign Policy Digest, February 2009.

   * Yunus, Muhammad (1999). Banker to the Poor: Micro-lending and the Battle Against World Poverty. New York: PublicAffairs.  (ISBN 1-891620-11-8). 
   * Measuring the Impact of Microfinance: Taking Stock of What We Know; Nathanael Goldberg, December 2005.
   * Innovate podcast series interviews Alex Counts, founder and CEO of Grameen Foundation

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b "Impact on the Ground: 2008-2009 Annual Report". Grameen Foundation. http://issuu.com/Grameen_Foundation/docs/gf-012_ar-digital_19g. Retrieved September 15, 2010. 

[edit] External links

   * Official site
   * Grameen-Jameel Pan Arab Microfinance Ltd.
   * Grameen Foundation Australia, replicating the Grameen Bank model within South East Asia
   * Nokia, Grameen Collaborate for African Villages Highway Africa News Agency, November 25, 2005. [2]