Symbiotics NewsWatch #189, 13 December 2011

Dec. 12	Microfinance Provides the Perfect Partner for Sustainable Development Renewables offer an important solution for the energy needs of poor communities.The most significant barrier to the wide-spread adoption of these technologies is their upfront costs. This is why microfinance makes such an ideal partner for renewables – providing loans for the upfront costs that can be paid back over-time. Source: NewEurope
Dec. 10	Small Wonder: A New Model of Microfinance for the Very Poor is Spreading Ms Kwei is one of millions of poor people to have benefited from the hottest trend in microfinance: village savings and loans associations. Millions of people like her survive on meagre and erratic earnings. Access to the simplest financial services can help stabilise their incomes, which in turn makes them less vulnerable to diseases and natural disasters. Source: The Economist
Dec. 08	Thunell’s Vision for Microfinance IFC is working with 110 MFIs in more than 50 countries. Its investee clients had an outstanding portfolio of nearly 8 million loans as of June 2011, worth just under $12.6 billion. Yet the feeling internally is that much more can be done; at best, microfinance reaches less than 20% of its potential market. Source: Euromoney
Dec. 08	The UN Capital Development Fund Explores Link Between Microfinance and Social Protection Last week, the UN Capital Development Fund hosted a high-level Thinkshop entitled “How can microfinance extend Social Protection in Asian Lesser Developed Countries (LDCs)?”. The event offered insight into new and potentially revolutionary role that microfinance institutions (MFIs) might play in helping protect the extreme poor through products that kickstart savings as opposed to causing debt. Source: The Ladder
Dec. 08	The Arab Spring: Risks and Opportunities for Microfinance in the Middle East & North Africa Region For decades MFIs in the region had been tackling issues linked to poverty and economic development. The Arab Spring comes with a mix of hopes and fears. After several years of efforts to overcome risks linked to client protection, a new reputation risk lies ahead as high expectations are put into microfinance as a tool to fight unemployment. Source: CGAP
Dec. 07	Ecuador Expanding Access to Microcredit for Low-Income Women Ecuador will expand access to microcredit, particularly among low-income women, through a $50 million loan approved by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) aimed at increasing employment opportunities and reducing poverty. Source: Hispanically Speaking News
Dec. 07	India: SKS Moves Away From Microloans, Boosts Other Areas Industry bellwether SKS Microfinance said Wednesday it will ramp up and eventually spin off its growing non-microfinance business, sending the stock price soaring as the beleaguered lender struggles to reinvent itself. The company, once India's largest microlender, has been at the center of an industry wide controversy over how to balance the needs of poor borrowers with the demands of investors. Source: Yahoo News