MICROFINANCE EVENT: MicroSave and Financial Access Initiative (FAI) to Hold Two Day Virtual Conference “Reimagining Microfinance Around the World: Implementing Lessons from ‘Portfolio of the Poor'” June 8-9, 2010

Event Name: Reimagining Microfinance Around the World: Implementing Lessons from ‘Portfolios of the Poor’

Event Date: June 8 to June 9, 2010

Event Location: Online

Event Website: http://www.microsave.org/static/content/VC-on-portfolios-of-the-poor

See Our Comprehensive Event Calendar Here: http://microfinanceassociation.ning.com/events

Cost: Free

Summary of Event:

The conference, which is based on the book ‘Portfolios of the Poor: How the World’s Poor Live on $2 a Day,’ will be moderated by MicroSave’s Graham Wright and the book’s co-authors Daryl Collins, Jonathan Morduch, Stuart Rutherford and Orlanda Ruthven. ‘Portfolios of the Poor’ is a record of financial diaries from over 250 households in Bangladesh, India and South Africa over a period of one year. The conference aims to explore how to turn lessons from the financial diaries into real, on-the-ground solutions for improving the lives of the poor.

Background on Organizer:

Established in Uganda in 1998, MicroSave is a technical assistance, training and technical resource center. According to its website, it was “designed and financed by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and Official Development Aid (ODA) to address the mono-credit culture prevalent in East and Southern Africa.” In 2008, MicroSave was transformed into a consulting company, which has since completed projects in Cameroon, Congo, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Nigeria, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia. MicroSave has also established a presence in India with support from ICICI Bank.

Financial Access Initiative (FAI) is a consortium of development economists at New York University (NYU), Yale University and Harvard University focused on expanding access to financial services for low-income individuals. The initiative, which was launched with a USD 5 million grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation in late 2006, is housed at the Wagner Graduate School of Public Service at NYU. The Initiative is led by Managing Director Jonathan Morduch (NYU), Director Dean Karlan (Yale University), and Director Sendhil Mullainathan (Harvard University).

Event Themes and Discussion Topics:

– What mechanisms do poor people use to manage their money?

– What are the basic needs that drive the financial behavior of the poor?

– Why do microfinance institutions (MFIs) play such a small role in the poor’s efforts to manage their money?

– The four key factors in the design of financial services for the poor: reliability, convenience, flexibility and structure

– How should MFIs respond to the needs of the poor for basic financial services?

– Do interest rates matter?

Who Is Invited to Attend: Everyone

About the Presenters:

– Daryl Collins is a senior associate at Bankable Frontier Associates in Boston, a consulting firm specialized in the design and evaluation of strategies and policies to extend financial services to the world’s poor. She was previously a senior lecturer in finance at the University of Cape Town.

– Jonathan Morduch is professor of public policy and economics at New York University and coauthor of “The Economics of Microfinance.”

– Stuart Rutherford is the author of “The Poor and Their Money,” and the founder of SafeSave, a microfinance institution in Bangladesh

– Orlanda Ruthven is currently working for Impactt Ltd, working to enable companies in the developing world to improve working conditions in their supply chains, while achieving strong financial returns.

For additional information, you may contact: madhu@MicroSave.net

Submit Your Event: http://microfinanceassociation.ning.com/events

Sources and Additional Resources:

MicroSave: “MicroSave, Financial Access Initiative Announce Virtual Conference on ‘Portfolios of the Poor'”: http://www.microsave.org/static/content/VC-on-portfolios-of-the-poor

Collins, Daryl, Jonathan Morduch, Stuart Rutherford and Orlanda Ruthven, “Portfolios of the Poor: How the World’s Poor Live on $2 a Day,” Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2009, http://www.portfoliosofthepoor.com/

MicroCapital Universe Profile: MicroSave: https://www.microcapital.org/microfinanceuniverse/tiki-index.php?page=MicroSave

MicroCapital Universe Profile: Financial Access Initiative (FAI): https://www.microcapital.org/microfinanceuniverse/tiki-index.php?page=Financial+Access+Initiative+%28FAI%29

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