LINKS ABOUT POVERTY AND MICROFINANCE

www.cgap.org — The Consultative Group to Assist the Poorest is a consortium of bilateral and multilateral donor agencies that support microfinance.

www.cmef.com — The Council for Microfinance Equity Funds (CMEF) is the first membership organization bringing together the leading private entities that make equity investments in microfinance institutions (MFIs) in the developing world. The Council’s members seek both social and financial returns from their investments in these institutions, all of which provide a range of financial services to poor households in developing countries.

www.developmentgateway.org/microfinance — Microfinance on the Development Gateway, is an online community of more than 6,000 microfinance professionals from 150 countries. They seek to provide microfinance institutions with a platform to access and share practical information with a goal to improve the effectiveness and sustainability of microfinance institutions around the world.

www.earthtrends.wri.org/povlinks/index.php — Earth Trends Poverty Resource has poverty profiles and poverty maps for most regions and countries.

www.gdrc.org The Global Development Research Center's Virtual Library on Microcredit.

www.gfusa.org — Grameen Foundation USA (GFUSA) is a global nonprofit organization that combines microfinance, new technologies, and innovation to empower the world's poorest people to escape poverty.

www.globalissues.org/TradeRelated/Facts.asp — Global Issues’ site includes links, commentary and statistics on poverty, globalization and sustainable development.

www.grameen-info.org — The Grameen Bank Project was born in the village of Jobra, Bangladesh, in 1976, under the direction of Professor Muhammad Yunus, the founder of Grameen Bank (GB) and its Managing Director. In 1983, GB transformed into a formal bank; GB provides credit and other microfinance products to the poorest of the poor in rural Bangladesh.

www.mixmarket.org — The MIX Market strives to facilitate exchanges and investment flows, promote transparency and improve reporting standards in the microfinance industry.

www.marriottschool.byu.edu/microfinance — The Journal of Microfinance is an exciting forum for the sharing of ideas and information pertaining to the practice of microfinance and microenterprise development.

www.microcreditsummit.org — The Microcredit Summit Campaign is working to ensure that 100 million of the world's poorest families, especially the women of those families, are receiving credit for self-employment and other financial and business services by the year 2005.

www.microfinance.com — A compellation of reports, academic papers about microfinance, and a listing of organizations involved in the microfinance industry.

www.seepnetwork.org — The Small Enterprise Education and Promotion Network is an association of North American organizations that support small enterprise programs in the developing world.