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		Name     :  AFRACA Newsletter Issue 61 Format  :   PDF Size       :   6 MB

Asia - Africa Dialogue

The Asia-Pacific Rural and Agricultural Credit Association (APRACA) hosted the first ever Asia-Africa (A-A) dialogue in Bangkok, Thailand on 30th October 2007. This forum was for disseminating innovations and best practices in both continents as well as discussing common efforts and ideas, commitments and lay ground work for in-depth and sustainable plan of action.

During the A-A dialogue, various presentations were made and we share some ideas from a paper, “Review of Rural Finance Innovations in Asia – Pacific Region with focus on APRACA member institutions and projects: New approaches, Best Practices and Lessons”...

The significance of financial services to economic and social development of any nation is now understood to go well beyond credit. Secure high quality savings rank amongst the most needed financial services by poor households. There is a common need by all households, irrespective of economic classification, to manage their finances to reduce vulnerability due to fluctuations in cash flows and also the need to accumulate savings for investment, social function consumption and other productive opportunities. ...

M-PESA is an electronic money value [e-money] backed by real money in a conventional bank account. This service was designed to provide Financial Services for the many Kenyans without access to conventional banking. It is a Business based upon high volumes of low value transactions and operates through registered cash outlets.
M-PESA service can be used by both the banked and un-banked as it requires a simple SIM card for transactions and assures greater availability. Users of MPESA can buy e-money for cash...

MicroFinanza Rating is an independent private rating agency specialized in microfinance. Our mission consists in facilitating the flow of investments towards the microfinance sector, fostering transparency while supporting and contributing to the consolidation of microfinance institutions.

MicroFinanza Rating is one of the most active and experienced specialized rating agencies, with more than 220 ratings and assessments conducted in 37 countries worldwide. We operate in Africa through our office in Nairobi, Kenya, one of our 5 offices worldwide.

Rural financial institutions are facing greater threats and opportunities due to climate change (CC) and its impact on primary sector economic activities. The changing composition of greenhouse gases (GHG) in the atmosphere is raising the temperature of the earth’s surface; this phenomenon is modifying weather patterns and is known as global warming (GW). Climate shifts do not necessarily have universal global effects. They can generate counter-intuitive scenarios because even if the earth as a whole continues to warm up gradually, large regions may experience a disruptive shift into colder climates. Moreover, the greenhouse effect has a potential negative impact on the world’s sea level and climate. In consequence, natural disasters have notoriously increased in the world throughout the last decades.

India hosts over 20% of the World’s poor. Poverty is more than serious in rural India, where most of the families are dependent on agriculture for their livelihood. In fact, the rural India consists of 700 million people living in 6,38,000 villages. The villages are characterized by low incomes. About 85% of the households have an income less than $ 75 per month. Rural India also faces manifold problems such as denudation and degradation of natural resources due to over-exploitation of unsound technologies,

In this age where almost everything can be done through the internet, from information exchange to electronic commerce, one has to take advantage of the opportunities it presents.
In the Philippines, a number of Philippine enterprises have utilized the internet particularly since the use of e-commerce reduces the cost of doing business. With the e-Commerce Law in place, more Filipinos are expected to participate in this emerging economy.
In line with this a private company has developed an e-market place called b2bpricenow.com (B2B) which covers; agriculture and food products, consumer and industrial manufactures.