Feb 07, 2011

Dark Skies After All

Feb 01, 2011

Sunny Days for Microfinance

Many, including SSIR editor Tamara Strauss, have characterized recent news from the microfinance industry as “largely depressing.” I couldn’t disagree more with that perspective. I think the current moment is the beginning of the golden years for microfinance.

Jan 26, 2011

Insights from New Orleans

Jan 25, 2011

Food for the World - New Report on Global Food Future

Feeding the world’s poor today and in the future will require a major agricultural transformation. The problem is, very smart and informed people disagree on what that transformation should look like.

Dec 08, 2010

Good News on World AIDS Day. Sort of.

Using the AIDS drug Truvada as a once-a-day prevention protocol produced a 43 percent reduction, a recent study found.

Nov 02, 2010

The Microfinance Impact and Innovation Conference Round Up

There was a huge amount of information and data presented at the recent Microfinance Impact and Innovation Conference. It was hard to take it all in, but thankfully there were a number of bloggers and other interested parties at the event who have provided summaries, interviews and reactions. Those posts are collected here for easy access and we’ll be updating the list as we go.

Oct 29, 2010

Eyes and Mouths Wide Shut?

A planned public discussion of how to evaluate the Millennium Villages Project was canceled this week for unknown reasons. Join a petition to encourage the Center for Global Development, the World Bank and the Millennium Villages Project to reschedule the discussion and make it accessible to all.

Oct 29, 2010

Targeting the Ultrapoor

Encouraging results from two programs replicating BRAC’s pioneering program targeting the ultrapoor.

Oct 26, 2010

Can it Help the Poor if it Hurts the Banks?

Could the rigidity of the typical micro-credit product be partially responsible for the fact that access to credit has limited, if any, income effects for micro-entrepreneurs?

Oct 25, 2010

What Don’t We Know about Microfinance

The first session of Day 2 took a step back to discuss what we don’t know, but should. Panel participants were Chris Dunford from Freedom from Hunger, who spoke about the limits of RCTs; Rich Rosenberg from CGAP discussed overindebtedness; and Abhijit Banerjee from JPAL offered insights into why micro-enterprises never seem to grow.