This Months Highlight: Inspiring Ideas in MF
from the GDRC Programme on Microcredit
"It will be simple ideas implemented by people themselves
that will eventually work at the local level"
With information management being critical aspects of any
microfinance programme, GDRC's project called 'Inspiring
Ideas' is identifies and documents good practice in
microfinance schemes as a means of learning from past and
ongoing successes. It enables individuals, groups and
organizations to access and contribute to the continuous
exchange of know-how, experience and expertise in
microfinance management.
One output of the project is the "IdeaCard" - a collection
of good practices and inspiring ideas in microfinance in
Asia, Africa and Latin America. The IdeaCard is intended
to be a 'menu' of options that can be used to design,
develop and maintain a microfinance institution. Each
IdeaCard is simple and short, enabling its easy adoption.
As with all sections of GDRC, contributions,
comments and suggestions are always welcome from
users and subscribers! Please contact GDRC's
Coordinator at - mosaic@gdrc.org
FOCUS ON GDRC: Cities as barometers of progress
This section focuses on information management
lessons learnt in coordinating GDRC's activities.
Much of GDRC's 15 programmes and its projects deal with
problems and issues that are essentially urban in context.
A majority of humanity now live in cities and urbanized
areas - these have huge consequences, both positive and
negative. Cities are growing due to the centrality of goods
and services that it offers. But mismanaged growth has
caused a drastic decline in the quality of living both in the
residential and work fronts.
Such a scenario has had ripple effects on a variety of
sectors such as education, health, labour/job markets, and
economic activities. The growth and effect of an urban area
should be seen not only in terms of its immediate boundaries,
but also in terms of the resources necessary to sustain its
population.
Cities have, in effect, become a barometer of humankind's
progress into the 21st century, whether this is an upward
or downward trend. Focussing on urban areas helps us
understand the cause-effect relationships, but also the
beginings of viable solutions.
WHAT'S NEW AT GDRC'S WEBSITE? - a selection
- Sustainable Development: Several additions to 'Sustained Voices' were added.
- Sustainable Development: Stories - Link to Global Citizen newsletter.
- Urban Environmental Management: Redesign and updating of the main front pages of the UEM Programme.
- Urban Environmental Management: Transportation - ACCESS, a Eurocities Initiative
- Urban Environmental Management: EMS and Cities - a number of Info Sheets were added.
- Microfinance: Environmental Colours - Microcredit and Sanitation
MONTHLY STATISTICS FOR GDRC'S WEBSITE
- Total hits encountered - 733,553
- Total files downloaded - 587,822
- Total pages viewed - 223,085
- Total web visitors - 77,228
- Total KBytes - 5,342,664
- Pages per day - Avg. 7,436; Max.10,267
- Visits per day - Avg. 2,574; Max. 3,249
ABOUT GDRC MOSAIC
The "GDRC Mosaic" is a monthly email newsletter that provides
information bites, and summarizes programme activities of
GDRC, including new items added to the website.
To subscribe: http://www.gdrc.org/about/newsletter.html
To unsubscribe: unsubscribe - mosaic@gdrc.org
Comments, suggestions and contributions: mosaic@gdrc.org
CONTACT ADDRESS:
Global Development Research Center
5-13-3-1601, Nakano-cho, Miyakojima-ku,
Osaka 534-0027, Japan
Tel / Fax: +(81-6) 6925-8005
mosaic@gdrc.org
http://www.gdrc.org/
© 2003-2005, GDRC. All rights reserved.
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