GDRC Mosaic
Keep yourself informed through GDRC's newsletter

April 2004


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.