The Citi Foundation Citigroups GrantMaking Arm Pledges USD 100000 to PlanetFinances Microfinance Training Programme in Middle East and North Africa

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Ugandan Government to Set up Laws for Regulating its Microfinance Sector - By David Satterthwaite

The Citi Foundation, the grant-making foundation of international financial services firm Citigroup, has pledged a USD 100,000 grant to PlaNet Finance, the French non-profit company that assists microfinance institutions (MFIs), towards the development of a microfinance training curriculum in Arabic. This will be aimed at MFIs in seven Arab countries and delivered through 50 course modules designed to provide them with skills in human resources, planning and strategy, products, accounting, supervision and finance. There will be five-day training sessions in Casablanca, Cairo, Beirut, Amman, Ramallah, Damascus and Sana’a over the next three years.

PlanetFinance, which provides technical assistance, rating assessments and financing to MFIs, claims that the number of microfinance active clients in the Middle East and North Africa region (MENA) has increased more than tenfold since 1999, from 129,000 to approximately 1.5 million, but that another 4.5 million are still lacking access to financial services. Compared to other parts of the world such as Latin America and South Asia, the microfinance sector in the MENA region is still underdeveloped both in terms of beneficiaries as well as MFIs. So far the majority of the MFIs in the region are non-profit, non-government organisations (NGOs) with very few commercial banks active in the sector.

The Citi Foundation supports programs in the areas of youth education, financial education, and supporting communities and entrepreneurs. It donated USD 92 million in grants in 2006.

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Ugandan Government to Set up Laws for Regulating its Microfinance Sector - By David Satterthwaite

About the Author: David Satterthwaite

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David brings 10 years of experience in microfinance management, social entrepreneurship, non-profit management/fund-raising and microfinance investment research. David is the Chairman and President of Prisma Microfinance, Inc., a retail “microbank” operating in Central America. He is also Chief Editor of MicroCapital.org, a news and information service for the microfinance community and its investors. Each month, MicroCapital.org publishes the MicroCapital Monitor, the leading industry newspaper. David writes and speaks frequently on microfinance. He has been a quest speaker at many events, including: Microcredit Summit 5+: Panel on Private Investment, Milken Institute Global Conference, United Nations Year of Microcredit Symposium for Wall Street, Chicago Conference on Microfinance, Harvard Social Enterprise Conference, Dartmouth’s Business Sustainability Conference, Wharton’s Conference on Social Entrepreneurship, Stanford’s Social Enterprise Club, Columbia’s Social Enterprise Program and the Net Impact Annual Conference. Through his work with Prisma and MicroCapital, he has been featured or quoted in The Wall Street Journal, the Boston Globe, “All Things Considered,” Reuters and SocialFunds.com. David has been recognized with the Compaq Computer Corporation Leadership Award, the City Year Inspiring Leader Award and the National Social Venture Business Plan Competition award for Best Social Impact Analysis. David has supported many non-profit and for-profit social enterprises in different capacities, including Access Technology Learning Center, Agora Partnerships, Bridges to Business, City Year, Fonkoze, Kiva and National Social Venture Competition. David holds a B.A. with Honors in Political Science from Haverford College.
Click here to visit David's website.

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The Citi Foundation Citigroups GrantMaking Arm Pledges USD 100000 to PlanetFinances Microfinance Training Programme in Middle East and North Africa

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