Please go out and buy the Nov 21-Dec 04 Issue of Frontline. It is truely a collector’s edition. It provides a GOOD picture of dalits today.

Checkout below article on how  is the current situation of dalits in India:

Dalit Status ( A frontline review)

Receive Headlines & brief summaries of Dalit News, Issues, quotes, facts etc on your mobiles. Click URL Dalit Headlines for Indian Mobiles only


Just send below SMS to 567678

JOIN DalitHeadlines

To see details of the headlines, check Samatha On Twitter.

2008 CGAP Microfinance Photo Contest: Innovators and entrepreneurs

http://www.cgap.org/p/site/c/template.rc/1.26.3011

2008 CGAP Microfinance Photo Contest: Innovators and entrepreneurs CGAP invites photographers of all levels of expertise to enter the CGAP Microfinance Photo Contest. Microfinance around the world is a varied and rapidly developing field, and this year's theme, innovators and entrepreneurs, speaks to the creativity of our industry. By sharing your striking images of financial services reaching poor people today with us, you'll reach countless others with the message of microfinance. We know from past results that you'll be inventive in capturing the diversity, dynamism, and impact of our work. This year, we've added some special categories to reflect our overall theme of innovation. We'd like to see images of entrepreneurial activities at work. How are people using finance in nontraditional ways? What innovations are financial service providers using to serve people who would not otherwise be reached, including those living in rural and remote areas? We hope you'll use your imagination in thinking about the clients of microfinance and those who deliver the innovations to help meet their financial needs. The judges will select one grand prize winner, one second place winner, and 22 honorable mentions across the whole Contest. Photos that represent innovation in the delivery, oversight, or funding of financial services may also receive awards at the judges' discretion. The winning images will be published by CGAP in a publication and displayed online at www.cgap.org. They will be included in a slideshow and screensaver that will be shared with the industry for use at conferences. Winning images may be printed for exhibition in partnership with the World Bank and Citi. Winning photographers may receive the prizes listed below. Please read the following rules carefully. WHO: The CGAP Microfinance Photo Contest is open to all photographers at least 18 years of age, except the operational team of CGAP and their immediate families. WHAT: We are looking for original, striking images of microfinance around the world that capture what microfinance means to you. These images may reflect the wide variety of microfinance and microenterprise development around the world, representing a range of products, institutions, and methodologies, and may touch on a broad range of social, economic, developmental, and technological issues. We encourage entries from all regions, in both rural and urban settings. We expect to receive images that represent technology, institutions, money, microfinance transactions and impact, policy/regulation, human capacity, and people and their environment. Photo submissions must be accompanied by a brief description of the photo, including the place and country where it was taken, and how it reflects advancing financial access to people through microfinance. Entries must be: • The original work of the entrant • Noninfringing of the rights of others • Respectful of the rights, sensitivities, and culture of persons depicted • An accurate reflection of the subject matter and scene as it appeared, without alteration (other than standard optimization, including removal of dust, cropping, adjustments to color and contrast, etc.) • A depiction of microfinance and/or microenterprise development in one or more of the following categories: o General o Innovation in delivery, whether through new technologies, institutions, or infrastructure o Innovative approaches to regulating and applying laws that relate to access to finance o Innovation in funding and supporting microfinance o Impact Entries will be judged on originality, technical excellence, composition, overall impact, and artistic merit. The story behind the photo, submitted as a paragraph or brief essay, may influence the judges’ decisions. Decisions made by the judges are final. New this year: At the judges’ discretion, a special award for $250 in photography equipment will be awarded for up to two photographs that depict issues around the use of technology (cards, information systems, mobile phones) and policy and regulatory issues relating to microfinance (e.g., issues around interest rates, transparency, AML/CFT regulations). JUDGES: Judges will include Elizabeth Littlefield, CGAP CEO and a World Bank director, and professional photographers. WHEN: All entries, whether submitted electronically or mailed or shipped, must be received by CGAP before noon EST September 15, 2008. CGAP will not be held responsible for mail that was not received. Receipt of packages cannot be acknowledged. Entries will not be returned. WINNING ENTRIES: Prizes will be awarded as described below. A selection of winning photos may be featured on CGAP’s Web sites, cgap.org and microfinancegateway.org, and in exhibitions at the World Bank in Washington, D.C., and other prestigious venues. Winning images also may be used to decorate CGAP offices and in a slideshow for use at conferences and workshops. All entries may be used by CGAP in printed publications, on Web sites, in a slideshow and screensaver, or in any other media, and may be copied and displayed in any country, provided that all uses are accompanied by appropriate attribution to the photographer. Entrants retain ownership and all other rights to future use of their photographs. CGAP shall have the right to verify, in its sole judgment, winner eligibility. LEGAL CONDITIONS: To enter the contest, entrants must agree to certain legal conditions (see section “Legal Conditions”). Entry of photographs into the contest implies acceptance of contest rules, regardless of whether entrants sign a statement confirming acceptance. PRIZES: CGAP intends to award the following prizes: One Grand Prize winning package Microfinance Training Scholarship to the Boulder Program in Turin, Italy, (including economy airfare) or another development training opportunity agreed with CGAP up to a maximum value of $5000 Or A $1000 gift certificate for photography equipment and accessories And Professionally framed print of the winning image (8” x 10”) Plus image display in CGAP microfinance photo exhibit at the World Bank One Second place $250 in photography equipment Special publication Winners' certificate Special award for images that represent innovation in delivery, oversight, or funding of financial services (number to be determined solely at judges’ discretion) $250 in photography equipment Special publication Winners' certificate Twenty-two (22) Winners from across the categories Winners certificate Image display in CGAP microfinance photography exhibit at the World Bank Any federal, state, and local taxes, fees, and surcharges on prizes are the sole responsibility of the prize winners. HOW: A total of up to 20 photographs may be submitted per person. We prefer to receive digital entries by e-mail, but entries may be digital files, digital prints, color prints, or black-and-white prints. Digital entries: Camera-made digital images or scans of prints should be e-mailed as high-resolution jpegs or tif files. Each entrant also must submit a completed Application Form (an electronic form is available at www.photocontest.cgap.org.) Original negatives must be available for scanned photographs. Original files of camera-made digital photos must be three (3) megapixels or larger. Mailed or shipped entries: Each photograph must bear the photographer’s name, address, phone number, e-mail address, if applicable, entry number (1–20), and a brief description of the photo and how it reflects advancing financial access to people through microfinance. All images must be sent together in one package. Repeat this information one time on a separate, single sheet of paper; include your occupation/microfinance affiliation; a description of the type of film and photography equipment used for each photo; and a brief description of where, when, and how the photograph was taken. Please do not send a cover letter. Negatives must be available for all prints, but please do not send them until contacted. Prints may be mounted, but print and/or mount size must be no larger than 11 inches by 14 inches. Sandwich sheets or prints between cardboard, wrap with a rubber band, and enclose in a mailing envelope. Do not use tape. Entries will not be returned. CGAP cannot be responsible for lost, damaged, late or misdirected entries, or for faulty uploading connections, garbled transmissions, unauthorized intervention, or technical malfunctions. Winners will be notified by e-mail or telephone, according to information provided on the entry form. If any winner fails to claim his or her prize within 60 days of being notified, that winner may forfeit his or her prize. WHERE: Send mailed or shipped entries to CGAP Microfinance Photography Contest 900 19th Street, NW Suite 300 Washington, DC 20006 Phone: +1 202 473 9594 Inquiries and entries can also be sent by e-mail.

Inspirational book "Give Us Credit" (Microfinancing)

http://www.indiatogether.org/reviews/counts.htm

Access to credit is a fundamental human right
Ashwin Mahesh reviews Give Us Credit, by Alex Counts.
 
March 1999: Imagine you're a moneylender of some sorts. A banker, perhaps, in a respectable institution, with millions, possibly billions, at your command to support new ventures. One fine morning, an unkempt, illiterate man walks in your front door, with a simple request. I have no money, no collateral of any sort, and to all appearances, I have very little means of sustaining myself even at my current economic level. I have never before managed my own business, and have never owned anything more substantial than a few pots and pans. However, I've got an idea, and if I had a few bucks to get it going, I would not only raise myself out of poverty, but would also repay your money.

Would you lend him the money?

Mohammed Yunus would, and think nothing of the risk. Banking institutions are tailored to a world that the poor do not inhabit, and even developmental banks have never exhibited an understanding of this basic truth. To get around their failures is a life's work, even for the most committed. And so sometimes, the details of our efforts are the inspiration, not the grand acclaim they might get. That is the message in Alex Counts' book, Give Us Credit. This is the extraordinary story of Grameen Bank's microlending success, along with a parallel story of a similar project in Chicago's South Side. It is a story of individual lives, a story that revels in the endurance of the human spirit. For the thousands of us who recognize the names "Grameen Bank" or "Yunus", it is an eye-opener, a manual for preparedness, in some sense.

For all the noble intentions we might bring to developmental work, we must nevertheless pass frustrating hurdles, sometimes ones placed before us by those we seek to empower, and sometimes by others. The impoverished are prone to the same failings as anyone else; of morality, financial indiscretion, or of simply being lazy every once in a while. Within every society there are those who benefit from the status quo, like the drug peddler in inner-city areas, the village elder who has a stake in preserving patriarchy. Combined with the machinations of outsiders, such as the petty urban businessman who would cheat a villager out of a few measly bucks, or the aid-agency consultant who lives high off grant money while the alleged beneficiaries continue to suffer, there are powerful obstacles to social change.

And yet positive change can be wrought. The drug peddler can be intimidated, politicians can be shamed, women can be empowered despite the resistance of their male relatives, and discipline can be fostered to ensure successes. Counts has written a remarkable book, chronicling his own involvement with Grameen Bank, yes, but presenting from his observations a story of measured and incremental progress towards betterment, often beset with setbacks along the way. If you're a policy wonk who's really inspired by the macroscopic details of radical change, and are inspired by simple and powerful observations, read the first fifty pages. On the difficult days when your efforts to improve a small part of your world seem a shade defeated, flip to any other page.

The full story is also a necessary part of creating positive change. Poverty and illiteracy don't exist in a vacuum; there is a history that has engendered them, and recognizing this is crucial. Racism in Chicago, and religious mores in rural Bangladesh are both storied matters. The largely white working class neighborhoods turned violent and black-dominated through many years of social change, and the pride that was Bengal fell from its grace through decades of alteration. Alex Counts' telling of change in these worlds far removed from each other suggests two important things. One, that without looking back at a past that angers us, we must be able to seek a future that seems bright. And two, that even those in the most deprived of environs have the ingenuity and and wherewithal to create better lives for themselves.

These messages transcend the cultural environs where they are learned, too, and surprisingly at that. Who would have believed that an economics professor working with the poor in Bangladesh would have much to teach American social policy experts on how to empower those in the inner cities? As Counts himself notes, not many, and yet the evidence suggests that Yunus has tapped into an understanding of human enterprise that suffers few boundaries. Combined with the integrity of the successful microcredit lending institutions profiled in the book, and the powerful personalities fighting difficult odds to better themselves, the book is an inspiring read. Additionally, though, it gives pause to ponder how challenging positive change can be, and that is a lesson well learned.

Ashwin Mahesh
March 1999

Give Us Credit may be available from Amazon.com, and if not in stock, can still be ordered through Amazon's network. Place your order for this book using this link and ASHA will receive 15% through the Amazon Affiliates program.

Grameen Koota

http://www.grameenfoundation.org/where_we_work/south_asia/india/grameen_koota/

Grameen Koota was established in 1999 with the help of seed capital funding from the Grameen Trust. The vision for the program began when Vinatha Reddy, Grameen Koota’s Founder/CEO, was inspired by the Grameen Bank story in Grameen Foundation President Alex Counts’ book Give Us Credit. Grameen Koota’s mission is to help poor women in rural areas and urban slums through microcredit, to constantly deliver need-based financial services in a cost-effective manner, and to become a financially sustainable microfinance institution for the poor.

Operating in Bangalore, ranked as the 13th poorest of 20 districts in Karnataka, Grameen Koota serves an area where an estimated 38 percent of the district’s 1.7 million people live below the poverty line. The microfinance program is also integrated with other social development programs including health, family planning, sanitation, literacy, nutrition, income generation skills, and enterprise development.

Outreach:

Grameen Koota has grown from two branches and 445 clients in March 2001 to 36 branches and 91,478 clients as of December 2006, for an annual average growth rate of 163 percent, and it continues to grow. Cumulatively, the organization has loaned its clients more than $13 million since its inception, and Grameen Koota plans to reach out to 450,000 clients by 2010

Grameen Foundation support:

Grameen Foundation has provided Grameen Koota with financial support to the tune of $110,000, supplied as a combination of grants and guarantees (leveraging more than $1 million) to support commercial bank loans. Grameen Koota is also the chosen pilot site for Grameen Foundation’s path breaking initiative in providing a MIS solution to the microfinance industry – Mifos.

Learn more at: www.grameenkoota.org

Start dalit banks using Mifos

• Download Microfinancing information management software from http://mifos.org/.
• Set up the software and configure your bank.
• Establish Contacts with local dalits and dalit organisations and start your banking operation.
• Get dalits to start saving by paying a daily sum to banking agent (Pygmy agent).
• Contact your local employment exchange or local dalit organisations and identify volunteers to act as banking agents.
• Contact Grameen Koota for their experience.

Grameen Foundation Launches Mifos Initiative

http://www.grameenfoundation.org/resource_center/newsroom/news_releases/~story=192

Grameen Foundation Launches Mifos Initiative

Breakthrough information management platform will change the way the microfinance industry manages technology

November 13, 2006

At right: Muhammad Yunus, Grameen Bank founder and Grameen Foundation board member, presents at the Global Microcredit Summit along with Peter Bladin, director of the Grameen Technology Center

Halifax, Canada - Grameen Foundation today announced the launch of a new initiative designed to address the significant technology challenges facing microfinance practitioners worldwide by revolutionizing the way they access and use technology to run their operations. Mifos, an open source information management platform, will be unveiled today in Halifax, Canada, at the Global Microcredit Summit with the support of the Global Markets Institute at Goldman Sachs, Omidyar Network, Cisco Systems and other global partners.

“Mifos addresses one of the most fundamental barriers to sustainable growth for the microfinance industry: limited access to affordable, flexible and scalable information technology solutions that microfinance institutions can adapt as their needs evolve,” said Alex Counts, president of Grameen Foundation. “By pioneering a new approach to technology, Mifos empowers microfinance, giving practitioners equal access to a system they not only benefit from, but contribute to and own."

A 2004 survey by the Consultative Group to Assist the Poor found that 46 percent of microfinance institutions (MFIs) around the world were still using spreadsheets or manual systems to manage their portfolio and client information, severely hindering their efficiency and capacity to scale into the hundreds of thousands. With Mifos, a single technology “backbone” that all microfinance institutions can access and adapt is now available. Its innovative open source model allows microfinance institutions to engage local IT specialists to customize Mifos and to provide ongoing support at local, affordable rates rather than being dependent on one vendor that may sit on the other side of the world.

Grameen Foundation, through this initiative, is committed to putting control of the technology in the hands of those who will use it, and beta-testing is already underway in India and Tunisia. “We looked at off-the-shelf products and even considered having someone build a customized system for us,” said Suresh Krishna, chief operating officer at Grameen Koota, a fast-growing MFI based in Bangalore, India, that serves over 70,000 clients. “But, we didn’t want to reinvent the wheel. Mifos gives us control of the development of our system and we are not at the mercy of any particular technology provider.” Grameen Koota is the first Mifos beta partner,

Omidyar Network, which is providing a $1.5 million grant to support the initiative, is one of the many key corporate and funding organizations that have thrown their support behind Mifos. "Omidyar Network is committed to advancing technologies that will benefit and transform the entire microfinance industry,” said Elizabeth Clarkson, investment manager at Omidyar Network. “Since 2004, we have supported Grameen Foundation's efforts to promote the evolution of microfinance, and are particularly pleased to support the Mifos initiative. With its open source platform and strong focus on building local IT expertise, Mifos offers the industry a strong, sustainable technology platform, which is critical for the industry if it is to evolve and expand its outreach."

The initiative has already garnered strong support within the technology and microfinance communities. Cisco Systems was an early supporter and the Global Markets Institute at Goldman Sachs has coordinated an effort to provide the expertise of a large number of Goldman Sachs technology professionals to help build Mifos. To date, Goldman Sachs people have committed over 1300 hours to this effort. "This is a truly extraordinary opportunity for Goldman Sachs people to work with a global community of IT and microfinance professionals committed to ending poverty,” said Suzanne Nora Johnson, chair of the Global Markets Institute at Goldman Sachs. “We are excited to collaborate with Grameen Foundation on the Mifos Initiative which we believe will be critical in helping the microfinance industry advance by improving loan portfolio management, customer data analytics, and access to capital markets."

The Mifos initiative is being spearheaded by the Grameen Technology Center, the Seattle-based division of Grameen Foundation that focuses on using technology solutions in the fight against global poverty. Launched in 2001, it has been a leader in driving industry-wide technology innovations that help microfinance practitioners to operate more efficiently and effectively. It is an outgrowth of the pioneering work done by Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, Professor Muhammad Yunus and Grameen Bank in Bangladesh.

Learn more about the Mifos Initiative >

A Life Transformed

http://www.grameenfoundation.org/where_we_work/south_asia/india/pentamma_s_story/

Pentamma's story - India

The branch manager wends his way through Village Singeetam, drawing an ever-swelling crowd of curious onlookers. Finally he arrives at the far edge of the village where Dalits ("Untouchables") have been relegated to live. Pentamma is waiting. Though she has never been visited by so many people, she greets the crowd with a calm nod of resolve.

With clipboard in hand, the manager begins the first phase of his assessment to see if Pentamma qualifies to become an SKS borrower. Using SKS's Housing Index, he scores the quality of her home’s roof and walls, and whether there is running water and electricity. Only if Pentamma’s house scores below a ten, thus ranking her among the poorest of the poor, will she be eligible to proceed with the qualifying process. Her husband earns just Rs30 ($.68) a day, while she earns Rs20 ($.45) for the same job as a day laborer when there is work. With the gaping straw roof covering her miniscule two rooms for four people, lacking both running water and electricity, Pentamma's house scores a six, well within range of eligibility.

Pentamma and four other Dalit women proceed to a neighbor's dirt courtyard where they must now pass the Group Recognition Test. Pentamma clutches a large white piece of paper as she sits cross-legged on a straw mat with her group, their SKS trainer and the branch manager. The crowd presses in from all sides to witness the challenges ahead.

For the past five days, the trainer has been teaching these women about SKS microloan policies and procedures: the 50-week loan cycle, 15 percent interest and $.10 weekly savings requirements. They have also learned about SKS’s democratic system of borrower groups, a concept totally foreign to women wh o -- according to Hindu culture -- have no value. They sit in a circle, have elected a group leader, and take turns speaking.

The branch manager signals the test to begin. In unison, the women successfully recite the SKS pledge. Then, placing a pile of smooth green-gray stones in the middle of the circle, the manager asks each woman to configure a symbolic borrower group. Since this group will join six other groups to create a center, he watches as they arrange a circle of 30 stones representing an SKS center.

Satisfied with that portion of the test, the manager next assesses the group’s ability both to count out loan amounts that a borrower may receive (between Rs1,000 and 10,000, or $23-$230), and to calculate weekly loan repayments, interest and savings. They answer each of his questions, and he puts the money away. Now is the time for the ultimate test.

Pentamma unfolds her piece of paper and flattens it out beside her. Finally, it is her turn. She is handed the notebook and pen. Taking a deep breath, she awkwardly weaves the unfamiliar implement between her fingers. Placing the point onto the page in front of her, she very slowly begins to write. She stops, checks her work against what is written her own paper, and readjusts the pen. Pentamma’s marks get larger and start to drift downward, but she continues across the page until the last oversized curve has been made. Pentamma has just accomplished, at age 25, what others more fortunate than her accomplish by age four or five. This illiterate Dalit has just written her own name. It is the only word she can write, but it is enough.

The branch manager nods and everyone, including the onlookers, erupts with applause. A new SKS borrower group has just been born.

Since this story was written, Pentamma has purchased a water buffalo that yields six liters of milk per day. She sells five and keeps one to feed her children. With her profits, she is buying more nutritious food for her family.

Edited excerpts from Dana Whitaker's Transforming Lives $40 at a Time. Reprinted with permission.

Day Laborer Turned Micro-Businesswoman

http://www.grameenfoundation.org/where_we_work/south_asia/india/d_ellevva_s_story/

D. Ellevva's story - India

Despite the early hour, the morning sun is nearly blinding when D. Ellevva and her fellow clients gather at a SHARE center meeting in the rural village of Parvatapur in Andhra Pradesh. About 25 women, or five groups, sit on the floor of the school house porch, patiently waiting as each group leader collects loan payments from the women in her group and gives them to the local SHARE center manager. Ellevva, seated in the front row, efficiently gathers up the payments from her group members and counts the bills before giving them to the center manager.

Ellevva’s quiet confidence and sense of responsibility make her an ideal group leader. It was a 5000 rs loan from SHARE eight months ago that gave her the opportunity to capitalize on these skills and use them to grow a micro-business. Ellevva and her husband, Durgiah, live in a small, one room house made of mud and sticks. Before taking a loan from SHARE, both worked as day laborers for meager wages (usually 20rs per day for a woman and 40 rs per day for a man) and struggled to make ends meet.

With her first loan, Ellevva purchased a buffalo that recently gave birth to a calf. It will now produce milk that Ellevva can sell in the market. With a second “special” loan of 3000 rs, she purchased two goats and some vegetables. When she purchases vegetables, Ellevva sells some a nd grinds the rest (the pulses [legumes] and dal [lentils]) into flour. Already thinking ahead to her next loan, Ellevva wants to purchase another buffalo.

Though it is only eight months since her first loan, Elleva can see the difference it has made in her life. “I am very happy to have gotten a loan,” she says. “Now I have my own business, earn a regular income, and no longer have to work as a day laborer.”