Development Blog
In recent years there’s been a steady stream of media articles questioning the benefits of microfinance, with some critics even arguing that not only does microfinance not benefit the poor, it actually makes them poorer. How should those of us…
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Nyangu Sakala, who was supported by a loan from Lendwithcare, runs a business grinding maize into flour and sunflower seeds into oil
Financing for Development Conference: what will it do for women’s economic empowerment? (Answer: potentially quite a lot...)
By Gerry Boyle 24th Jul 2015
The Financing for Development Conference in Addis Ababa last week (13-16 July) got rather tepid and mixed reviews. Surprisingly, for a conference on financing, the outcome document contains very few numbers, and many NGOs are unhappy about the lack of…
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Veronica, a micro-entrepreneur in the Philippines, in her small shop from which she also runs a ginger-tea-making business
In September, the new Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) will be launched by the United Nations. And as with the previous Millennium Development Goals, the SDGs have placed emphasis (Goal 17) on forging “partnerships” for development. But what does this mean…
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Mutuality, trust, and communications are key components to a good partnership - but how do we turn the rhetoric into reality? (Photo: a community in the Philippines rebuilds a house damaged by Typhoon Haiyan)
Financing for Development Conference: Promoting financial inclusion could unlock $100bn of domestic resources in developing countries
By Gerry Boyle 15th Jul 2015
The Financing for Development Conference in Addis Ababa from 13 to 16 July could be a key moment to build a framework for financing the work needed to eradicate poverty by 2030, and so build confidence for the effective pursuit…
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Counting money at a VSLA meeting in Uganda
Financial inclusion in developing countries: the alarm bells should be ringing for banks
By Gerry Boyle 01st Jul 2015
At a session on financial inclusion at the European Development Days event last month, I gave a brief talk about research that CARE and Accenture are jointly conducting on the capabilities for financial inclusion of banks in developing countries. We…
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A member of a Village Savings and Loan Associations in Haiti holding her member's card
While the civilian death toll inside Syria equates to over 26 Srebrenicas, the EU constructs a Fortress Europe
By Howard Mollett 25th Jun 2015
While 3.9 million people have fled Syria, EU heads of state meeting in Brussels – with migration at the top of the agenda – are focusing more on containment and return, than on providing safe and legal options for asylum.…
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Syrian refugees being transferred from a temporary camp at the Syrian-Jordanian border to Zaatari camp in 2014
