Bulletin Board

Training on Grameen Generalized System(GGS) in Nepal

Participants at the GGS Training jointly organized by Grameen Trust and RMDC in Nepal
Grameen Training in Nepal

A training program on the Grameen Generalized System (GSS) was held on the 1st and 2nd June, 2007, in Kathmandu, Nepal. Grameen Trust in collaboration with the Rural Microfinance Development Centre (RMDC) organized the training program. Twenty four participants from different microfinance institutions and NGOs, including two Central Bank (Nepal Rashtra Bank) representatives, attended the training.

Mr. Shankar Man Shrestha, Chief Executive Officer of RMDC, highlighted importance of the training, while Mr. Abdul Hai Khan, General Manager, Grameen Trust and Mr. Jamaluddin Biswas, Deputy General Manager, Grameen Bank, explained the various Grameen innovations under the GGS.

Since the very first replications of Grameencredit in the country, microfinance in Nepal has been recognized as an instrument for poverty alleviation for the last fifteen years. However, present MFIs need to launch more diversified products and tailor made financial packages to develop borrower-friendly programs.

Report by Abdul Hai Khan, Grameen Trust.



Healing the World

Thank you for your inspirational book. I am an active volunteer in the Edmonton community. I am deeply concerned about poverty here and around the globe.

In Edmonton, there are at least two major groups that have been influenced by your endeavors. The first is a community loan fund. The second is a community economic development network. I have volunteered for both.

Your mention of the Aga Khan Foundation was very refreshing. I volunteered on the local board for three years. I like the idea of the Partnership Walk. It is one day that busy people can put aside to be with their family and help stem global poverty. It was also an opportunity to educate people to the issues and the solutions that the Aga Khan Foundation are working on. I gave out candies with information on myths and reality of development handout. (people will not read great big writings, but they will be informed by one message attached to a candy). As a Jew, my volunteering for this organization allowed me in some way to perform Tkun Olam (Healing the World)

In your book you said that after seeing these poor women you took the time to find out what the real issues and possible solutions could be. Many times, people (myself included) are so overwhelmed by what someone is going through that we rush in. I will remember your words before I launch into something else.

When people come into the book store where I work, I recommend your book. (Sometimes the person is a government employee working on local development who has not heard of microcredit). Your book is informative and uplifting. Things do not have to stay the way they are - people do not have to remain in poverty. There are different levels of poverty requiring different methods to resolve.

Being a book store clerk, I have read many books since your book. I do not remember the passage in which you wrote about the benefit that would occur if a certain number of people sent in US$100. I am enclosing this amount.

Jaima Geller
5731 172 Street , Edmonton Alberta,
Canada T6M lA4
[email protected]
September 26, 2007