Haiti update: MasterCard grant backstops recovery partnership
A $4.5 million grant from The MasterCard Foundation will form the base of a partnership with MEDA and its longtime ally, Fonkoze, to spur economic recovery in Haiti.
The new effort will restore Fonkoze’s destroyed headquarters and enable its poorest clients to build new livelihoods, benefitting 70,000 clients.
Fonkoze is Haiti’s largest microfinance organization with a mission to build the country’s economic foundation for democracy. Its more than 40 branches serve some 225,000 borrowers and savers, most of whom are impoverished women in rural areas. These clients depend on Fonkoze for financial services ranging from small business loans to savings accounts, and for complementary educational and health services.
Following the earthquake, Fonkoze lost five employees. A third of its employees were left homeless and more than half of its branches were damaged or destroyed, including the institution’s headquarters. Nearly 8,000 clients lost their homes, businesses or both. The support from The MasterCard Foundation will strengthen Fonkoze’s core operations. It will also expand two existing programs that will help 5,000 women create new livelihoods in two areas that have been greatly stressed by economic and social pressures due to the exodus of refugees from Port‑au‑Prince.
“The MasterCard Foundation’s timely contribution will help Fonkoze emerge from this tragedy as a stronger organization,” says Anne Hastings, CEO of Fonkoze. “We now have the flexibility to provide clients with needed services, which will empower them to sustain their livelihoods well into the future.”
The program will provide enterprise training, a livelihood asset (such as a goat or a chicken), a small short‑term stipend and one‑on‑one mentoring to 1,000 extremely poor women. Another 4,000 women will qualify for the small loans and associated counseling needed to create or rebuild small businesses. Commercial and agricultural endeavors such as these are the backbone of Haiti’s supply chain, delivering food and goods between rural areas and cities. Restoring the businesses of women traders is, therefore, critical to the country’s long‑term recovery.
“Fonkoze has a proven track record of serving Haiti’s rural poor,” says Reeta Roy, president and CEO of The MasterCard Foundation. “We are investing in an institution that is vital to rebuilding Haiti from the ground up.”
To supplement this work, Fonkoze is testing a “catastrophic microinsurance” product, which will provide clients indemnity for basic needs, loan repayment and new, interest‑bearing loans to restart their businesses. This product reflects Fonkoze’s belief that clients must be educated and prepared to protect themselves against future disasters and economic shocks.
MEDA, which has worked with Fonkoze both as an investor and as part of its governance, will manage the funding from The MasterCard Foundation and provide ongoing progress reports and select advisory services. Fonkoze will concurrently track the quantitative and qualitative success of its clients by measuring their ability to acquire new skills and assets, and improvements to their health, sanitation and food security.
The MasterCard Foundation is an independent, private foundation based in Toronto, with assets totaling $3 billion. It was established through the generosity of MasterCard Worldwide at the time of the company’s initial public offering in 2006. Believing that every person has the potential to transform their lives, and to improve the lives of their families and their communities, the Foundation has worked to increase access to microfinance and youth education for people in developing countries so they can realize their potential and lift themselves out of poverty. It is the major contributor to MEDA’s YouthInvest program in Morocco and Egypt.
For immediate release August 19, 2009
Microloans offer hope and dignity to Afghan women
A mere $200 micro-loan
is all it took to change the life of Sharifa and her daughter forever.
The Afghan villager,
struggling to survive in this war-torn area, used the loan to start her own
business, and invested in a rug loom and weaving supplies. She was soon able to
hire other women weavers, freeing up her young daughter to finally go to
school.
As Sharifa pays back her loan - micro-finance repayment rates are nearly 100
per cent - she can borrow more to expand her business. She never thought of
herself as a role model, but she is now advising other women in the region,
with a long tradition of rug weaving, to take control of their lives, too. This
is lasting change in a part of the world where women are struggling to be
heard.
When the
Taliban took power in 1992, Afghan women lost basic human rights as all girls'
schools closed and women were barred from working outside the home or from
leaving their houses without a male family escort.
Though
the Taliban lost power in 2001, many impediments remain for Afghan women and
for society in general. Economies and communities need to be rebuilt after
decades of war and terror.
Recognizing the ongoing challenges
with redeveloping the Afghanistan economy, in May, the Canadian International
Development Agency (CIDA) announced a new partnership called the Afghanistan
Challenge. The federal agency is working with four development agencies already
on the ground in Afghanistan such as Mennonite Economic Development Associates
(MEDA).
MEDA is focused on helping
enterprising Afghan women — many of whom are widows — and their families by
providing micro-finance loans and basic business training. Economic empowerment
will not only help them feed and clothe their family, but also send their
children to school, earning respect both within their family and in the
community.
Every dollar donated to MEDA for the
Afghanistan Challenge
will be matched by CIDA as part of this promising partnership.
As Kim Pityn,
Vice-President, International Operations for MEDA, explains MEDA applies business solutions
to development challenges, providing its partners with cost-effective,
appropriate and sustainable financial services to the poor in developing
countries.
"MEDA first became active in
microfinance because we believed that the poor are bankable and we wanted to show that poor people were credit-worthy.
Offering people a way to recreate local economies and take care of their family
instills dignity and self-esteem," Pityn continued.
"For Canada, the economic growth of Afghanistan is
important to stabilizing the country and providing opportunities to reduce
poverty in the country," notes Minister Beverley Oda, Canada's Minister of
International Cooperation. "The success of microfinancing, through MEDA,
is helping to create sustainable opportunities for entrepreneurial Afghan women
and men."
In fact,
MEDA has more than 50 years of experience in international development and has
been directly involved in developing rural and urban micro-enterprise credit and training facilities in Haiti, Jamaica,
Bolivia, Nicaragua, Tanzania, Russia, Mozambique and Romania. Several of these
programs have graduated to fully sustainable, independent financial
institutions.
"Hope is far too rare a
commodity, yet I see hope in the eyes of these women. A good future for
themselves and their children is now a possibility," Pityn said. "MEDA and the
Afghanistan Challenge will enable women to help other women, to build
communities and networks of trust.
Donors are invited to
visit www.medatrust.ca, where they will have two options to donate: They can
either make a straight donation or create a portfolio and direct donations to a
loan for an Afghan woman, and then follow that loan as she repays it. As the
loan is repaid, that money is credited to the donor's portfolio so it can be
re-invested with other entrepreneurial women.
What is Microfinance?
Microfinance
empowers the disadvantaged.
Microfinance is the provision of financial services, including credit, savings,
insurance and other services to individuals who would otherwise be excluded from
the formal financial sector, usually due to lack of collateral.
Microfinance
builds dignity and brings
hope, opportunity and economic access to low-income people around the world
through a business-oriented approach to development. In the developing world,
one way we do this is by making financial services accessible to those who do
not generally have access to financial services, together with marketing and
business training, to low-income entrepreneurs.
Microfinance
is sustainable. In
microfinance, sustainability
refers to ongoing service delivery, making sure that services continue to be
available to a growing number of clients over the long term. Microfinance
is neither relief nor charity as financial services must be ongoing and
permanent, and charity is for those who cannot help themselves at that point in
time.
Microfinance
is a creative approach to development. Through the creative use of technology, you can donate funds to the
working poor directly (as a group or an organization), choose a loan you wish
to support and then designate funds in your portfolio for that specific
loan. Each loan acts as a revolving loan and has potential to impact many
entrepreneurs. When the client pays money back to the bank, the donor is
notified and the money is put back into the donor's account. These funds are
now ready to be used to fund another loan.
For immediate release August 6, 2009
MEDA
offers answers to new global challenges
"There
exist limitless opportunities in every industry. Where there is an open mind,
there will always be a frontier." - Charles F. Kettering - American engineer, inventor of the electric
starter, 1876-1958
Waterloo,
ON - Mennonite Economic Development Associates (MEDA)
- is offering up some new solutions to address new global realities at its
annual Business as a Calling convention
Nov. 5-8 in San Jose, CA.
With a theme of New Frontiers: New Solutions, and a special focus on alternate
energy and food supply/security issues, convention-goers can expect to hear
frank discussions about the current economic reality, new business
opportunities, and growing needs around the world.
"Leaders know that conducting business
as usual is no longer an option," says MEDA president Allan Sauder. "New
pressures and uncertainties create new difficulties for business leadership.
Sustainability and minimalization of the environmental impact of industry
operations must become key components in decision making."
For Christians in business, there is the
added challenge of operating within our faith values. How do we care for our
businesses, our stakeholders and for creation? The public commitment to ethical
practices and creation care is growing. Business
as a Calling will help participants explore these new frontiers and find
new solutions.
"Personally, I'm excited about the
incredible line-up of plenary speakers that we have this year," notes
Howard Good, vice president member engagement, "including Stephen Kreider Yoder,
San Francisco bureau chief for the Wall Street Journal; Len Penner, president
of Cargill Canada; and Suzanne Broetje and Roger Bairstow of Broetje Orchards
in Prescott, Washington.
"Their messages on alternate energy
innovations and business adaptations, meeting the world's growing food needs
and meeting a quadruple bottom line will serve to stimulate discussion in the
many relevant and timely seminars that follow."
With more than 25 seminars, on everything
from renewable energy and the green revolution in India to sustainability and
stewardship in the pork industry, attendees will have an incredible opportunity
to learn, grow and meet the challenges of today's economic environment.
They will also be inspired to put their
faith and values to work on the job - be it in business, a profession or other
line of employment - and connect with other Christians who share similar values
and a commitment to fighting poverty around the globe.
Convention includes lots of opportunities
to enjoy the California sun, too, with tours to San Francisco, Los Gatos, the
Silicon Valley or get a first-hand look at innovation in action at ZAP and Tesla
Motors.
Register early and save! For more
information or to register, go to www.businessasacalling.org
or call (717) 560-6546. Discounts rates are available for pastors.
Testimonials from last year's convention
"We always come home with
hope and feel so uplifted! What a great organization."
"I found it amazing that,
in the midst of the current economic situation, the mood was so upbeat - when
it could have easily been the opposite."
For immediate release July 30, 2009
Afghan woman's life of sorrow now one of increasing optimism and peace
"I am a Muslim," said the Afghan
village woman, "that's why I hide my face from you," she says to the
male videographer. "I am sorry, but we are Muslim and we know that you are
not in my religion. But I respect you because you come here and do a lot for
our village, for our people."
One year ago, I made my first trip on
behalf of MEDA - Mennonite Economic Development Associates - to learn more
about our work in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
I met Zaiba in a small village in Parwan
province, northeast of the Afghan capital of Kabul. And while she may have been
only a few years older than me, her life - one of extreme poverty, hardship,
and great sorrow - was revealed in her lined, gaunt face.
"The mujahideen killed my husband, and
I lost my young son during the war. My daughter and I tried to escape to Kabul,
but she died along the way, and I had no chance to bury her."
Zaiba apologizes for telling her sad story.
She wants to emphasize that she is finding joy in life again working with MEDA's
Through the Garden Gate project. As a lead farmer in the project, this
enterprising woman is relishing the opportunity to learn modern horticultural
methods, and earn a living to support herself in relative peace.
Other Afghan women like Zaiba are now
getting similar opportunities to unleash their entrepreneurship and find roads
out of poverty through a new MEDA initiative undertaken in partnership with
CIDA - the Canadian International Development Agency.
Through the Afghanistan Challenge, MEDA is
helping enterprising Afghan women - many of whom are widows - and their
families by providing microfinance loans and basic business training. Economic
empowerment will not only help them feed and clothe their family, but also send
their children to school, earning respect both within their family and in the
community. Equally important is the restoration of personal dignity that these
accomplishments can bring.
Every dollar donated to MEDA for the
Afghanistan Challenge will be matched by CIDA until 2012 as part of this
promising partnership.
"Hope is far too rare a commodity, yet I
see hope in the eyes of these women," notes Kim Pityn, MEDA's vice
president of international operations. "A good future for themselves and
their children is now a possibility. MEDA and the Afghanistan Challenge will
enable women to help other women, to build communities and networks of trust."
"Investing in socially excluded women
improves their overall outlook, awareness and optimism for the future - all
vital contributions to the creation of just and stable societies."
Study shows Afghan women gain socio-economic empowerment through microfinance
A recent study commissioned by Microfinance
Investment Support Facility for Afghanistan (MISFA) shows the positive impact
that microfinance services are having on women in the war-torn country.
They have more say in household business
and economic decisions, increased mobility, improved self confidence, higher
monthly savings and better access to basic services than women not
participating in microfinance programs. After getting a small loan, clients
were more likely to have access to safe drinking water, better health care and
sources of electricity.
Here are a few highlights:
Business decisions - 74 per
cent of Afghan women microfinance clients participate in business decisions for
the family, while only 52 per cent of non-clients do so
Economic decisions - 77 per
cent of women borrowers actively contribute to household economic decisions
(expenses on food, health, education, etc) compared to 61 per cent among
non-clients
Household spending - 87 per
cent of clients make purchases independently, versus only 46 per cent of
non-clients
MEDA invites Canadians to create hope for women, their families and communities with Afghanistan Challenge Innovative microfinance program empowers women in war-torn nation
WATERLOO, ON/ OTTAWA, ON (May 14, 2009) – A mere $200 micro-loan is all it took to change the life of Sharifa and her daughter, forever. The villager in Afghanistan, struggling to survive in this war-torn area, used the loan to invest in a rug loom and weaving supplies. She was soon able to hire other women weavers, freeing up her young daughter to finally go to school.
As Sharifa pays back her loan – micro-finance repayment rates are nearly 100 per cent – she can borrow more to expand her business. She never thought of herself as a role model, but she is now advising other women in the region, with a long tradition of rug weaving, to take control of their lives, too. This is lasting change in a part of the world where women are struggling to be heard.
Today, Mennonite Economic Development Associates (MEDA) announced that it is partnering with the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) and three other NGOs to help rebuilding efforts in Afghanistan with the Afghanistan Challenge, helping more women rebuild their communities.
The Afghanistan Challenge is about small donations allowing four Canadian organizations already on the ground in Afghanistan to make a real and sustained difference. MEDA is focused on helping enterprising Afghan women -- many are widows -- and their families by providing micro-finance loans and basic business training. Economic empowerment will not only help them feed and clothe their family, but also send their children to school, earning respect both within their family and in the community.
“Hope is far too rare a commodity yet I see hope in the eyes of these women. A good future for themselves and their children is now a possibility,” explains Kim Pityn, Vice-President, International Operations for MEDA. “MEDA and the Afghanistan Challenge will enable women to help other women, to build communities and networks of trust.”
Every dollar donated to MEDA for the Afghanistan Challenge will be matched by CIDA until 2012.
Donors are invited to visit www.medatrust.ca where they will have two options to donate by either making a straight donation or by creating a portfolio and direct donations to a loan for an Afghan woman, and follow that loan as she repays it. As the loan is repaid, that money is credited to the donor’s portfolio so it can be re-invested with other entrepreneurial women. As one loan is repaid, another small business entrepreneur benefits!
About MEDA Founded in 1953, MEDA (Mennonite Economic Development Associates) is headquartered in Waterloo, Canada and has pioneered business solutions to the eradication of poverty in more than 45 developing countries. MEDA’s innovative program range provides microfinance services for the poor, access to markets for small producers, and technical services to promote investment in businesses and institutions that serve the poor. In 2007, MEDA served more than 2.2 million clients in collaboration with 127 organizations worldwide. For more information, go to www.meda.org
For more information, please contact: Mary-Margaret Jones The Generator Group 416-909-5911 jones@generatorgroup.ca
MEDA contacts: Linda Whitmore 519-725-1633 / C 519-497-2345 / lwhitmore@meda.org
For immediate release April 14, 2009
MEDA casts wider (malaria) net to save more young lives in Tanzania
April 14, 2009
Waterloo, ON – MEDA (Mennonite Economic Development Associates) is on the front lines of a new $21 million project in Tanzania to get young children sleeping under life-protecting malaria nets over the next two years.
Working with the country's Ministry of Health and Social Welfare and the Global Fund for Aids, Tuberculosis and Malaria, MEDA will be coordinating the distribution of 7.2 million LLINs (long-lasting insecticidal nets) at no cost to children under age five at village events over the next twelve months through a massive nationwide catch-up campaign.
The aim of the project is to cover 80 per cent of all children under five with an LLIN in a country that sees 18 million cases of malaria – and 80,000 deaths resulting from it – annually, 80 per cent of the victims being children under five and pregnant women.
Ninety per cent of Tanzania's 40 million residents live in areas where malaria is endemic or at epidemic risk. Pregnant women and young children are at highest risk.
Since 2004, MEDA has distributed more than 4.6 million insecticide-treated nets to pregnant women and infants through Hati Punguzo, a program of the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare’s National Malaria Control Program and funded by the Global Fund and USAID’s President's Malaria Initiative.
This year, in addition to the mass LLIN distribution, MEDA will also be upgrading the Hati Punguzo voucher program targeted at pregnant women and infants. The new fixed "top-up" voucher means the customer will pay 500 shillings (about 30 cents), regardless of the retail price or where they live in the country. This is in contrast to the previous fixed-value voucher, which covered from 60 to 70 per cent of the cost of the net, where the top-up amount can change relative to the retail cost of the net.
To accomplish this across all 21 regions and many remote areas, MEDA has developed a distribution network of almost 7,000 retailers, 260 wholesalers and four manufacturers. Women receive a voucher during prenatal visits at one of 4,300 clinics across the country.
With an estimated six lives spared for every 1,000 nets sold, Hati Punguzo and MEDA have already saved more than 27,000 young lives – and are protecting countless more.
Joint release: Mennonite World Conference and Mennonite Economic Development Associates (MEDA)
MEDA tours, seminar at MWC Paraguay 2009 assembly to profile 55 years of work in Paraguay
MEDA returns to deep roots in Paraguay
Strasbourg, France and Waterloo, Ontario, Canada – MEDA (Mennonite Economic Development Associates) members will return to their roots during Mennonite World Conference's assembly July 14 to 19, 2009 in Asunción, Paraguay.
MEDA was formed 55 years ago by a small group of North American businessmen who wanted to help Mennonite refugees struggling to survive in what was known as "the green hell" – the Chaco region of Paraguay.
MEDA and TourMagination have planned a 17-day tour July 12-25 led by MEDA president Allan Sauder and his wife, Donna Snyder. The tour group will attend Paraguay 2009, the 15th global assembly of the Mennonite World Conference, as well as visiting MEDA projects in Paraguay and Peru. MEDA began in Paraguay and has its longest history there, while in Peru MEDA continues to create new and innovative solutions to poverty.
MWC and MEDA will also host a seminar to discuss business and faith in everyday life at Assembly Gathered in Asunción on July 15. The seminar will feature a discussion on how business leaders can integrate their faith into the work place. This dialogue on business and faith, led by MEDA Paraguay and MEDA North America, will include other business people and pastors.
MEDA will show Paraguay 2009 visitors how the impact of their founders' work has endured over the decades, leaving a lasting legacy. To see MEDA's faith in action, conference goers will have the choice of two tours to local MEDA projects. Tour 1 on July 14 will take visitors to the CODIPSA* I and II plants, which produces starch from cassava roots, and to visit small farmers who cultivate the plant. Tour 2, July 16, looks to new MEDA projects – the construction of a CODIPSA III factory to produce tapioca starch and the site of an ERPAR** factory being built for the production of ethanol from sugar cane. Participants will also visit the farms of some of the small local producers.
MEDA will also conduct a 14-day tour, beginning in Brazil, that will include Assembly Gathered in Asunción and visits to MEDA projects in Paraguay and Peru.
MEDA in Paraguay MEDA's first investment in Paraguay was in the Sarona Dairy. The Mennonite refugees who came from Russia after the war with very few resources settled on small tracts of land in the Chaco region of Paraguay.
Mennonite Central Committee and others provided some assistance to these farmers, but it was the keen business sense of early MEDA members that recognized the business opportunity to process and sell milk products into larger markets. They knew dairy would help these farmers earn better incomes – incomes they desperately needed to feed their families, to educate their children, to afford better health care, and to be able to dream about buying more land and increasing their farms beyond the subsistence level.
The Sarona Dairy repaid MEDA’s investment in full over the next 20 years and went on to spin off other dairies that today provide more than half of Paraguay’s milk products. An offshoot of the dairy industry has been raising beef cattle. Today, the beef cattle business in the Chaco is even bigger and more profitable than the original dairy business.
Mennonite refugees in Paraguay have transitioned from needing help to helping others by building and supporting schools and hospitals for Indigenous peoples. In a matter of 40 years, the early refugees went from struggling to survive to setting up their own MEDA organization, which now helps others in Paraguay and around the world.
* CODIPSA CODIPSA, with two plants and a third to be built this year, is the largest producer of starch in Paraguay, with exports to Brazil and Argentina and 2008 revenues of $4.8 million. The project is led by MEDA Paraguay and a group of successful local Mennonite business people. In 2008, CODIPSA processed 46,918 tonnes of manioc and produced 12,042 tons of starch – 5,583 tons for export – and supported 2,400 local farmers. Through MEDA members and the Sarona Risk Capital Fund, MEDA has invested US$1.6 million in CODIPSA and holds 26% of its common shares.
** ERPAR ERPAR will produce ethanol from a mix of sugar cane and tapioca starting later this year, with an annual capacity of 10 million liters per year. Local Paraguayan entrepreneurs, MEDA Paraguay and MEDA North America have joined forces to provide the start-up capital needed to get the project going. The plant is expected to support 400 farming families in Paraguay and create 82 direct jobs at the plant. Ethanol fuel production will continue to be important in the development of Southern Cone economies. MEDA members and the Sarona Risk Capital Fund have invested US$610,000 in ERPAR, and are its largest shareholders.
More than 100 Million of World’s Poorest Benefit from Microcredit
A MEDA client's story
Razia is just 30 years old, but she’s already suffered through decades of war and strife. Razia lives in Kabul, Afghanistan, where years of conflict have taken their toll on her family. Earning a livelihood has been extremely difficult. Razia was a skilled tailor, but struggled to know how to turn those valuable skills into regular income in order to feed her family.
But everything changed when she heard about microfinance loans offered through MEDA. Razia soon secured a loan and began building her own tailoring business – a dream come true! She couldn’t be happier with how it’s all turned out: "With the loan, I have been able to forget my sorrows and start to prosper. I repaid my loan on time and applied for a second loan."
In addition to the pride she feels in being an entrepreneur, Razia also helped her husband purchase a vehicle, allowing him to earn an extra 1500 Afghanis ($40) per day. Slowly their family is increasing their income and rising above poverty. Razia understands the dignity that comes from earning a living and wants to share that same message with others: "I encourage others to get a loan, too, because the only way to help yourself and your family is to work. Through MEDA, I have access to the finest resources to help me reach my goals."
New York, N.Y.— More than 106 million of the world’s poorest families received a microloan in 2007, surpassing a goal set ten years earlier, according to a report released today by the Microcredit Summit Campaign. Microloans are used to help people living in extreme poverty start or expand a range of tiny businesses such as husking rice, selling tortillas, and delivering cell phone services to remote villages.
“This is a tremendous achievement that many people thought was far too difficult to reach,” said Nobel Peace Prize laureate and Grameen Bank founder Muhammad Yunus who was present for the announcement. “What makes it even more remarkable is that loans to more than 100 million very poor families now touch the lives of more than half a billion family members around the world. That is half of the world’s poorest people.”
Organizers say that when the goal was originally set in 1997, fewer than 8 million very poor clients had a microloan. That number has grown by more than 1,300 percent between 1997 and 2007. In 2007, microloans went to 88 million very poor women. The Microcredit Summit Campaign counts the world’s poorest as those who live in the bottom half of those living below their nation’s poverty line, or any of the nearly 1 billion people living on less than $1.25 a day.
At the first Microcredit Summit in 1997, then-U.S. First Lady and current U.S. Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton said, “I am thrilled to see such a turnout for this summit which is one of the most important gatherings that we could have anywhere in our world. This is truly an historic occasion . . . . And this first global summit on microcredit offers an unprecedented opportunity for us to draw attention to the successes of microcredit in developing countries, as well as in applications in advanced economies around the world.”
"During the past decade the Campaign has organized 12 conferences attended by more than 14,000 delegates in order to examine trends, debate scholarly papers, and expose practitioners to training and innovations that are relevant to accelerating progress towards expanding outreach to the very poor," said Alex Counts, President and CEO of Grameen Foundation. "The Campaign spent less than $12 million during the period 1997-2007, while the amount of microloans in the hands of the poor has expanded from an estimated $1 billion to $15 billion, demonstrating the significant leverage possible when an international campaign is able to mobilize millions of people and institutions on a global scale."
While the first microloans in the developing world were made in the 1970s, for decades, this quiet revolution gained ground largely unnoticed by world leaders and development specialists. The year after the 1997 Microcredit Summit, the United Nations declared 2005 as the Year of Microcredit. In 2006 Muhammad Yunus and Grameen Bank received the Nobel Peace Prize.
While the world’s financial markets are gripped by a global economic crisis, this quiet revolution in microbanking has spread to the most destitute corners of the world. “Microcredit is one of the most effective ways to help the poor find a dignified route out of poverty,” said Microcredit Summit Campaign director Sam Daley-Harris, “and it does so with payback rates that traditional banks would envy.”
One of the innovators highlighted in the report is Jamii Bora, a Kenyan microfinance institution that started in 1999 with loans to 50 beggars in Mathare Valley Slum in Nairobi and now reaches 200,000 members. Jamii Bora is building a new town that provides another contrast to the current financial crisis by providing sub-prime mortgages to some of the poorest people in the world but does so in a way that gets the fundamentals right. The new town has 2,000 houses and 3,000 business spaces. Each house has two bedrooms, a kitchen, a living room, and a bathroom and the monthly mortgage is the same as a one-room shack in the slums. Potential buyers must have successfully repaid three self-employment loans to qualify for a mortgage. “Every person’s dream is to move out of the slums,” said Jamii Bora’s founder Ingrid Munro, “not patch up the slums.”
About MEDA – Mennonite Economic Development Associates (MEDA), a recognized leader in applying business solutions to poverty for more than 50 years, has been a pioneer in the microfinance industry. MEDA has started microfinance programs around the world that have spun off into successful credit unions and banks. In more than a dozen countries, from Afghanistan to Zambia, MEDA has assisted local partners to build viable, profitable microfinance institutions that serve more than a million clients. MEDA has also been a pioneer in creating investment funds that channel capital to microfinance institutions where it goes to work helping even more poor people work their way out of poverty through their own entrepreneurship. MEDA’s 45% ownership of MicroVest, a Washington-based microfinance investment fund, has generated investments of $80 million with microfinance partners, serving an additional million clients. For more information, go to www.meda.org
ABOUT Microcredit Summit Campaign — The Microcredit Summit Campaign is a project of the RESULTS Educational Fund, a U.S.-based grassroots advocacy organization committed to ending hunger and poverty. The Campaign brings together microcredit practitioners, advocates, educational institutions, donor agencies, international financial institutions, non-governmental organizations and others involved with microcredit to promote best practices in the field, to stimulate the interchanging of knowledge, and to work towards reaching bold measurable goals. For more information please visit: www.microcreditsummit.org
For more information, or for an embargoed copy of the report, please contact Melanie Eltz at 202-637-9600 or info@microcreditsummit.org
The MasterCard Foundation and MEDA Pioneer Financial Services for Poor Youth in Egypt and Morocco
Groundbreaking microfinance program develops entrepreneurial potential of youth
TORONTO
— Dec. 15, 2008 — The MasterCard Foundation and Mennonite Economic
Development Associates (MEDA) announced a $5 million program to create
inclusive financial services and education for youth in Morocco and
Egypt. This five-year program, called Youth Invest, will enable
microfinance institutions to develop and test innovative products,
reaching approximately 50,000 people between the ages of 15 and 24,
especially those living in rural areas. Until recently, microfinance
institutions have not focused on poor youth, in part due to the
perception of risks associated with serving young people who may lack
collateral or work experience.
“Youth Invest will create new
insights about the financial needs of youth and new ways to support
young entrepreneurs,” said Reeta Roy, President and CEO of The
MasterCard Foundation. ”We are pleased to work with MEDA, which has
been a pioneer in economic development, and is now expanding the
frontiers of youth microfinance.”
MEDA will partner with leading
microfinance institutions in both countries to study the needs of
employed as well as unemployed youth, and to design appropriate
financial products, such as savings for education or loans to start a
small business. The program will also provide youth-specific services,
including financial and business-related training to develop youth
entrepreneurship skills.
“The area of financial services for
youth is in its infancy. The MasterCard Foundation and MEDA agree that
by taking a youth-centered view and working with leading microfinance
institutions, we will create a new standard for financial services to
youth, which we can share with the industry,” said Allan Sauder,
President of MEDA.
Youth Invest will enable MEDA to document
findings and build a business case encouraging microfinance
institutions in other countries to view youth as an attractive client
population.
About MEDA Founded in 1953, MEDA
(Mennonite Economic Development Associates) is headquartered in
Waterloo, Canada and has pioneered business solutions to the
eradication of poverty in more than 45 developing countries. MEDA’s
innovative program range provides microfinance services for the poor,
access to markets for small producers, and technical services to
promote investment in businesses and institutions that serve the poor.
In 2007, MEDA served more than 2.2 million clients in collaboration
with 127 organizations worldwide.
About The MasterCard Foundation The
MasterCard Foundation is an independent, private foundation based in
Toronto, Canada. It was established through the generosity of
MasterCard Worldwide customer financial institutions at the time of the
company’s initial public offering in 2006. The Foundation has more than
$1 billion in assets. Its vision is to make the economy work for
everybody by advancing effective and innovative programs in the areas
of microfinance and youth education.
From boardrooms to villages - MEDA fellows program taps corporate HR expertise to alleviate poverty
Waterloo, ON – Mennonite Economic Development Associates (MEDA) is again breaking ground in international economic development with the launch of a new program to take senior-level corporate human resource expertise to microfinance institutions (MFIs) around the world.
Long known for its innovations in microfinance, MEDA will host six participants from around the world Nov. 30 to Dec. 3 for the first Human Capital in Microfinance Fellows Program.
"Microfinance is one of the most effective tools for poverty alleviation in the developing world," notes Julie Redfern, MEDA's director of microfinance, "but it is only as strong as its people. Fledgling MFIs have passed their infancy; to mature and reach the next level, they need to invest in their human capital, their people systems, and enhance their capacity so they can continue to grow with the MF market. It's part of the natural business cycle."
Through MEDA's extensive consulting work in human resources with MFIs worldwide, it has identified some basic challenges that impact the quality and reach of MFI services, including a lack of fundamental HR systems and a dearth of management skills. But beyond that, the microfinance sector also faces a shortage of skilled consultants to address these challenges and a lack of broad knowledge sharing within the industry.
"The MF Fellows Program will provide HR professionals with specialized training and practical skills to work directly with leading MFIs and help them improve their HR functions so they can continue to deliver highly needed financial services to poor and underserved clients in Africa, Asia, Latin America and elsewhere," notes Redfern.
"Essentially," says Redfern, "the creation of the Fellows Program follows MEDA's usual practice of taking the best of the business world and using it to alleviate poverty around the world."
Applicants undergo an initial screening and interview process, followed by an intensive program of pre-workshop learning assignments and a four-day onsite series of seminars. They are then required to successfully complete a short-term pro bono consulting assignment under the direction of a senior MEDA HR consultant.
Mark Alexander will be part of the first class of MF fellows. Mark brings 30 years of human resources management experience to his Fellowship – as a vice president with John Labatt Limited and Bell Canada and organization development manager with Air Canada, and as a faculty member at Saint Francis Xavier University.
"I look forward to the opportunity to collaborate, network and exchange views and ideas with other HR professionals," says Mark. "After many years in the corporate world, I want to put my human resources experience to work for the poor. By helping to strengthen MFIs, I can assist them in meeting the increasing demand for small loans that can help raise poor people out of poverty."
MEDA is now planning deployments for its first MF Fellows graduates to Cambodia, Pakistan and Haiti. Based on current demand, a new group of fellows could receive orientation each year.
Seed funding for the HR Fellows Program was provided by MEDA's Sarona Risk Capital Fund. Funded by both private investors and donations, Sarona invests venture capital in innovative companies with a high potential for social and financial return.
The 2008 Fellows candidates are available for interviews and photos Dec. 1-3.
For immediate release October 30, 2008
MEDA recognized for innovation
MEDA is proud to announce that we were one of three finalists in the non-government organizations (NGO) category for the 2008 Ontario Innovation Excellence Awards held Oct. 29 in Kitchener, Ontario.
The awards "celebrate the imaginative spirit of Ontario's innovative leaders" with innovations that have or are likely to influence the market or change a thought process. They honour innovators in every field of business and organization leadership in the categories of finance, intellectual design, strategic positioning, sustainable development, government and non-government organizations.
"As one of 19 nominees in the NGO category," says president Allan Sauder, "MEDA was in good company with the likes of the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics and the Centre for International Governance Innovation, both of Waterloo, and Zerofootprint and Evergreen, both of Toronto. We are honored by the nomination."
MEDA was nominated for its leadership in creating a global microfinance industry that today provides financial services to more than 150 million poor entrepreneurs. The specific innovation that was highlighted was MEDA Trust, a web-based tool that allows individual supporters to choose a loan client from one of MEDA’s microfinance partners, and then follow how the loan is made and being repaid. When the loan is repaid, the supporter chooses who to support next with their personal "portfolio." "This has proven very effective in linking younger people and people wanting a more personal connection with microfinance clients in places as diverse as Afghanistan and Nicaragua," says Sauder. "Whole families are getting involved in managing their portfolio."
Awards organizer Jon Rohr notes that, "Each of the nominated companies has set standards in their field, either locally or even on a provincial and national basis. They are great examples of the spirit of innovation we wanted to honor them with this new program."
With eligibility wide open to literally any innovator in any field, the awards attracted 126 nominees – a respectable number for a first-time event.
A panel of five judges rated the nominations according to the PEOPLE criteria: Problem Solving, Engage Consensus, Organizational Structure, Passion, Leveraging Differences and Empower.
The Inter-American Investment Corporation (IIC), a member of the IDB Group, has approved a US$1.8 million loan to ERPAR S.A.E. to build an agribusiness plant. MEDA is a key shareholder in the project. ERPAR’s new plant will produce ethanol from processed sugar cane and cassava, and assist some 1,000 farmers who supply raw materials to the plant. MEDA’s investment is part of its strategy to support triple-bottom-line ventures – Profit : People : Planet. Read more at the IIC.
For immediate release September 29, 2008
Why people of faith matter after Gulf hurricanes
They help most needy through organized efforts, says recent report
Today, people in the U.S. Gulf Region are again recovering from hurricanes that lashed their homes and communities in recent weeks. No doubt, people of faith across the country will respond with comfort and aid – just as they did after Hurricane Katrina. After Katrina, many people around the country wanted to help. Many of those people gave through church organizations, including Anabaptist/Mennonite groups. Church-sponsored relief efforts took on special importance after Hurricane Katrina because of the troubled government response, said a recently released report by the Institute for Southern Studies (Reporters: see information below). Relief efforts of faith groups were particularly important to lower-income residents and others who were most needy after the storm, stated the institute. People of faith supported the following efforts of Anabaptist/Mennonite groups:
Mennonite Central Committee Mennonite Central Committee's short-term response was woven through churches – from providing funding to a Native American congregation in Alabama as its members sheltered hurricane evacuees to supporting the work of congregations in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama in reaching out to neighbors. Church members from New Orleans-area church Amor Viviente held a service in Houston where many evacuees had fled. "We have people that lost everything," Blanca Mackay, a member of Amor Viviente, said in fall 2005, "but they're grateful to God in the midst of everything." In later months, MCC funds continued to assist Spanish-speaking New Orleans-area churches to reach out to hurricane-affected families, and enabled Spanish-speaking people from other countries to come and work in reconstruction. Generous donors provided $2.2 million to the Gulf Disaster Response – enabling MCC to support long-term recovery. Efforts included connecting people to social services and affordable childcare in Meridian, Mississippi, funding trauma recovery work in New Orleans and assisting evacuees in Houston, Texas, over a three-year period. A Vietnamese Mennonite Church member relocated from Philadelphia to Bayou La Batre, Alabama, to respond to the needs in the Vietnamese-speaking community there. Through a partner organization, Churches Supporting Churches, MCC provided funds to help a team of pastors from African-American churches in New Orleans work toward finding affordable housing for returning church members and others in the community. MCC has also placed a worker in New Orleans to be a listening and liaison person for existing community organizations and efforts in the area. MCC US Executive Director Rolando Santiago says, "MCC will continue to partner with local churches and organizations to 'let justice roll down like waters' (Amos 5:24) in the midst of disaster."
Mennonite Disaster Service Mennonite Disaster Service, which has sent almost 12,000 volunteers to respond in the Gulf Coast after Hurricane Katrina, focuses on the uninsured, the underinsured, the elderly, the disabled, and others with special needs. While many may mistakenly see the work in the Gulf Coast as finished, organizations such as MDS realize that the needs continue. MDS has had a long-term presence in the Gulf and will continue to do so for years to come. Janice E. Jones of the Gulfcoast Convention and Visitors Bureau recently wrote to MDS: "While the coast has made phenomenal progress, the rebuilding effort is not complete. As it continues, we are inspired by the ongoing commitment of so many people from around the country, such as those from Mennonite Disaster Service. Because of this kindness, Mennonite Disaster Service has a permanent place in our hearts."
Mennonite Economic Development Associates Several months after Katrina, MEDA launched its Back to Business project in partnership with Mennonite Disaster Service, working with local partner Good Work Network, which connects low-income and disadvantaged entrepreneurs to the resources they need. MEDA continues to offer a range of supports to owners of childcare businesses in the greater New Orleans region. This year, GWN served 152 clients in the childcare sector and provided $11,577 in small grants to child care businesses. Two-thirds of clients had businesses before, up to half in the informal economy. Childcare was a particularly hard-hit sector: Seventy percent of daycare centers vanished, posing a serious barrier to families returning to work. A program was developed to train people who wanted to start childcare facilities. Richard McCarthy is director of Market Umbrella, another MEDA partner. His organization is committed to linking small scale food producers (farmers and fishers) to sustainable markets. He has high praise for the effectiveness of faith-based organizations like MEDA and MDS. "The big funders didn't know what to do here," he says. "The faith-based organizations knew what to do. They came in here and started to work." Last year Good Work Network offered technical assistance to 675 people, most of them African-American. Sixty-eight percent were women and 64 percent were lower income. Director Phyllis Cassidy cited MEDA's "generosity of spirit" in strengthening Good Work Network. "Since Katrina our organization has grown five-fold, much of it thanks to MEDA," she said. "You helped heal our very damaged souls and hearts."
MMA In the midst of widespread devastation and loss due to Hurricane Katrina, congregations reached out to affected families. To support that effort, MMA offered a matching grant to churches that donate money in response to this disaster. For every three dollars raised by congregations, MMA gave one dollar – up to $500 per church – enabling congregations to increase their assistance to help the evacuees repair their shattered lives. A total of $50,000 was matched in 2005. In 2008, an interfaith partnership recently launched the Isaiah Funds to aid in the long-term rebuilding efforts in low-income communities following natural disasters. MMA is one of six partner institutions that created the investment and grant funds to provide low-cost capital to help revitalize local economies. The funds will initially focus on post-Katrina/Rita hurricane recovery efforts. "Economic redevelopment is a vital, and often overlooked, second stage to disaster recovery," said Mark Regier, MMA stewardship investing services manager. MMA Community Development Investments plans to invest up to $500,000 in the funds by 2009, with additional investments to be considered later.
Institute for Southern Studies report MMA cosponsored the Institute for Southern Studies report. Read the report (PDF) .
For more information, contact: Judy Martin Godshalk (800) 348-7468, Ext. 514 (574) 533-9515, Ext. 514 judy.godshalk@mma-online.org
For immediate release August 28, 2008
MEDA enters Euro market; plans German office
Waterloo, ON – Mennonite Economic Development Associates (MEDA) is bringing its vision of reducing poverty through economic development with plans to open an office in Germany – its first foray into the European market.
"Our MEDA supporters in Europe have encouraged us to build up a base among companies there," says president Allan Sauder, "and create a MEDA presence among European funding agencies. As a first step in that direction, we are excited to announce that Titus Horsch has agreed to join us as director of MEDA in Europe to expand MEDA's contribution as an industry leader in economic development in Europe."
In this new role, Horsch will be inviting business people to support MEDA's mission of creating business solutions to poverty and engaging with large European donor agencies. But his first tasks will be to set up an office, carry out legal registration and begin to build relationships in the European community as part of a two-year market development initiative.
Horsch is a graduate of the University of Applied Sciences, Ludwigshafen (MBA equivalent). He brings to MEDA a strong background in business development, with particular strength in start-ups and turn-arounds. Prior to joining MEDA, Horsch served as CEO of Thomashof Conference Centre, and business manager of the Geschaftsfuhrer Institute for Family Therapy. His experience also includes development of green energy projects and investment advisory services.
The initiative's success could mean the creation of a full member-based MEDA organization in Europe integrated with the North American model.
"We are capturing the positive and growing energy within MEDA to expand into new markets at this time," notes Gerhard Pries, MEDA's director of international fund development. "While the culture of donations that we enjoy in North America is not as prevalent in Europe, we are confident that European business people will embrace our vision."
For immediate release August 12, 2008
Christian author Philip Yancey headlines 2008 MEDA convention
Waterloo, ON – In his pilgrimage as a writer, Philip Yancey has explored many of the conundrums of Christian faith – and challenged some evangelical orthodoxies – all while trying to break through the media's typecast of evangelicals.
Now, he will speak about his current spiritual musings at the 2008 MEDA Business as a Calling: Dividends of Hope convention, to be held Nov. 6-9 in Columbus, Ohio. The author of 16 books, Yancey may be best known for What's So Amazing About Grace, winner of both the Gold Medallion Book Award and the ECPA Christian Book of the Year. His most recent book is Prayer: Does It Make Any Difference?
Yancey will be joined on the speakers' dais by Mennonite businessperson and former Paraguayan government minister Ernst Bergen and by economist James M. Harder, president of Bluffton University. In addition, three women who direct MEDA-related programs in Tajikistan, Pakistan and Tanzania – Perveen Shaikh, Faith Patrick and Sanavbar Sharipova – will discuss the unique challenges they face in building successful enterprises.
In addition to stimulating keynote speakers, Business as a Calling will feature seminars on topics ranging from business start-ups, through links between church and business, to the future of alternative energy, and tours to nearby destinations. MEDA's annual convention is also known for the opportunity to make new friendships with other Christians in business and to renew old ones.
All this is being offered in wonderful downtown Columbus, just steps away from a wide variety of attractions and events in Ohio's capital city.
MEDA to help farmers till ancestral Mennonite soil
Waterloo, ON – Forgiveness and farming are coming together in a new Ukraine project of Mennonite Economic Development Associates (MEDA).
With support from the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), it aims to help smallholder farmers in areas once populated by Mennonites who fled to Canada after the Bolshevik Revolution. The five-year, $10 million project will help 5,000 smallholder farmers in the Zaporozhye and Crimea regions improve production of table grapes, potatoes, berries, tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers and medicinal herbs.
Land owned by Mennonites and others was collectivized after the revolution of 1917. When the Soviet era ended and Ukraine achieved its independence in 1991, the land was returned to current occupants in small plots of 10 to 25 acres.
"While it is highly fertile, much of it is poorly cultivated, or not at all," says Fred Wall of Winnipeg, a MEDA volunteer who was part of the project's exploratory mission. "Under collectivization the operators were supplied with equipment and inputs; what was missing was the kind of entrepreneurial motivation that we in the west value. Now they have much motivation but they need help with things like credit and market development."
Both of Wall's parents were born into Mennonite families in Ukraine and immigrated to Canada in 1924 after they lost their farms.
"That land is now farmed by Ukrainians whose parents and grandparents were neighbors of our ancestral family," he says. "But the agricultural scene today is dramatically different than when my family left."
Some farmers have found ways to move forward, says Wall, but many are worse off than before. "Ukraine is not as poor as some other countries where MEDA works, but it suffers great economic disparity, with farm income in the eastern regions far below the national average."
MEDA was one of the first western agencies to re-enter the former Soviet Union after the collapse of communism 20 years ago. It established a Christian business organization and a small-business incubator in Moscow, both of which were spun off into independent organizations.
Numerous other Mennonite agencies have also returned to provide assistance ranging from daycare centers and youth training to medical help and care for seniors.
These efforts have not gone unnoticed by local people, as well as by CIDA, says Wall.
"People there have been amazed that after all the persecution and hardship Mennonites endured, their descendants are back trying to help without any attempt to recover ancestral property," he says. "They see it as a lesson in forgiveness as well as an expression of genuine concern for former neighbors."
A CIDA representative told Wall that a factor in MEDA's selection for the project was its strong historical connection as well as the recent efforts by other Mennonite groups to promote local development.
MEDA will work with farmers, financial institutions, local agencies and businesses to help their whole industry become fully integrated into domestic and possibly export markets.
"It's exciting to work with people whose grandparents may have known some of our own ancestors," says Wall. "In a sense, we are becoming neighbors again."
For immediate release June 24, 2008
MEDA project to preserve Peru's mangroves
Waterloo, ON – A new approach to creation care is being explored in Peru's mangrove forest by Mennonite Economic Development Associates (MEDA). MEDA, which specializes in business solutions to poverty, recently undertook a five-year, $1.8 million project for the Peruvian government to protect exotic birds and bio-rich plant life through sustainable development in the country's only mangrove sanctuary. Mangrove trees, which can look like a tangle of jagged roots twisting deep into the mud, are among the most biologically diverse wetlands on earth, hosting plant life that can't survive elsewhere. They're a haven for hundreds of bird species, and offer refuge and nursery grounds for fish, crabs, shrimp and mollusks. Many residents of Peru's mangrove sanctuary make their living from fishing, and a $50 million prawn-exporting industry operates nearby. The mangrove forest faces pressures such as contamination from sewage, garbage and industrial waste. "As well, villagers and companies have been tempted by short-term gains, such as cutting mangrove wood illegally for commercial purposes," says Ben Fowler, MEDA's project manager. More than half of the thousands of residents in the sanctuary do not have access to clean water or sewage drainage, and a third are undernourished, Fowler says, adding that economic options, already limited, will be further diminished if ecological health declines. MEDA's approach will be to boost awareness of how conservation and long-term economic interests go hand-in-hand, so that all stakeholders join hands to protect them. Fowler cites the example of discouraging people from going into logging that directly impacts their own ability to earn a livelihood. "A key task will be to gain the trust of villagers themselves, bring them on board and empower them to develop their own strategies and community regulations," he says. A related tactic is to expand cooperation among local producer associations who sometimes see themselves as rivals. "There are strong local associations that need to be brought into the picture and made to feel that they have a stake in managing it," says Fowler. "We want to build a recognition of their common interest and link that into government structures." Other strategies will include:
Conservation workshops and curriculum in local schools;
Maintain the current wet and dry forest cover, reduce contamination, and reforest at least 100 acres of mangroves;
Develop sustainable ecotourism packages;
Raise revenue, perhaps with the help of local prawn and tourism companies, to cover costs of conservation and management and make the park self financing.
For local Peruvians, a lot is riding on the project, both economically and environmentally, according to Fowler. "If it succeeds as planned, it could be replicated in many of the other protected areas."
For immediate release May 21, 2008
MEDA welcomes Jon Unger Brandt
I am pleased to welcome Jon Unger Brandt as vice president, marketing & resource development for MEDA.
In
this new role, Jon will develop an overall marketing strategy that
broadens MEDA's focus beyond the Anabaptist community. In addition, he
will be accountable for resource development, achieving financial
targets for member donations and other contributions and investments.
Jon will also expand MEDA's image and exposure, enhancing MEDA's
influence on key issues.
We are very happy to have Jon
joining our team. With the addition of Jon's expertise, we intend to
become known more broadly for the work we are doing to reduce poverty
around the globe through business solutions.
Jon adds
that he is "excited to have this opportunity to bring my skills to
MEDA. It is a privilege to be a part of MEDA's mission in helping the
poor around the world and sharing how our MEDA members make a
difference in their own workplace."
For the past five
years, Jon has been director of advancement with Eastern Mennonite
Missions in Pennsylvania, leading the public relations, media and
resource development teams. Media relations, graphic design, resource
development, events & church relations, database and IT have all
been part of his role.
Jon is a graduate of the
University of Winnipeg and Red River College, with an MBA from Taylor
University. Although he will be based in MEDA's Lancaster, PA office,
Jon also will be a frequent presence in the Waterloo office.
MEDA conference encourages growth through failure and success
Waterloo, ON – Mennonite business leaders gathered in Palm Springs, CA, recently to talk about Faith: Growth Through Failure and Success at the Mennonite Entrepreneurs Conference organized under the umbrella of Mennonite Economic Development Associates (MEDA).
The 40 people who attended the 28th annual conference of the Mennonite Entrepreneurs Group Feb. 28-March 2 learned how to view both failures and successes through a Christian lens and were encouraged to "fail forward" when they make mistakes.
Bible study leader Dr. Ervin Stutzman, vice president and seminary dean of Eastern Mennonite University in Harrisonburg, VA, noted, "The concepts of success and failure are multi-dimensional – including personal, spiritual, social and financial values. As a compassionate judge, God sets the ultimate standards by which to measure failure and success. Our purpose or mission in life – whether in church or business – will significantly influence the standards by which we measure success and failure."
An important part of the conference is sharing by business and professional entrepreneurs. Business leader presenters included residential land developers Dennis and Rene Neumann of Abbotsford, BC, and Art and Leona DeFehr, East St. Paul, MB, of Palliser Furniture.
The Mennonite Entrepreneurs Group meets regularly to seek God's direction, support one another and encourage the integration of faith and business activities. For many years it was organized by the General Conference Mennonite Church, but now operates under the umbrella of Mennonite Economic Development Associates (MEDA).
The group's Sunday offering of $6,630 U.S. went to MEDA and Lithuania Christian College.
Next year's event will be Feb. 26-March 1 in Palm Springs. New attendees are welcome, especially young entrepreneurs.
For immediate release February 22, 2008
Media invited to meet Tanzania malaria fighters, celebrate MEDA's 3 million malaria nets
What: Celebration of 3 million malaria nets/vouchers distributed Who: MEDA, Kitchener Mayor Carl Zehr, Tanzanian Government Officials Where: 155 Frobisher Drive, Suite I-106, Waterloo, ON When: 2:30 pm – Monday, February 25, 2008
Media Opportunities Images: Cake cutting by MEDA, Kitchener Mayor Carl Zehr, Tanzanian Government Officials Interviews: Tanzanian Government Officials, MEDA, Kitchener Mayor Carl Zehr Contact: Linda Whitmore, Communications & Media Relations Manager -- 519-725-1853 ext 32
As US President George W. Bush witnessed the progress in the battle against malaria in Tanzania this week during his current African trip, Waterloo-based NGO Mennonite Economic Development Associates (MEDA) – a key player in the fight – celebrated the distribution of its three millionth anti-malaria net/voucher in the country.
That celebration will be brought to Canadian soil next week with a visit by two Tanzanian officials from the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare – Dr. Donan Mmbando, Director of Preventative Services, and Dr. Alex Mwita, Program Manager for the National Malaria Control Program. They will be accompanied by MEDA's management team for the project, country manager Tim Piper and program manager Faith Patrick. Kitchener Mayor Carl Zehr will also be on hand to help MEDA mark the occasion with a cake in the image of a program voucher.
MEDA designed and implemented that country's novel voucher scheme to get more insecticide-treated mosquito nets (ITNs) into the hands of African mothers and children who need them most. Malaria is the leading killer of children in Africa, claiming more than a million lives every year. (See video link below.)
During the week long visit, MEDA's guests will visit Waterloo, Toronto, London and Niagara Falls to meet with leaders at Canadian institutions and companies to create more linkages to advance health care in Tanzania.
Your viewers can hear directly from these Tanzanian leaders and learn how a Canadian NGO has helped save the lives of thousands of children across the globe.
Please contact us to be included in their visit.
View video – Hati Punguzo: Insecticide-Treated Mosquito Nets for Tanzania
For immediate release February 19, 2008
Bush sees MEDA's work in Tanzania
Waterloo, ON – As US President George W. Bush witnessed the progress in the battle against malaria in Tanzania yesterday during his current African trip, Mennonite Economic Development Associates (MEDA) – a key player in the fight – celebrated the distribution of its three millionth anti-malaria net/voucher in the country.
That celebration will be brought to North American soil next week with a visit by two Tanzanian officials from the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare – Dr. Donan Mmbando, Director of Preventative Services, and Dr. Alex Mwita, Program Manager for the National Malaria Control Program. They will be accompanied by MEDA's management team for the project, country manager Tim Piper and program manager Faith Patrick. MEDA will mark the occasion by cutting a cake in the image of a program voucher.
MEDA is the Tanzanian government's logistics manager for Hati Punguzo, an initiative that promotes a unique public-private partnership that provides Tanzanians with subsidized vouchers to purchase insecticide-treat mosquito bed nets (ITNs) at very low cost. Through the initiative, MEDA has helped to create a network of more than 6,500 retail outlets nationwide, where previously the life-saving nets were not available.
During a stop in the town of Arusha, Bush visited the Meru District Hospital – where pregnant women at the clinic receive the vouchers to obtain an ITN. The president also toured the net-making factory of A to Z Textile Mills, the only manufacturer in Africa to produce the life-saving, long-lasting insecticide net, which MEDA distributes through Hati Punguzo.
So far the impact of the project is staggering. Research suggests that six lives are being spared for every 1,000 nets sold. In addition to the lives saved, ITNs prevent serious illness that would devastate families – wages would be lost and costly treatment would be needed.
President Bush launched the five-year, $1.2 billion President's Malaria Initiative in 2005. The program aims to cut malaria-related deaths by half in 15 African countries.
MEDA's loss a gain for TourMagination Head of resource development moving to private sector
Waterloo, ON – Mennonite Economic Development Associates (MEDA) has spawned another entrepreneur, this time from the ranks of its own management team. MEDA, which prides itself on creating business solutions to poverty, has accepted the resignation effective April 30 of Ed Epp, vice president of resource development, "with great reluctance," said president Allan Sauder.
Epp joined MEDA in 1998 as director of international operations, managing programs in Mozambique, Tanzania, Zimbabwe, Haiti, Nicaragua, Romania and Bolivia, as well as exploring new programs. In 2003, Ed moved into the newly created position of director of new business development and strategic planning, and the following year was appointed vice president for resource development.
"Ed's contributions to MEDA have been many," said Sauder. "At a recent meeting of MEDA's board of directors, a resolution was passed thanking Ed for his hard work and commitment to MEDA over the past nine and a half years and wishing him well as he moves into the world of business. Through his creativity and resourcefulness, Ed leaves MEDA with the launch of MEDA Trust (www.medatrust.org ), a consistent marketing image, and record levels of contributions, as well as a number of innovative programs throughout the world."
While Epp has decided to go into business and will be joining TourMagination on May 1, MEDA is pleased that he will maintain a business relationship with MEDA in arranging and leading tours for its members.
"My passion and belief in MEDA remains stronger than ever," said Epp, "and I look forward to being a real MEDA member. My decision to resign is due only to opportunities to try out the business world – putting into action my words and theories. I am committed to remaining a MEDA supporter, member and advocate."
Recruitment for this position is currently under way.
For immediate release February 13, 2008
MEDA recruiting business interns
Waterloo, ON
– Two seven-month internships for 2008-2009 have been announced for
recent U.S. college graduates by MEDA – Mennonite Economic Development
Associates.
One is for a micro-business development associate in
Gulfport/Biloxi, Miss., to help people recovering from Hurricane
Katrina. The assignment will be with the Gulf Coast Community Service
Center, which provides training, technical assistance, lending and
mentoring to those wanting to start or grow a business. Qualifications
include a degree in business administration, community economic
development or entrepreneurship.
The second is for a human
resource administrator in Haiti, working with Fonkoze, which provides
small business and savings products for poor people. Qualifications
include knowledge of French and a college degree (preferably studies in
human resources).
Family Business Doctor making a house call in Calgary Partnerships, Commitments and Dreams: A day of networking, learning and inspiration - Co-sponsored by MEDA and Mennonite Foundation Canada
Waterloo, ON – Seventy per cent of family businesses fail to make the transition to a new generation, but an upcoming workshop will show business owners how to keep their enterprise alive by planning now for a smooth succession.
John Fast, the Family Business Doctor, will help take family business owners From Parenting to Partnering during one of three workshops he'll present at Partnerships, Commitments and Dreams, a one-day mini-convention co-sponsored by MEDA – Mennonite Economic Development Associates – and the Mennonite Foundation Canada.
Keynote presentations include Connecting Faith, Business and Development in a Needy World, by MEDA chair Dr. Mel Stjernholm, of Boulder, Colorado, and Everest: Living a Dream – A 20-year Personal and Medical Journey, by Dr. Bill Hanlon, pharmacist, family physician, travel and tropical medicine consultant from Cochrane.
Dr. Stjernholm, a native of Colorado, received his MD degree from the University of Colorado and has specialized in endocrinology, with a practice in Boulder. Stjernholm, who has been involved with MEDA for the past 30 years, currently chairs the bi-national board of directors. He has visited MEDA programs in Paraguay, Nicaragua and Tanzania.
Dr. Bill Hanlon is the founder and medical director of the Basic Health International Foundation located in Cochrane. He is particularly interested in the culture, health and spirituality of people living in remote villages in the high mountains of the world. Hanlon has climbed the highest mountain on every continent including Mount Everest in 2007.
Other seminars will focus on smart ways for business people to give, business as a calling, and partnering and investing in developing countries. The event will be held March 8 at the Radisson Hotel Calgary Airport. For more information go to www.meda.org or call 1-800-665-7026.
PRESS RELEASE January 18, 2008
The Hati Punguzo (HP) Programme, also known as Tanzania National Voucher Scheme (TNVS) is celebrating the scanning of the 3-millionth voucher.
Started in October 2004 by the Ministry of Health (MoH) under the National Malaria Control Program (NMCP), the Hati Punguzo program aims at preventing malaria infection amongst pregnant women and children under five years by increasing the use of insecticide-treated nets (ITNs).
The initial target group during the program start was pregnant women, who receive a discount voucher, the "Hati Punguzo," on their first visit to a Reproductive and Child Health (RCH) Clinic. The voucher can then be exchanged for an ITN, with a small top-up amount, at authorized retailer shops carrying the Hati Punguzo sign. In the third year the program expanded to include infants and children under five years in some selected areas. Recently, the program has been extended to Zanzibar.
Hati Punguzo vouchers are distributed to pregnant women and mothers of infants through more than 4,200 RCH clinics, redeemed at more than 6,600 retailers, with 260 wholesalers supporting ITN distribution.
The program started with a pregnant women voucher worth TShs. 2,750=, approximately 75 per cent of the average commercial price of an ITN at that time. When the price of ITN went up, the program revised the value to TShs 3,250.
The program is implemented through a partnership of four contractors, categorized by specific activities. These are:
MEDA – logistics: voucher printing, distribution, administration and redemption
World Vision (WV)Tanzania / CARE - training and promotion
LSHTM / IHRDC - monitoring and evaluation
KPMG - auditing
The program's structure has been designed with a vision to stimulate healthy economic growth in the private sector through which communities in the most remote areas can have access to ITNs. The program's successes lie in the cooperation of key stakeholders from a number of different sectors inter-linked through the concept of public private partnership (PPP). Each stakeholder plays an essential role in making sure that the program's primary objective is fulfilled. This is done in three key ways:
Increasing affordability of ITNs: through a voucher given to pregnant women to subsidize the cost of an ITN
Increasing accessibility of ITNs: through contracting retailers who will stock ITNs even to the most remote area
Increasing awareness about malaria prevention by promoting the proper use of ITNs
In June 2006, the program celebrated the scanning of a millionth voucher. Now, eighteen months later, the program has tripled the number of beneficiaries receiving ITNs through the voucher scheme. Today we are witnessing the scanning of the 3-millionth voucher.
Training and Promotion
Initial training is conducted by WV/CARE at the Clinic level to ensure that clinic staff is familiar with the voucher disbursement system and procedures. Ongoing onsite training is also done by the MEDA regional teams to the clinic staff whenever problems are identified. Training also is provided to the Council Health Management Team (CHMT), which is an opportunity for them to become familiarized with whole process.
Promotions are conducted in conjunction with local cultural groups to sensitize communities to proper malaria prevention measures. Advertisements are also done through local media.
Voucher cycle
MEDA sends the vouchers to the DMO's office, and the DMO subsequently distributes the vouchers to the clinics through the existing system for distributing health-related products. At the RCH clinic, pregnant women and mothers of the infants are issued with vouchers on their first antenatal attendance or on infant's ninth month visit to the clinic during measles vaccination.
Recipients then take the voucher to the designated retailer, where upon paying the small top amount, they exchange the voucher for the net. From this stage, the voucher is exchanged with an ITN from retailer to wholesaler to manufacturers.
Manufacturers then return the vouchers to MEDA, where they receive their reimbursement equivalent to number of vouchers submitted.
The MEDA Voucher Room
Upon receiving the vouchers at MEDA, they are forwarded to the voucher tracking system (VTS) unit, where they are scanned. The scanning system has had to keep up with the growth of the program. It is currently run on three computers. Two computers run the actual scanning process and store double-sided image files of the scanned vouchers, while the third computer holds the transaction database and keeps a record of the status of each voucher. The database keeps track of each voucher through a unique serial number and updates the status of the voucher to reflect its position in the distribution cycle.
For immediate release January 3, 2008
"Do you give to live, or live to give?" Speaker Philip Clemens to ask audience Feb. 29
Waterloo, Ontario – Which is it for you? Do you give to live – or to put it another way, do you give back 10% of what God has given you as a payment to God and then you are off the hook and can live whatever way you want?
Or do you look at all you have, realize that God has given it to you and live in a way that you can give back a great deal and you are constantly looking for God to prompt you to meet a need that He has placed before you?
Keynote speaker Philip Clemens will ask his audience to consider these questions at a Feb. 29 dinner meeting of MEDA's Lancaster, PA chapter.
Clemens has spent his entire working career with his family business in Hatfield, PA. He began on the clean-up crew and worked his way up to be the CEO and President of the company. In 2000, he became Chairman and CEO of The Clemens Family Corporation, a holding company.
Also plan to attend ... ... MMA Stewardship University, March 1, 8am-2:30 pm, for workshops on Giving with the End in Mind, Responsible Energy Use is Good Business and The Art of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). Learn how to apply biblical principles to your business, how your business can use energy responsibly and how you can balance the challenges that companies face in the increasing call for socially responsible practices.
To register for the dinner, stewardship university or both, or for more information, contact Carol Eby Good at (717) 560-6546, toll free at (800) 665-7026, or via e-mail: ceby-good@meda.org
MEDA is an association of Christians, in business and the professions, committed to applying biblical teachings in the marketplace. MEDA members share their faith, abilities and resources to address human needs through economic development. We believe that all people may experience Christ's love and utilize their abilities to earn a livelihood, provide for families and enrich their communities.
