My Blog

USAID Speakers Corner: Microfinance and Energy April 30, 2010

Hi All
  • Graham - Thanks for alerting us to this.
USAID's  Speakers Corner is a 3-day, lively online discussion that brings together professionals from across the world each month to share ideas, debate approaches and learn about new tools and resources to improve practice. Guided by leading experts, discussions address pertinent microenterprise development issues.
  • Marcus and Vijay - you might be interested
  • Stewart, Wire, John, Ciciely - I wonder if this has any relevance ref Barefoot Power
  • Bala and Kelechi ref Appropriate Power Special Interest Group - you may like to join in these discussions too
  • Nikki can you add it to the agenda for Wednesday's UK-Nigeria meeting - so we can see if any one person should be allocated to check this out and join in.
  • Emile - would you forward this to Henry for me - I didn't get his contact details this morning at nebulae
  • Henry - you expressed interest in green issues and related trans-national collaboration so you may find this an interesting debate (If you do get more involved with Dadamac this could be the kind of thing I might ask you to do.... just keep an eye on a discussion like for us and let us know if/when it does touch on areas that overlap Dadamac's interests. If it does, then help us to make sure that one of our people joins in - or when you know us better you could join in on our behalf. If you are interested let me know and I'll give you some background information so you can start to look at things that go on "through Dadamac eyes".)
Everyone . This is USAID promoting the event. We want them to direct their efforts and resources in a more well-informed way. We are well informed about microfinance and energy needs on the ground. They should know that we exist and we really know what we are talking about. We should try to become visible in the online spaces they provide.

Regarding times  - note this is a USA event - so they will be hours behind us. No problem as it lasts several days so will be more like an email list than a chat room. First person to notice what time zone they are please pass on the information.

Pamela

May 11-13 Speakers Corner online forum on Microfinance and Energy.

Text from Link  is copied below

May 11-13 USAID Speakers Corner: Microfinance and Energy: Scaling Up Energy Access through Enterprise-Based Approaches and Innovative Financing.

Access to modern energy services is a catalyst for progress across the spectrum of development priorities, including economic growth and improved education and health. Currently, over 2.4 billion people worldwide have no access to safe, clean, and reliable sources of energy. Enterprise-based delivery models hold great promise to meet the needs of these underserved populations in a sustainable, scalable and commercially viable manner. One key component to such approaches is access to appropriate forms of enterprise and consumer financing.

Please join us on May 11-13, 2010 for a Speakers Corner online forum to discuss energy and microfinance and explore how microfinance may help increase access to modern energy services. Hosted by Jeffrey Haeni (USAID/Energy) and Carissa Page (USAID/Microenterprise) and facilitated by an expert panel, the discussion invites participants to share their own experiences, questions and comments in the online discussion forum:

  • Day 1 Tuesday May 11: Current Status and Successful Models
    Facilitators: Ellen Morris (Arc Finance), Jacob Winiecki (Simpa Networks).
  • Day 2 Wednesday May 12: Opportunities and Challenges
    Facilitator: Phyllis Kariuki (GVEP International).
  • Day 3 Thursday May 13: The Path Forward: Scaling Up
    Facilitators: Jennye Greene (E+Co), Jacob Winiecki (Simpa Networks).

Sign up today: For more information and free registration, visit the Microfinance and Energy Speakers Corner Event  page on http://microlinks.kdid.org.  Please send questions to speakerscorner@microlinks.org .

Speakers Corners are a monthly feature of the U.S. Agency for International Development’s microLINKS Website.