Grameen Foundation#Programs
{{Short description|Non-profit organization}}
{{primary sources|date=August 2013}}
{{Infobox organization
| name = Grameen Foundation
| logo =
| type = 501(c)(3)
| founded_date = {{start date and age|1997}}
| founder = Alex Counts
| location = Washington, D.C., USA
{{coord|38.9039|-77.0345|type:landmark_region:US-DC|display=inline, title}}
| key_people = Zubaida Bai – President & CEO
Peter Cowhey – Chair
Muhammad Yunus – Founding Board Member
| area_served = Asia, Africa, the Americas
| focus = Poverty
| method = Social Enterprise, Microfinance, Technology
| homepage = {{website |http://www.grameenfoundation.org }}
}}
Grameen Foundation, founded as Grameen Foundation USA, also known as "GFUSA", is a global 501(c)(3) non-profit organization based in Washington, DC, that uses digital technology and data to understand very poor people, in detail, and offer them—and the entire ecosystem of agencies and actors surrounding them—empowering tools that meet and elevate their everyday realities. Its CEO is Zubaida Bai. Grameen Foundation's mission is, "To enable the poor, especially women, to create a world without poverty and hunger."{{cite web|url=https://grameenfoundation.org/documents/GF_Annual-Report_2021_final.pdf
|title=Forging Pathways Out of Poverty: 2021 Annual Report
|publisher=Grameen Foundation
|accessdate=2023-01-27}} According to the OECD, Grameen Foundation’s financing for 2019 development increased by 33% to US$45.5 million.{{Cite web|url=https://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/sites/2dcf1367-en/1/3/3/14/index.html?itemId=/content/publication/2dcf1367-en&_csp_=177392f5df53d89c9678d0628e39a2c2&itemIGO=oecd&itemContentType=book|title=Grameen Foundation | Development Co-operation Profiles – Grameen Foundation | OECD iLibrary}}
It is separate from organizations called "Grameen Foundation" in different countries, such as Grameen Foundation Australia.{{Cite web|url=https://www.grameen-info.org/grameen-family/|title=Grameen Family|website=Grameen Bank - Bank For The Poor|language=en-US|access-date=2019-10-30}}
History
The Grameen Foundation was founded by author and independent consultant to nonprofit organizations Alex Counts in 1997.{{Cite web|url=https://www.centerforfinancialinclusion.org/bio/alex-counts|title=Alex Counts {{!}} Center for Financial Inclusion|website=www.centerforfinancialinclusion.org|language=en|access-date=2019-10-30}} He established the foundation with $6,000 in seed funding from Muhammad Yunus. The mission was to facilitate the expansion of banks modeled after the Grameen Bank beyond the borders of Bangladesh and increase the access of poor people to microfinance by millions worldwide.{{Cite web|url=https://nextbillion.net/microfinance-interview-marcus-berkowitz-grameen/|title=Good News for Microfinance: Grameen America Discusses Promising New Research on its Anti-Poverty Impact|date=2019-04-16|website=NextBillion|language=en-US|access-date=2019-10-30}} After 18 years, he resigned from his position as president and CEO in 2015. He was replaced by former executive vice president for global programs David Edelstein. Grameen (গ্রামীণ) is a Bengali word meaning "rural" or "village."
Nobel-prize winner Professor Muhammad Yunus is founder and managing director of Grameen Bank, sat on the Board of Directors for 12 years and is now a director emeritus.{{Cite web|url=https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/peace/2006/yunus/biographical/|title=The Nobel Peace Prize 2006|website=NobelPrize.org|language=en-US|access-date=2019-10-30}} Immediate past chairs of the board are Paul Maritz, formerly CEO of VMWare and formerly a senior executive at Microsoft,{{Cite web|url=https://www.bizjournals.com/sanjose/blog/2012/01/vmwares-maritz-brings-tech-to-service.html|title=VMware's Maritz brings tech to service|last=|first=|date=|website=|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=}} and Robert Eichfeld, a retired executive at Citibank.{{Cite press release|url=https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/grameen-foundation-elects-robert-eichfeld-to-chair-board-of-directors-215253731.html|title=Grameen Foundation Elects Robert Eichfeld to Chair Board of Directors|last=Foundation|first=Grameen|website=www.prnewswire.com|language=en|access-date=2019-10-30}} The current chair of the board is Peter Cowhey,{{Cite press release|url=https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/grameen-foundation-founder-to-step-down-as-president-and-ceo-300083979.html|title=Grameen Foundation Founder to Step Down as President and CEO|last=Foundation|first=Grameen|website=www.prnewswire.com|language=en|access-date=2019-10-30}} the UC San Diego Interim Executive Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs, Qualcomm Endowed Chair in Communications and Technology Policy, and the dean of the School of Global Policy and Strategy.
Programs
Grameen Foundation leverages their expertise in digital technology and data to understand very poor people, especially women and girls, and offer them—and the entire ecosystem of agencies and actors surrounding them—tools that allow them to show up with their full power to end poverty and hunger.
Working with local and global allies, Grameen Foundation also develops and distributes mobile phone-based applications to help the poor to better manage:
- Their health, through such programs as the Mobile Technology for Community Health (MOTECH) initiative in Ghana
- Their crops, through such programs as the Community Knowledge Worker initiative in Uganda
- Their finances, though such programs as the Mobile Money initiative in Uganda
Grameen Foundation forayed into open source core banking systems by launching the website mifosx. The Mifos project was formally launched by Grameen Foundation in 2006.{{cite web |last1=Foundation |first1=Grameen |title=Grameen Foundation Launches Mifos.com |url=https://grameenfoundation.org/press-releases/grameen-foundation-launches-mifoscom |publisher=Gameen Bank |accessdate=21 February 2019}}
References
{{Reflist}}
Further reading
- [https://www.findevgateway.org/paper/2010/06/measuring-impact-microfinance-taking-another-look Measuring the Impact of Microfinance: Taking Another Look]; Kathleen Odell, June 2010.
- {{cite book|
last=Yunus|
first=Muhammad|
year=1999|
title=Banker to the Poor: Micro-lending and the Battle Against World Poverty|
location=New York|
publisher=PublicAffairs|
isbn=1-891620-11-8|
url-access=registration|
url=https://archive.org/details/bankertopoormicr00yunu_0}}
- [http://www.grameenfoundation.org/sites/default/files/Measuring-Impact-of-Microfinance.pdf Measuring the Impact of Microfinance: Taking Stock of What We Know]{{Dead link|date=June 2024 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}; Nathanael Goldberg, December 2005.
- Innovate podcast series [http://iinnovate.blogspot.com/2006/11/alex-counts-founder-of-grameen.html interviews Alex Counts, founder and CEO of Grameen Foundation]
External links
- [http://allafrica.com/stories/200511281122.html Nokia, Grameen Collaborate for African Villages] Highway Africa News Agency, November 25, 2005.
{{Authority control}}
Category:Foundations based in Washington, D.C.
Category:Microfinance in North America
Category:Non-profit organizations based in Washington, D.C.