Little coverage is given to the humanitarian crisis going on in Haiti right now. Hurricane Gustav, earlier this summer, killed many, but destroyed the livelihoods and communities of a countless number of more people. Micro-finance institutions had been operating in these areas for a few years assisting in development programs. However, Gustav destroyed the businesses of many of those receiving micro-finance loans. Claude Alexander, from Fonkoze, the largest Haitian micro-finance NGO, will be speaking on the topic at the Ath on Monday night. Here's the description from the Athenaeum's Fortnightly:
Microfinance, NGO's, and the Emergency in HaitiCLAUDE ALEXANDREMONDAY, NOVEMBER 3, 2008Claude Alexandre is a member of the board of Fonkoze, one of Haiti's largest and most influential micro-finance NGOs and a consultant and business adviser to non-profit organizations and NGOs. He will discuss the world of micro-finanace through the prism of Haiti and its attempts to recover from severe damage suffered in a hurricane this summer. More than 18,000 of Fonkoze's clients lost their businesses entirely.
CMC's Center for the Study of the Holocaust, Genocide, and Human Rights has begun a Haiti Initiative to aid Fonkoze and its clients in recovery and reconstruction.
No comments:
Post a Comment