Change We Believe In

Edited by Thomas Dichter and Malcolm Harper The idea of microfinance has been in existence for about six decades even before the ideology of development could be thought off.  Microcredit first kicked off momentum after the 1997 Microcredit Summit in Washington, D.C. and the concept reached its peak in 2005 and 2006. The United Nations declared 2005 as the year of Microcredit and the micro finance scheme became well known in 1983 when Mohamed Yunus and the Grameen Bank won the Nobel Peace Prize. This led to a change in the perception how microcredit is been viewed and conceptualize by the world; that is, the poor were now seeing as major entrepreneurs, who have the needed skills and expertise in business, but needed financial resources to initiate and jump start their own businesses. At the core of the micro-finance ventures, the poor are considered people who when provided with the right financial resources are able to removed themselves from the cradles of poverty. The pur...

Micro-finance, Gender and Neoliberalism      Micro-finance, Gender and Neoliberalism are some of the most important subjects in development today. Over the years, microfinance has long been considered as an instrument of development through which the provision of micro-loans to communities is considered to be unworthy of credit by the traditional financial institutions. The idea of microfinance has been in existence for about six decades even before the ideology of development could be thought off.  Microcredit first built momentum after the 1997 Microcredit Summit in Washington, D.C. and the concept reached its peak in 2005 and 2006. The United Nations declared 2005 as the year of Microcredit and micro-credit also became well known in 1983 when Mohamed Yunus and the Grameen Bank won the Nobel Peace Prize. This led to a change in the perception as to how microcredit is been viewed by the world; that is, the poor were now seeing as major entrepreneurs, who have the...

In January 2004 I established the Sustainable Agricultural Program for Liberia (SAP-Liberia) a non-profit, community-based organization in Liberia to address the felt needs of returnees and internally displaced people created as a result of the fourteen (14) years civil crisis. I decided to establish this local community-based organization, because I believe that grassroots community-based approach to development, which encourage and promote local participation, is an effective way of engaging a community in the process of addressing their own problems. The organization was established with the purpose of rendering services at the frontline of community-based recovery developmental programs without discrimination to race, gender, ethnicity, religion, culture, and political affiliation. SAP-Liberia seeks to achieve the above stated purpose by collaborating with local institutions, Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs), schools and religious organization as well as international agenc...