Microfinance Notes: 18 July 2011

At Kiva, we value being in tune with the current news, research, and findings, so each week we are going to bring you the latest updates in Microfinance!

In this post, we cover the following: an CGAP blog post about Islamic microfinance, a Newswire report about the World Bank’s reclassification of 28 countries, the fishing industry in West Africa, the role of microfinance in climate change, and much much more!

Islamic microfinance has yet to achieve scale. CGAP undertook a multiple blog exploration of the topic and this post summarizes its findings.

Kiva works in many of the poorest countries in the world. Learn about the World Bank's annual survey, which has reclassified 28 countries as "middle income" instead of poor.

Kiva has been working in West Africa since the very early days. Depleted fishing grounds are becoming a critical problem in Kiva countries such as Senegal, Ghana, Togo and Benin.

As Kiva broadens the types of loans we offers, climate change and the environment have become a highly desirable target. Read about the role of microfinance and climate change in rural communities.

Kiva works with a variety of Field Partners that offer financial services. Read the article then see if you can find which Kiva Field Partners offer integrated solutions.

Kiva has often been called the world's first peer-to-peer lending platform. A new organization now claims to be the first true disintermediated lending platform.

Rwanda: New Strategies to Boost Financial Inclusion

Savings plays a critical role in rural economic development. Read this case study from Mali.

Kiva currently has a small footprint in Europe. But what are the possibilities for extending microfinance there?