The MicroStart Global Pilot Programme.

• Position: Economic assistance for women - Brief Article

Micro-credit programmes provide economic opportunity for young women, allowing them to enhance educational skills and, in the process, delay their age of marriage and motherhood. The Grameen Bank in Bangladesh, for instance, reverses conventional banking practice by doing away with collateral and depending instead on trust and participation. This $3 million project, which brings together UNDP and UNIFEM, aims to build sustainable capacity of five to seven micro-finance institutions (MFIs) in each of seven countries, with fewer than 3,000 clients, primarily poor women. This Programme addresses the biggest constraint to potential micro-finance services: lack of...