Tag Archives | Microfinance

Microfinance Conference Focuses on Economic & Social Advancement

From October 23 - 24, 2012, the U.S. Mission in Iraq, through the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), and in cooperation with the Iraqi Microfinance Network, will host the Inclusive Financial Services Stakeholders’ Conference at the Rotana Hotel in Erbil. The conference theme is “Iraqi Microfinance – The Path to Economic and Social Advancement”. […]

USAID Microfinance Conference in Erbil

The USAID-Tijara Provincial Economic Growth Program in cooperation with Iraq’s 12 microfinance institutions and Iraqi Microfinance Network will hold an Inclusive Financial Services Stakeholders Conference at Hotel Rotana, Erbil, on October 23 and 24, 2012. The theme of this year’s conference will be “Iraqi Microfinance - The Path to Economic and Social Advancement”. The conference […]

USAID Initiative Boosts Youth Employment

USAID-supported job training, apprenticeships and microfinance loans help unemployed Iraqi youth secure meaningful work. CHALLENGE. At the start of 2010 Iraq had the highest rates of unemployment in the Middle East. Thirty percent of its adults lacked jobs. More than half of the country's young urban males were unemployed. At 19 percent, female participation in […]

Iraq Micro-Finance Forum in Erbil

The Government of Iraq in cooperation with UNDP Iraq, USAID-Tijara and the Consultative Group to Assist the Poor organised the Iraq Micro-Finance Forum in Erbil. The Forum’s key objectives were promoting synergy between the Government’s poverty alleviation and job creation efforts and the existing microfinance industry, enhancing service delivery by microfinance institutions to micro-small and […]

Women's Ministry Grants Bank Loans Worth 10m Dinars

AKnews reports that the Iraqi Ministry for Women's Affairs has granted about 10m dinars' worth of bank loans for women. Ministry spokesman Mohammed Hamza said the loans are part of the project submitted by the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs for women who are unemployed and registered with the ministry. Priority for awarding the […]

Iraqi Microfinance Conference Discusses Greater Outreach to Poor

Iraq’s 12 microfinance institutions in cooperation with the USAID-Tijara Provincial Economic Growth Program are holding an Inclusive Financial Services Stakeholders Conference in Erbil on October 3 and 4. The theme of this year’s microfinance event will be “Transforming Inclusive Financial Services for Increasing Outreach”. The conference will bring together leaders from 12 microfinance institutions (MFIs) […]

Unlikely MSME Financiers Provide Islamic Microfinance for the Poor

By T. Keyzom Ngodup, co-founder and Executive Director at Ideas sYnergy, an Iraq based private sector development consulting company. Six NGO-microfinance institutions (MFIs) provide Islamic micro-financing Al-Murabaha to over 7,000 micro-enterprises, 14% of them women-owned small businesses across Anbar, Kirkuk, Ninewa, and Tikrit. Al-Takadum in Al-Anbar pioneered micro-financing based on Islamic principles in 2007 and […]

Iraqi Microfinance Targets Women

Iraq's Ministry of State for Women's Affairs, Ibtihal al-Zaidi, told AKnews that the Iraqi Council of Ministers agreed to allocate a proportion of small loans for women. During its recent meeting on granting loans to finance the small enterprises, the Council of Ministers agreed that priority will be given to women supporting families. "The request […]

MSMEs – A Prerequisite for Inclusive Economic Development

By T. Keyzom Ngodup, co-founder and Executive Director at Ideas sYnergy, an Iraq based private sector development consulting company. Recent demonstrations across the country in Sulimaniya, Kirkuk, Basra, Kut and other provinces are indicative of the growing disenchantment among the youth who are often jobless or underemployed despite Iraq’s tremendous oil and gas resources. According […]

Iraq to Cut Poverty From 23% to 16% by 2014

Iraqi authorities aim to decrease the percentage of poverty in the country from 23% to 16% by the year 2014, according to the Planning Ministry's Central Statistics Body on Tuesday. "The strategy to decrease poverty will be activated this year," the Central Statistics Body's official spokesman told Aswat al-Iraq news agency. He said that "the […]

Iraq Microfinance Celebrates Innovative Loan Products

USAID-Tijara’s Inclusive Financial Services Stakeholders’ Conference began with a pledge to provide greater financial services to people living below Iraq’s poverty line of $2.20 a day and ended with a celebration of innovative loan products that have created or sustained 203,500 jobs since 2003. Participants at the Nov. 28-30 symposium in Erbil debated new Iraqi […]

USAID-TIJARA Plans Microfinance Conference

The USAID-Tijara “Putting the Poor First” microfinance symposium, a program supported by the U.S. Government, will be held November 28-30 in Erbil. The Inclusive Financial Services Stakeholders’ Conference will bring together leaders from the 12 microfinance institutions (MFIs) that provide financial services throughout Iraq. The forum will attract Iraqi policy makers, donors, banks, small business […]