POWG Newsletter: September 2011

Hi everyone,

Now that the slow months of July and August are behind us, lots of exciting things are brewing in the POWG! Please read on and see how you can learn more or get involved.

Some of us have been busy finalizing a synthesis report of the recently held e-consultation on MicroLINKS, titled “Economic Strengthening Pathways for the Bottom Billion: Connecting the Dots”. This vibrant discussion provided so much food for thought, that we have a hard time deciding on what to share in the synthesis paper. Stay tuned, as we hope to publish the report in October.  If you can’t wait that long, check out the e-consultation pages and some really valuable resources here .

Margaret will be attending the Arusha Savings Group Summit  during October 4-6 and she is looking forward to meet any POWG members who are also going and have an informal discussion about the role of savings groups as a tool for economic empowerment of the very poor. If you plan to be there, send Margaret a quick e-mail (margareterichards@gmail.com ) and let her know!

And of course, both of us will be attending the SEEP 2011 Annual Conference  from October 31 through November 3, and we hope you will too! We are very excited about all the activities this year related to strengthening the economic potential of the very poor. Here are some of the most exciting ones to look forward to:

Monday (Oct 31)

1.30 PM – 4.30 PM:      POWG annual Meeting – SEEP members only.

You will soon receive an invitation from SEEP with more information about all the working group meetings and a way to sign up for the meeting of your choice. We will send an agenda for the POWG meeting in the coming weeks.

Tuesday (Nov 1)

Workshop “Why a Rising Tide Won't Lift All Boats: Understanding the Different Needs of the Extreme Poor to Develop Effective Graduation Programs”

Workshop “Reaching Vulnerable Households through value chain development”

Plenary Session “Strengthening the economic potential of the bottom billion: navigating the space between social safety nets and markets”moderated by Jason Wolfe (USAID) with Syed Hashemi (CGAP/Ford Foundation graduation program), Lauren Hendricks (CARE Access Africa) and another panelist TBD. 

Thursday (Nov 3)       

Economic Strengthening Approaches for the Bottom Billion TRAINING (sold out!)

This training focuses on exploring how to integrate livelihoods, microfinance, and enterprise/market development strategies for economic empowerment of the very poor.

Thanks to everyone who responded to our learning needs survey in June! The feedback generated by that survey has been instrumental to help us with the design of the one-day training session and will continue to help this group with organizing workshops and training session in the future.

Lastly, don’t wait until the SEEP Conference for more learning. If you haven’t visited the CGAP/Ford Foundation Graduation Program website , now is the time to check out some interesting qualitative research papers  that have been posted recently.

We hope to see you or hear from at some of these upcoming events!

Margaret Richards & Jan Maes, POWG Facilitators