Development studies
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Village Savings and Loan Associations
While many banks and microfinance institutions provide valuable services to the poor in the developing world, they are most successful in economically dynamic urban or peri-urban areas. 30 years since the start of the microfinance revolution, poor people who live in many rural areas and urban slu...
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Voices from the Margins
Roger Lewins, Stuart Coupe, Francis Murray
Describes the work of Practical Action in introducing consensus-based planning approaches in villages that are poor even by Bangladesh standards, where 90 per cent of people live under the poverty line and over 60 per cent are illiterate. These methods work on raising the voice and confidence of the...
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Water Supply and Sanitation Services for the Rural Poor
Safe drinking water near to the home and adequate household sanitation save poor households time, reduce illness and increase a sense of well being and dignity. Gram Vikas, a non-government organization working in one of the poorest states in India, recognized this key role and encouraged villages t...
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What's Wrong with Microfinance?
Thomas Dichter, Malcolm Harper
Microfinance has been a long-lived development fashion and in 2005 it enjoyed the accolade of a UN International Year. Many of the world's biggest multinational banks are now eagerly committing quite substantial sums to it, for business as well as public relations purposes. However, there are some i...
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Where There is No Artist
A simple to use catalogue, containing a wealth of illustrations, with a unique combination of written text and visual aids.Visual aids can provide information, provoke discussion and discovery, and make difficult ideas easy to understand. They can also improve the accessibility of a book or a poster...
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Developing Adult Literacy
There are many different ways to manage adult literacy programmes. This book will help those who plan and develop literacy initiatives make their decisions based on an understanding of ideas, values and principles. It explains how to take into account the local context and the purposes of learners,...
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Digital Poverty
Hernan Galperin, Judith Mariscal
This book represents the first publication of the Regional Dialogue on the Information Society (REDIS-DIRSI), a regional network of leading researchers concerned with the creation and dissemination of knowledge that supports effective participation in the Information Society by the poor and marginal...
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Fuel for Free?
This book covers the use of wastes in firing clay bricks via case studies in Zimbabwe, Sudan, Sri Lanka, and Peru. With respect to both livelihoods and the environment, energy efficiency in brickmaking is critical. Not only does increasing energy efficiency serve to reduce brickmakers’ fuel costs an...
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The Aid Chain
Tina Wallace, Lisa Bornstein, Jennifer Chapman
The Aid Chain explores the role of funding conditions in shaping co-operation and resistance as aid moves from donors, to NGOs, to local communities. Significant proportions of aid flow through the non-governmental sector but questions are increasingly being asked about the role of NGOs and whether...
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Building Capacity through Financial Management
Much has been written about capacity building but little on how to use financial management to build capacity. Donors are increasingly requiring their non-profit beneficiaries to have sound financial systems before they will provide funds. This guide provides an overview of financial management and...