Lumana (I volunteered with them for a month in Ghana last year) just got their first television appearance — they were featured on KCTS 9 Connects on Friday. You can view the segment here.

Congrats to Cole, Samantha, and the entire Lumana team!

MicroRate.com recently released their State of Microfinance Investment 2011 report. Here are a few key findings from the press release:

• Low-priced, domestic funding in key countries has been crowding out foreign private capital.
• Latin America & the Caribbean is now in second place behind Europe/Central Asia in terms of the geographic investment distribution – receiving 35% and 37% respectively of total MIV investments.
• Top fund executives predict growth rates of 20-30% for the remainder of 2011 and into 2012.
• Both MFIs and MIVs are giving increasing priority to social performance.

More information:

• Download the Report HERE (PDF)
• Press Release (PDF)

A few friends and I are attending the DUDE FEST next Saturday, August 27th in Fremont to raise some money for Lumana Credit by watching the Big Lebowski in an outdoors showing. I’m stoked!

Here are the logistics for those in the Seattle area who are interested:

What: Join Lumana and the Fremont Outdoor Cinemas for a screening of the Big Lebowski complete with a White Russian bar and music by Two Buck Chuck, a portion of all proceeds from the event will go towards benefiting Lumana’s programs helping women start businesses in Ghana, West Africa.

When: August 27th at 5 pm (movie starting at 9 pm)

Where: 3501 Phinney Ave North, Seattle, 98103

Why: To raise money for a good cause, get drunk off white Russians, and watch an awesome movie. What’s not the like about that?

Cost: $12

Order tickets here - http://fremontoutdoormovies.eventbrite.com/

I came across a an article in OptimistWorld that talked about OneSeed Expeditions, a social startup that uses travel to fund women entrepreneurs in the developing world.  I was instantly a huge fan of the new startup, so I thought I would write something up about it:

What is OneSeed?
OneSeed Expeditions was founded in 2010 by Chris Baker, Bishnu Thapa, and Tek Bahadur Dong after more than three years of planning and preparation. Conceived as a social enterprise with a sustainable revenue stream, OneSeed Expeditions grew directly out of the research and work experience of its founders. OneSeed’s founders bring a unique mix of mountain guiding, ethnographic fieldwork, and non-profit skills to the start-up team. We try to keep it pretty simple:  you take an amazing trip; a local entrepreneur launches or expands their small business. We aim to change the way that travel impacts local communities.  We’ve all seen the negative side of tourism, but what happens when you take the power of travel and harness it to fund creative entrepreneurs?  Answering that question is what OneSeed is all about.

OneSeed Expeditions | Exploring the world. Investing in People. from OneSeed Expeditions on Vimeo.

To get more information about what OneSeed does and who they are, visit their website  or read their blog

Location:
San Francisco, CA – Downtown/Mission District
Position:
Microfinance Legal Intern, Legal Team
Term:
3 Months, 2 days a Week
Start Date:
Week of October 3rd, 2011

The Company
Kiva.org was founded upon the fundamental principle that connecting people through lending can help alleviate poverty. To help fulfill its mission, the company gives its users the opportunity to provide borrowers with the funds needed to generate income or otherwise live a life of sustainability and independence. So far, this approach has enabled Kiva to raise $200+ million for 535,000+ entrepreneurs in 59+ countries—momentum which it looks to continue in the coming years as it positions itself to achieve $1 billion in loans across a variety of sectors by 2017.

Job Description
Kiva’s Legal Team is looking to have a Legal Intern help research legal issues pertinent to Kiva’s strategy and operations and create presentations and other documentation to help educate Kiva staff on these legal issues.  In particular, you will work closely with the General Counsel and Corporate Counsel to research microfinance legal considerations by country and write the corresponding country memos to help Kiva assess the possibilities of extending its microfinance efforts in new countries and regions.  You will also be responsible for assisting the Legal Team in creating presentations regarding various legal issues that Kiva faces to help Kiva staff understand the relevance of these issues to their roles and responsibilities.   This is an ideal position for a law student with previous experience with cross-border transactions looking to volunteer their skills with Kiva and in turn, to learn from the legal issues that Kiva faces.

Job Responsibilities

• Research legal considerations in microfinance by country; writing the corresponding country memos.
• Assist in creating legal presentations for internal education purposes.
• Provide ongoing general support for the Legal Team.

Skills / Qualifications / Experience

• Highly organized individual with an aptitude for working in a start-up environment. This means being able to take on multiple projects, work independently, manage your time to meet deadlines, and happily tackle work that ranges from high-level responsibilities to tedious tasks.
• Strong legal research and writing skills are a must.
• Previous experience with cross-border transactions.
• J.D. in process or completed.

Benefits

• Opportunity to join the team of the world’s first online lending platform.
• Casual work environment – flexible office hours and schedule.
• References gladly given for successful participants.

If Interested
Please click here to fill out our application form. Make sure you have a plain text resume and cover letter available.
Due to the high numbers of applicants for this position, we regret that we can only respond to candidates that we would like to interview.

Source: Kiva

The Open Government Partnership  is a global effort to make governments better. We all want more transparent, effective and accountable governments — with institutions that empower citizens and are responsive to their aspirations. But this work is never easy.
In an interview with Maria Otero, formerly the CEO of ACCION International and now the Under Secretary of State for Democracy and Global Affairs, Rahim Kanani from Forbes discusses the Open Government Partnership:

Rahim Kanani: How would you describe the objective and vision of the Open Government Partnership?

Under Secretary Otero: The Open Government Partnership is a global effort to make governments more transparent, effective and accountable. It is a new multilateral initiative that aims to secure concrete commitments from governments to promote transparency, empower citizens, fight corruption, and harness new technologies to strengthen governance. In the spirit of multi-stakeholder collaboration, OGP is overseen by a steering committee of governments and leading civil society organizations.

Rahim Kanani: What do you foresee as some of the biggest challenges to achieving this vision?

Under Secretary Otero: I think the biggest challenge to this effort is getting countries to understand the vision of this initiative. This is not like other mechanisms that seek to promote transparency and accountability.

First, it’s voluntary. Any government that is interested and willing to commit to the high standards set forth by OGP is welcome to join. This is not for the faint of heart and free-riders need not apply. The Partnership has ambitious expectations of participants in terms of developing serious new commitments to open government through a national participatory process, and submitting themselves to independent scrutiny on progress.

Second, this is about partnership. This was really evident in the July meeting. We are partnering with governments around the world — you see that in the makeup of the Steering Committee. You also see that with civil society and having them as equal members of the Steering Committee. This collaboration is critical. Civil society keeps governments and elected officials accountable. Also, many civil society organizations are driving best practices and innovation in the space, so governments have much to learn from them…. [See the rest of the interview here]

Founded in 1994, Global Partnerships (GP) is a dynamic, growing nonprofit organization that expands opportunity for people living in poverty by investing in microfinance and other innovative poverty alleviation solutions throughout Latin America. With a team of 21 employees and offices in Seattle, Washington, and Managua, Nicaragua, GP currently partners with 28 microfinance institutions in seven countries – Bolivia, Ecuador, El Salvador, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, and Peru with plans to expand in the next 36 months. Through our partners we have more than $40 million in capital at work, improving 66,000 lives.

The Executive Assistant will play a critical administrative support role to the CEO, CIO and Board of Directors at GP’s Seattle headquarters. We seek a dedicated, experienced administrative professional who will serve as a public face for the organization, exemplifying GP’s commitment to mission, respect, collaboration, and excellence.

Primary Responsibilities:

• Manage scheduling for all Board governance activities including Committee meetings, Board meetings, and Board retreats
• Prepare meeting agendas/materials with CEO, CIO and Board/Committee Chairs
• Maintain corporate minutes and records
• Provide administrative support to the CEO and CIO including managing calendar, developing presentations, and expense reporting
• Coordinate domestic and international travel arrangements
• Provide a positive presence and excellent support with all constituents answering and prioritizing telephone calls, responding to email and mail communications, and meeting in person
• Organize office events that support teamwork and help create an exceptional work environment
• Independently manage special/administrative projects in dynamic fast paced environment with GP’s management team and senior executives on the Board of Directors
• Interact with tech support firm to ensure that staff has continuous access to hardware, software, and other technology tools needed to manage day to day functions.
• Provide occasional interpretation and translation from English to Spanish and Spanish to English.

Qualifications:

• Minimum 5 years experience providing administrative support to senior executives, ideally in a non-profit organization, foundation, or social investment firm
• Ability to independently organize and manage multiple tasks in a fast-paced work environment
• Ability to handle confidential matters with professionalism and discretion
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills
• Strong computer skills including Outlook, PowerPoint, Word, and Excel
• Full fluency in Spanish and English
• Ability to work well with a diverse group of people, including members of the Board of Directors, senior executives, GP staff, community members, and donors
• Bachelors degree

Compensation: Competitive salary with comprehensive benefits package

Global Partnerships is an Equal Opportunity Employer and all qualified candidates are encouraged to apply. Applications will be reviewed immediately and the recruitment will remain open until the position is filled. To apply please send a cover letter and resume to: info@waldronhr.com.

Source: SeaMO

We are searching for vision and results-driven individuals to join our team as fall associates and to learn how to make real-world social change. We value our interns greatly and seek to flood them with opportunities for learning and growth in the field of social entrepreneurship. You will have a semester full of challenging and thought provoking projects within a community of collegial entrepreneurs.

What we look for: Successful candidates demonstrate entrepreneurial experience; a passionate commitment to social change; an ability to be creative; excellent communication, organizational, planning, and analytical skills; and a great desire to realize an Everyone a Changemaker TM world.

The Opportunities: This fall, we are offering 1- 3 field positions available, in New York City. The ideal associate will have an interest in microfinance and in doing research and benchmarking of good practices. Candidates will do research on the impact of different innovative solutions to problems of lack of access to financial services of poor people. We are also offering opportunities for individuals interested in organization design, talent development and management. Ideal associates have experience and/or interest in recruiting, social media, and marketing. Researchers will work from their own spaces and meet with their partners regularly in the NYU area.

Please email resumes and cover letter to Cosmo Fujiyama at cfujiyama@ashoka.org

Source: Idealist.org

For those in Seattle’s microfinance scene (or looking to get involved), there’s a microfinance event on the 25th of the month worth attending. It’s Vittana’s 1,000 Summer Bash!

What: Party to celebrate Vittana funding 1,000 students from around the globe!

Where: 2030 First Avenue, Suite 300, Seattle, WA 98121

When: August 25th from 5:30-7:30

Hope to see you there!

You can register HERE!

Here’s an interesting video from Real Clear World with Susan Davis, the President and CEO of BRAC, in which she explains how microfinance grew out of “a movement for social justice and women’s empowerment and equality” into a “tool for income generation and productive loans.”