Microfinancing is considered one of the most effective strategies in the fight against global poverty. And now, in Small Loans, Big Changes, author Alex Counts reveals how Nobel Prize Winner Muhammad Yunus revolutionized global antipoverty efforts through the development of this approach. This book presents compelling stories of women benefiting from Yunus’s microcredit in rural Bangladesh and urban Chicago, and recounts the experiences of different borrowers in each country, interspersing them with stories of Yunus, his colleagues, and their counterparts in Chicago.

Microfinance-providing low-interest loans and other financial services to help the poorest people lift themselves out of poverty-was pioneered by the Grameen Bank in Bangladesh. In 2006, the bank and its founder, Muhammad Yunus, were jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, and microfinance has since gone on to serve over 100 million people-mostly women-on five continents. First published in 1996, Small Loans, Big Dreams is the classic account of the origins and development of microfinance, from the $27 in loans given by a young economics professor to liberate poor villagers from loan sharks to its present status as a sometimes-controversial global phenomenon. Alex Counts, a protegé of Yunus and founder of the Grameen Foundation, paints vivid portraits of the determined women he came to know whose lives have been transformed by the opportunity to launch a small business, first in the countryside of Bangladesh, then in downtown Chicago, where an experimental project brought the microfinance method to America. In this new edition, Counts traces the history of microfinance, exploring the ways Grameen Bank has evolved in response to challenges from economic downturns to environmental crises. He depicts the various forms-some highly effective, others less so-that microfinance has taken in countries around the world, including Grameen America, the rapidly growing microfinance enterprise now headed by Andrea Jung that serves thousands of women across the U.S. Finally, Counts responds to critics who have questioned the value of the Grameen model and describes the lasting legacy of Yunus's remarkable vision. Small Loans, Big Dreams shows how microfinance can play a critical role in reducing the scourge of inequality by enabling underprivileged people to participate creatively in the global economy.

The easy way to score your highest on the SAT Whether you are a student struggling with math, reading, or writing essays, this updated edition of SAT For Dummies offers advice for tackling the toughest questions, as well as hints and tips for making the most of the time available to complete each section. You'll get the information you need to focus on the areas that are most problematic for you to ensure that you achieve the best possible score. SAT For Dummies is for the millions of students who are preparing to take the SAT as part of the college application process. The SAT consists of nine separate, timed sections, which are broken down into 3 categories: Reading, Mathematics, and Writing. This new edition of SAT For Dummies gives students the tools, tips, and test-taking strategies to overcome anxiety on any (and every) part of the test. 5 full-length practice tests with detailed answers and explanations Review of foundational concepts for every section, from identifying root words and using commas correctly to solving math word problems and using the quadratic formula Complete explanations of every question type Practice questions for each of the test's 9 sections SAT For Dummies gives you the edge you need to successfully achieve the highest score possible!

This work is part of the SAGE Reference Series on Leadership and provides undergraduate students with an authoritative reference resource on leadership issues specific to women and gender. It covers historical and contemporary barriers to women's leadership and issues of gender bias and discrimination, but also places a strong focus on positive aspects and opportunities for leadership in various domains. The two-volume set is centered on the 100 most important topics, issues, questions and debates specific to women and gender. By focusing on 100 key topics, more detailed information and depth of discussion is provided than typically found in an encyclopedia entry but not as much jargon, detail or density as a journal article or a research handbook chapter. Key Themes women and public leadership in the American context women's global leadership women as leaders in the business sector the nonprofit and social service sector religion academia public policy advocacy the media sports the arts.

In development circles, there is now widespread consensus that social entrepreneurs represent a far better mechanism to respond to needs than we have ever had before--a decentralized and emergent force that remains our best hope for solutions that can keep pace with our problems and create a more peaceful world. David Bornstein's previous book on social entrepreneurship, How to Change the World, was hailed by Nicholas Kristof in the New York Times as "a bible in the field" and published in more than twenty countries. Now, Bornstein shifts the focus from the profiles of successful social innovators in that book--and teams with Susan Davis, a founding board member of the Grameen Foundation--to offer the first general overview of social entrepreneurship. In a Q & A format allowing readers to go directly to the information they need, the authors map out social entrepreneurship in its broadest terms as well as in its particulars. Bornstein and Davis explain what social entrepreneurs are, how their organizations function, and what challenges they face. The book will give readers an understanding of what differentiates social entrepreneurship from standard business ventures and how it differs from traditional grant-based non-profit work. Unlike the typical top-down, model-based approach to solving problems employed by the World Bank and other large institutions, social entrepreneurs work through a process of iterative learning -- learning by doing--working with communities to find unique, local solutions to unique, local problems. Most importantly, the book shows readers exactly how they can get involved. Anyone inspired by Barack Obama's call to service and who wants to learn more about the essential features and enormous promise of this new method of social change, Social Entrepreneurship: What Everyone Needs to Know? is the ideal first place to look. What Everyone Needs to Know? is a registered trademark of Oxford University Press.

Top down . . . bottom up . . . what works? This book explores development from the perspective of the poor. Who are they? What lives do they live? What matters to them? And most importantly, what can they do about it? Martin and Mathema debate how people can be given legitimate control of their own environment, and how governments can work with them. How do communities and conditions drive behavior? What interventions are appropriate and how can we approach development imaginatively? This is not about usurping governance – but revisiting structures that the developed world has come to accept, and placing the power of decision in the hands of the people it affects. Nor it is about money . . . it’s about people, and about how we can make our world work for everyone.

Considers the issues of social and sustainable entrepreneurship. This title tackles lingering definitional issues such as the distinctions between social, sustainable, and environmental entrepreneurship, or proposes social entrepreneurship research agendas based on key research questions found in prior studies.

This book provides an overview of recent advances in Integrated Community-Managed Development (ICMD) as an innovative strategy for the community-based development of local institutions in order to achieve lasting poverty reduction and empowerment. The original approach presented here to improving the lives and livelihoods of the poor takes a critical stance on the failing concept of conventional community development, as it is based on the shifting paradigm of 'bottom-up' cooperation and development, where recent regional autonomy policies are enabling national services to successfully integrate with local institutions at the community level. Based on recent experiences in South-East Asia, where the implementation of an alternative approach to integrating financial, medical, educational, communication and socio-cultural services has led to increased community participation and impressive poverty reduction, the book highlights the theoretical, methodological and practical aspects of this innovative strategy. The potential offered by applying the newly developed 'ICMD formula' worldwide as a function of themes, principles and services is reflected in the book’s diverse range of contributions, written by respected researchers and practitioners in the fields of development economics and financial management.

According to the author, rather than alleviating poverty, microfinance financialises poverty. By indebting poor people in the Global South, it drives financial expansion and opens new lands of opportunity for the crisis-ridden global capital markets. This book raises fundamental concerns about this widely-celebrated tool for social development.

Since its emergence in the 1970s, microfinance has risen to become one of the most high-profile policies to address poverty in developing and transition countries. It is beloved of rock stars, movie stars, royalty, high-profile politicians and ‘troubleshooting’ economists. In this provocative and controversial analysis, Milford Bateman reveals that microfinance doesn’t actually work. In fact, the case for it has been largely built on hype, on egregious half-truths and – latterly – on the Wall Street-style greed of those promoting and working in microfinance. Using a multitude of case studies, from India to Cambodia, Bolivia to Uganda, Serbia to Mexico, Bateman demonstrates that microfi nance actually constitutes a major barrier to sustainable economic and social development, and thus also to sustainable poverty reduction. As developing and transition countries attempt to repair the devastation wrought by the global financial crisis, Why Doesn’t Microfinance Work? argues forcefully that the role of microfinance in development policy urgently needs to be reconsidered.