Australian Development Gateway

The Australian Development Gateway (ADG) strives to support members of the development community in their efforts to reduce poverty and enhance sustainable development in the Asia Pacific region. The site has been created with participation from members of government, private, academia and non-government organisations. User feedback mechanisms have been incorporated to guide future directions of the site. The site is optimised for low bandwidth access to enable the widest participation throughout the Asia Pacific region.

Skip to content

ADG channels:

Information by sector: Enterprise Development

Sub navigation

ADG TOOLBOX

Microfinance Institutions and Supporting Organisations

Grameen Bank

The Grameen Bank provides collateral-free credit to the poor in rural Bangladesh, reversing conventional banking practice by removing the need for collateral and created a banking system based on mutual trust, accountability, participation and creativity.

The approach to microfinance used by Grameen Bank views credit as a cost effective weapon to reducing poverty and a catalyst in the over all development of socio-economic conditions of the poor.

The Grameen Bank model has received significant international attention for its positive impacts on the poor since being established in 1976. In 2004, the bank had 3.7 million borrowers, 96 percent of whom were women, and provided services to 46,000 villages covering more than 68% of the total villages in Bangladesh.

 

Footer: