By Raquel Martinez VALLADOLID, Spain, Nov 18 (IPS) - Jesús Guerra, a volunteer at this week’s Fifth Global Microcredit Summit in this Spanish town, was nonplussed by the expensive gold watch sported by a banker from a developing country. 'When I volunteered to help at the Summit I thought this was different,' Guerra told IPS. 'I believed that everybody who worked in microfinance wanted to end social injustices, but here I am listening to a lot of people ...

The World Council of Credit Unions is encouraging holiday gift givers to consider giving the gift of microloans. Gifts in the form of $30 donations to the Worldwide Foundation for Credit Unions will help support farming and microbusiness loans to credit union members in Haiti, Sri Lanka, Ethiopia and Afghanistan, WOCCU said. Read more

By Portia Crowe MONTREAL, Canada, Oct 19 (IPS) - Microfinance initiatives to fund development could benefit from reinvigorating their aims and taking on new, integrated approaches, according to experts at the 2011 International Forum on the Social and Solidarity Economy in Montreal. The conference brought together cooperative and microfinance representatives from around the world Tuesday to discuss new strategies for sponsoring small-scale development projects.

By Patricia Grogg HAVANA, Jun 27 (IPS) - A microcredit system could begin operating in Cuba as part of reforms adopted by the government of Raúl Castro to modernise the country's socialist economic system.