Global News Post: UNDP

International Centre for Human Development to be Set up in India: Agreement Signed between IIAS and UNDP

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</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">NEW DELHI (PIB) ---An International Centre for Human Development to be set up in India will support efforts by governments of the South to integrate human development approaches to ensure improved development outcomes for poor and marginalized people. As Governments of the South are increasingly dealing with the multiple challenges of changing aspirations of citizens, rapidly globalizing economy, environmental sustainability, and rising inequality, this Center is designed to provide new approaches and solutions.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">An Agreement to this effect was signed by Peter R deSouza, Director, Indian Institute of Advanced Study (IIAS) and Ms. Lise Grande, United Nations Resident Coordinator and UNDP Resident Representative, India. The Agreement was signed in the presence of Kapil Sibal, Minister of Human Resource Development and Minister of Communications and Information Technology;  Gopalkrishna Gandhi, Chairman, IIAS and  Ajay Chhibber, UN Assistant Secretary General and UNDP Assistant Administrator. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The Centre aims to provide policy advisory services based on national and international evidence to ensure that human development concerns become integral to planning processes and policy making. The Centre also proposes to focus on moving from human development analysis to action and on adaptation of good practices to local contexts. It will also provide a range of capacity development tools and services with a special emphasis on monitoring and evaluation of human development processes and outcomes. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">“The Centre will provide a range of services to national governments and will be guided by the objective of translating the analysis of human development reporting to policy inputs and practices that can help advance human development” said Peter R deSouza. These include – research and analysis support on the policy dimensions of a human development approach including trade-offs of various people-centered policy measures; policy advisory services that can help translate the human development concept into policies aimed at improving human development at national, sub-national and local levels; developing capacity of national governments, parliamentarians, CSOs and academia to undertake human development-oriented policymaking and advocacy; and monitoring and evaluation support to develop and support decentralized and community level monitoring tools.<o:p></o:p></span></div></div>

International Centre for Human Development to be Set up in India: Agreement Signed between IIAS and UNDP

NEW DELHI (PIB) ---An International Centre for Human Development to be set up in India will support efforts by governments of the South to...

UNDP: 30 Million Rural Poor in India, South Africa to Benefit from Banking Services

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</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><st1:state w:st="on"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="background: white; color: windowtext;">NEW  YORK</span></span></st1:state><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="background: white; color: windowtext;"> (NNN-UNDP) -- Two companies have announced that they will be providing banking services to more than 30 million low-income people in <st1:country-region w:st="on">India</st1:country-region> and <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">South Africa</st1:place></st1:country-region> by 2015 through their commitments to the Business Call to Action (BCtA).<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="background: white; color: windowtext;">BCtA, a global initiative that encourages private sector efforts to fight poverty, is supported by several international organizations including the UN Development Programme (UNDP).<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="background: white; color: windowtext;">India-based Vortex Engineering is pioneering the dissemination of solar-powered cash machines tailored to rural communities’ needs, while <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">South   Africa</st1:place></st1:country-region>’s WIZZIT Bank is expanding access to credit to help address a critical development issue: lack of access to finance and banking systems in poor communities.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="background: white; color: windowtext;">“Lack of access to banking and credit impedes the economic empowerment of low-income individuals and hinders growth in the developing world,” said Susan Chaffin, BCtA’s Programme Manager.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="background: white; color: windowtext;">“We welcome Vortex and WIZZIT as they seek to scale up activities that not only represent a business opportunity but also have tremendous potential to positively impact low-income communities in <st1:country-region w:st="on">India</st1:country-region> and <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">South Africa</st1:place></st1:country-region>.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="background: white; color: windowtext;">More than half of the adult population in <st1:country-region w:st="on">South Africa</st1:country-region> and <st1:country-region w:st="on">India</st1:country-region> lacks access to formal banking, in contrast to the <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Netherlands</st1:place></st1:country-region>, for example, where the entire adult population has access to banking services, according to a World Bank study.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="background: white; color: windowtext;">Vortex is linking up with local banks in <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">India</st1:place></st1:country-region> to address this gap by placing 10,000 solar-powered ATMs designed to withstand difficult weather conditions, erratic power supply, and lower literacy levels among cash dispenser users. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="background: white; color: windowtext;">The machines are expected to provide access to formal banking for 30 million people mostly in rural and semi-urban areas—many earning as little as US$1-4 a day—over the next four years.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="background: white; color: windowtext;">Powered by solar energy, the cash dispensers consume 90 percent less energy than a conventional ATM, making them both affordable for poor communities and profitable for banks to employ.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="background: white; color: windowtext;">“Lack of access to financial services can carry a high cost for the people who can least afford it, so delivering access to formal banking presents a significant economic opportunity for poor, rural communities,” said V. Vijay Babu, CEO of Vortex. “In partnership with banks and other stakeholders such as the Business Call to Action, Vortex can make financial inclusion a reality for millions of people.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="background: white; color: windowtext;">In <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">South Africa</st1:place></st1:country-region>, WIZZIT, a banking provider that offers low-cost customer accounts using cell phones for payments, transfers and purchases, have committed to provide personal loans to 10,000 people. More than 340 loans will go to small and medium size enterprises and nearly 3,000 loans to micro-entrepreneurs by 2015 through a new loan offering that will be available through mobile phones and WIZZIT’s agent network.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="background: white; color: windowtext;">Since 2004, WIZZIT’s customers have been using mobile phones for making and receiving payments, along with a debit card which can also be used at ATMs and stores. The company is now expanding its range of services to allow users, who typically live far from bank branches, to access microloans and credit through their phones.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="background: white; color: windowtext;">“The availability of credit can make the difference between success and failure, growth and stagnation for small, medium and micro-entrepreneurs,” said Charles Rowlinson, Chairman of Wizzit. “Small loans at affordable rates can be vitally important for low-income working families as well, who use them to pay for education, healthcare and other fundamental services.” -- NNN-UNDP<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
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UNDP: 30 Million Rural Poor in India, South Africa to Benefit from Banking Services

NEW YORK (NNN-UNDP) -- Two companies have announced that they will be providing banking services to more than 30 million low-income peop...