PRMGE, GICT, MNSED, and CGAP invite you to a seminar on
Women's Economic Empowerment and the Role of ICT
Thursday, May 4
9:30a.m. – 12:00p.m.
MC C1-200
Welcome & Opening Remarks by
Mayra Buvinic
Sector Director, Gender and Development, Poverty Reduction and Economic Management,
World Bank
Juan Navas-Sabater
Senior Telecom Specialist, Global ICT Department, World Bank
Click here for registration
This seminar focuses on the importance of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) for poverty reduction and for the economic empowerment of poor women and men. One of the biggest obstacles to the growth of small and medium enterprises is the lack of credit, but also the lack of ICTs such as Internet, ATM, mobile phone, and point-of-sale networks. Making these tools available can provide them with information related to their business, reduce the costs of money transfers and put microfinance within the reach of poor men and women.
The seminar will cover the following topics:
the role of ICTs in promoting and facilitating business development and entrepreneurship;
the way users assess and respond to the opportunities of new technologies; and
the importance of ICTs in global money transfers and remittances;
The cases presented include:
research by Visual Processing Company/UNESCO on the socio-economics impacts of rural telecenters in Iran;
innovative work by Microfinance International Corporation which operates a sophisticated platform to make loans and remittances more accessible to US immigrants and microfinance institutions in nine Latin American countries; and
research by CGAP’s technology program in Brazil, South Africa, and the Philippines on making financial services delivery more viable to financial institutions and to poor people which include a large part of women.
Speakers:
Nadereh Chamlou, Senior Advisor and Gender Coordinator, Middle East and North Africa Region, World Bank
Professor Ali A. Jalali, Iran University of Science and Technology, Electronic Research Center
Daniel Weiss, Senior Vice President and Chief Strategy Officer of Microfinance International Corporation
Gautam Ivatury, Microfinance Specialist, The Consultative Group to Assist the Poor (CGAP)
Moderator:
Nagy Hanna, Co-director, E-Leadership Academy, University of Maryland, and former World Bank ICT Senior Advisor on e-strategies
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