Grameen Foundation: Microfinance Coalition Launches Blog to Open World Poverty Eradication Discussion

Washington, D.C. (PRWeb) December 8, 2006 -- As part of the “Celebrate, Then Take Action” campaign, Grameen Foundation, the Microcredit Summit Campaign and RESULTS today launched a special blog to commemorate the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize ceremony and to encourage continued public support for microfinance and poverty eradication. It is available at: http://blog.grameenfoundation.org

Professor Muhammad Yunus and Grameen Bank will receive the prize on Sunday, December 10, in Oslo, Norway, for their pioneering work in fighting global poverty through loans and other financial services for the poor.

The blog will give new and longtime supporters of microfinance and Professor Yunus’ work a centralized point for active discussion and commentary on microfinance and the eradication of poverty – and a window to experience the excitement of the ceremony in Oslo. The featured bloggers will be Alex Counts, CEO of Grameen Foundation; Susan Davis, Chair of Grameen Foundation’s board of directors; and Sam Daley-Harris, director of the Microcredit Summit Campaign and president and founder of RESULTS.

“The outpouring of interest and support for microfinance generated by this award for Professor Yunus and Grameen Bank has been very encouraging,” said Alex Counts. “The blog will be an excellent portal for supporters around the world to share their thoughts and ideas, and to keep the momentum going beyond the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony.” The blog also takes visitors to the “Celebrate, Then Take Action” site where they can learn about the different ways they can actively support microfinance.

The blog will be powered by The Social Media Group. Dennis Yu, CEO of The Social Media Group, commented "We believe this is a blogging first. Never before has the acceptance of the Nobel Peace Prize been blogged about from people so closely related to the recipient."

Those interested in learning more about The Grameen Foundation and the development of microfinance services are invited to join the discussion at http://blog.grameenfoundation.org

About the Grameen Foundation
Grameen Foundation is a global non-profit organization that combines microfinance, technology, and innovation to empower the world's poorest people to escape poverty. It has established a global network of 52 partners in 22 countries that has impacted an estimated 11 million lives in Asia, Africa, the Americas, and the Middle East. Grameen Foundation was founded by Alex Counts, who began his work in microfinance with Grameen Bank founder, and recent Nobel Peace Prize recipient, Dr. Muhammad Yunus. Dr. Yunus is a founding and current member of Grameen Foundation's board of directors. For more information on Grameen Foundation, please visit www.grameenfoundation.org.

About The Social Media Group
The Social Media Group enables non-profits to do more good by helping people connect around common causes. A group of ex-Yahoo employees have created a social networking platform tuned to the needs of non-profit organizations. The platform is free for non-profits and includes email and database marketing tools. The goal of the service it to help non-profits contributors connect and communicate and consequently, do more good. The Social Media Group, LLC, is readying its service for full launch in early 2007. For more information please visit www.thesocialcorp.com.

About the Microcredit Summit Campaign
The Microcredit Summit Campaign is a global campaign of microcredit practitioners, advocates, educational institutions, donor agencies, international financial institutions, non-governmental organizations and others involved with microcredit. It was launched in 1997 to reach 100 million of the world’s poorest families, especially the women of those families, with financial services. This year it set a new goal of reaching 175 million families and ensuring that 100 million families rise out of extreme poverty by 2015. For more information, please visit www.microcreditsummit.org.

About RESULTS
RESULTS is a nonprofit grassroots advocacy organization, committed to creating the political will to end hunger and the worst aspects of poverty. RESULTS is committed to individuals exercising their personal and political power by lobbying elected officials for effective solutions and key policies that affect hunger and poverty. For more information, please visit www.results.org.

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