Opportunity International in the Guardian - twice!

The Guardian has been doing a special report on Opportunity International Bank of Malawi (www.oibm.org and also where Claudia is working).

Britain backs revolutionary aid experiment

Britain is backing an experiment to change the way aid is delivered in parts of Africa that highlights a growing divide over how western nations spend hundreds of millions of dollars pledged to the continent.

The Department for International Development (Dfid) is providing 750,000 pounds to fund a scheme to provide cash payments instead of food to tens of thousands of hungry people in northern Malawi via a sophisticated system of bank cards and electronic identification.
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Full article: http://politics.guardian.co.uk/development/story/0,,2014436,00.html


How six-mile trek for grain became a stroll to the cashpoint
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She swiped the card, a teller checked her identity with a thumbprint scan and then the 35-year-old mother of five went to the back of a pick-up truck where a cashier from the Banki Yanga handed over Mrs Jaziel's cut of the British government's aid to Malawi. Then she headed for the local market.
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(note that the reporter misinterpreted OIBM's slogan Banki Yanga which means "my bank" for the actual name of the bank, which is actually Opportunty)
Full article: http://politics.guardian.co.uk/development/story/0,,2014351,00.html