PlaNet Finance
Mission: "To reduce poverty by supporting the microfinance sector in China, particularly through the effective use of information and communication technology."
In China since: 2002
Annual China budget: $121,368
Number of staff: 7 national and 2 expatriate
Mainland China contact:
Sarah Tsien 钱向民
北京市 100028 东城区香河园路1号当代万国城5号楼2508室
Room 2508, Building 5, Mega Hall
1 Xiangheyuan Lu, Dongcheng Qu,Beijing 100028
Tel: + 86 (10) 8440 8458
Activities in Other Countries:
Activities in 60 countries overseen by offices in Mexico, Belgium, Benin, Brazil, France, India, Italy, Mexico, Morocco, Portugal,
Senegal, UK, and USA
Founded in France in 1997, PlaNet Finance is a specialist agency that offers training and technology to support the growth of sustainable microfinance institutions. Its vision is a world free of poverty, where everyone has access to credit for productive investment, and the chance, therefore, to become a successful entrepreneur
Since opening an office in China in September 2002, PlaNet Finance has provided assistance in ten provinces to both urban and rural, new and well- established microfinance programmes run by agencies such as the Women’s Federation, Rural Credit Cooperatives, Chinese and international NGOs. Examples include a 3-day training for ‘barefoot bankers’ from Hebei and Henan, where 20-35 year old professionals learned to send and receive emails, to use search engines, and develop content for their own web-sites. After a similar, 5-day training in Guangxi, PlaNet Finance donated computers to the loan officer trainees, to enable them to process loans more efficiently and communicate with the outside world.
PlaNet Finance manages a China microfinance web portal (www.microfinancechina.net) which includes a database of mircrofinance programmes in China, and other reports and information on development of the microfinance sector.
The organisation has also promoted the exchange of information and ideas about microfinance and poverty alleviation in China by organising seminars and conferences.
PlaNet Finance lists its achievements in China as:
- Training over 250 microfinance workers from 43 programmes
- Designing and putting online 15 training modules
- Creating 20 websites for microfinance programs
- Providing 33 microfinance programmes with computers
The organisation estimates that the programmes it serves directly impact more than 30,000 low-income families.
Private companies contribute around 63% of PlaNet Finance’s funding. A further 10% is donated by individuals and 10% is secured in grants from institutions (notably, the European Commission, World Bank, French government and Caisse des Dépots). Work in China has been supported by grants from the European Commission, and three multinational corporations.
Links
http://www.china.planetfinance.org
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