| 5b. | Millennium Dev. Goals & links to Africa |
On Tuesday 15th July, the Bishop of London, Bishop of Niassa, Bishop of Lebombo and Bishop of Angola joined JustShare, 4 microfinance agencies and a number of City leaders for a breakfast meeting kindly hosted by Eversheds.
The aim of the meeting was to discuss a proposal to raise £1m in the City for microfinance in Africa, beginning in Mozambique and Tanzania. The High Commissioner of Mozambique noted that 70% of the population of Mozambique has no access to finance, whilst only 0.4% of borrowers lived in the province of Niassa (where 2 projects supported by the Fund would operate). The Bishop of Lebombo commented that microfinance combined the Church's message of fullness of life with the international community's goal of fighting poverty.
JustShare is now working towards producing a business plan and consulting further with key City supporters. Much more research needs to be done before a decision to proceed is taken, but if successful this project could make a major contribution to development in Africa and nourishing parternships between City institutions, the Church, ALMA and developing countries, as well as meeting a number of London Challenge commitments.
