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The conference titled "Arab Youth & Entrepreneurship: Holistic Approaches to Nurturing Local Ecosystems", which will take place on February 16-18, 2013 in Doha, Qatar, will focus on creating economic opportunities for young people in the Middle East and North Africa. Issues to be addressed include gender issues and job creation for low-income groups. The organizer of the conference is the MENA Child and Youth Program of the Arab Urban Development. The registration is free of charge and all sessions will be simultaneously available in Arabic and English.

According to a recent report, the African Charitable Society for Mother and Child Care has signed an agreement which allows access to USD 100,000 from the Islamic Solidarity Fund. The Palestinian fund serves the purpose of elevating the living standard of Muslim people around the world. The money will be used for the establishment of 225 microfinance projects which will support widows and poor women in the outskirts of the capital city of Khartoum. No information is available on whether the financial help is a loan or a grant.

? three-day Financial Literacy Training of Trainers course was organized and held by Silatech - a social enterprise aiming to to increase employment and entrepreneurship among youth in the Middle East and North Africa. 20 instructors from the Sudan Academy for Banking and Financial Sciences (SABFS) took part. After the training, they now can offer a four months long microfinance development program to approximately 1,000 credit officers in Sudan. The materials used in the training were developed by US-based Microfinance Opportunities.

The Global Islamic Microfinance Forum 2012 will take place from 8th to 10th of December 2012 in Dubai. Major theme of the event is “Islamic Microfinance – A Hope for Poor”. On the 9th and 10th of December there will be an optional workshop titled “Shariah and Marketing Techniques in Microfinance”. Participants will be taught about the Islamic microfinance model. The goal is to encourage its practice on a national as well as international level, including in non-Islamic businesses. The organizer of the event is AlHuda Center of Islamic Banking and Economic (CIBE), a nonprofit consulting firm from Pakistan.

Read more on: http://www.microcapital.org/microfinance-event-alhuda-center-akhuwat-org...

The paper by Tanaya Kilara and Alexia Latortue addresses the topic of familiarizing poor individuals with savings programs. This is particularly important at early ages. Financial providers can offer tailored savings suitable even for young people from low-income families. Potential opportunities and obstacles which financial providers encounter are examined closely.

Read more on: http://www.microcapital.org/microfinance-paper-wrap-up-emerging-perspect...

A microcapital event on November 6 – November 8, 2012 has been announced: 8th International Microinsurance Conference. It will take place in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. The event serves practitioners, policymakers and academics to exchange experience to convey challenges, trends, and the current state of the microinsurance industry. Some of the topics included are failures in microinsurance, strengthening training institutions, process mapping and performance indicators. The event is organized by the Munich Re Foundation.

Microcapital sumarized the World Bank report written by Tatiana Nenova, Cecile Thioro Niang and Anjum Ahmad , released May 2009, 187 pages, available at: http://go.worldbank.org/0KKMYAT130 :

This World Bank report measures and describes the current state of formal and informal financial services in Pakistan for underserved populations and enterprises. Currently 14 percent of Pakistanis use savings, credit, insurance, payments and remittance services from the formal financial system. This is compared to India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka where 48 percent, 32 percent and 59 percent respectively have access to formal financial services. In addition about 36 percent of Pakistanis use moneylenders, committees, family and friends. The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), which regulates the banking sector, has grown over the past few years yet it has not met demand. Further details about the market and players in Pakistan are found in Chapter 1.

MICROCAPITAL STORY: African Development Bank Group, Agence Française de Développement Group, European Investment Bank, Development Bank of Southern Africa, KfW Bankengruppe, Islamic Development Bank Group, and World Bank Group Launch USD 15bn Joint Action Plan for Africa Including Support for Microfinance Programs.

The Islamic Development Bank Group, through the Islamic Corporation for the Development of Private Sector, will contribute up to USD 250 million over the next five years, including USD 50 million for the development of Islamic banking industry and USD 50 million for SME development.