Foreign Affairs committee  That I couldn't say, because many of them are engaged in low-skilled work overseas, but they are certainly bringing back a much larger world view, and that sense of connectedness to the bigger world certainly is a benefit.

Foreign Affairs committee  With regard to your second question, relating to diaspora groups, I can't say that Freedom from Hunger has had direct experience. Clearly this is a major opportunity for microfinance institutions that we are aware of. Many of them are, in fact, becoming very involved in facilitat

Foreign Affairs committee  Oh, they're huge. I'm no expert on it. I read the same materials you do, no doubt. Remittances far exceed official development assistance. It depends on the country, though. We have been involved in Haiti, and I've often said that the greatest hope for Haiti is the Haitian dias

Foreign Affairs committee  I hesitate to judge it a good model, but it's certainly a common model in some countries. Certainly in the Philippines you see this quite a lot. In Thailand I've seen it a lot. Those are the two Asian countries I'm most familiar with. We've seen, just as an example, that Filipi

Foreign Affairs committee  Well, I don't know of hard evidence, but it certainly seems to me that this must be a major impact, especially in more rural areas that are served by microfinance institutions, but also in urban areas that are served by multiple microfinance institutions. There's often quite a bi

Foreign Affairs committee  No.

Foreign Affairs committee  Sure. This is, of course, a very controversial area, particularly with the advent of profit-maximizing investors investing in microfinance. There have been some spectacular examples in India and in Mexico of investors making a great deal of money when an IPO is issued for a micro

Foreign Affairs committee  Yes.

Foreign Affairs committee  Yes, absolutely. I appreciate your clarification. The microfinance movement worldwide definitely is creating a more structured and dependable market for financial services for the poor, giving them access to services they didn't have before. Microfinance institutions are superi

Foreign Affairs committee  Yes, I would agree that certainly microfinancing needs to be seen as one tool in a multi-tool tool kit for economic development in general, and in particular in relation to helping the very poor. It's just one tool. However, there is one argument, which I think is a pretty strong

Foreign Affairs committee  I'm not a student of cooperatives per se, so I don't know that I can give you the texture of what works and what doesn't work in agricultural cooperatives.

Foreign Affairs committee  That's correct.

Foreign Affairs committee  I alluded to the reason that I think is most commonly cited. I'm not sure how much hard evidence there is, but generally it's the size. When it gets over a certain size, then the ability of all the members to really participate in governance is diluted, and that opens up the oppo

Foreign Affairs committee  You'll recall in my opening remarks that I made reference to the fact that microfinance for people who are so poor that they're chronically hungry really should be regarded as a social service, in the sense that poor people are engaged in financial transactions generally in the i

Foreign Affairs committee  Yes, they are, but to answer your question of whether there are enough, there's not a good classification of microfinance programs that distinguishes how effective they are at helping women take advantage of the microfinance opportunities. Generally, the programs that are most su