Unpacking India’s Microfinance Meltdown: David Roodman
11/30/10
A crisis is unfolding in India's microcredit sector that-- beyond its immediate effects on borrowers and lenders-- will greatly affect the future of financial services for the poor. I'm joined by David Roodman, senior fellow here at the Center for Global Development and author of the forthcoming book Due Diligence: A Guide to Microfinance (which he has shared step by step on his Open Book Blog). David recently traveled to Andhra Pradesh, the epicenter of the crisis. On the Wonkcast, he leads me through the story of the explosive growth of Indian microcredit-- and its sudden fall from grace.
What does the new makeup of Congress mean for global development looking forward? My guest this week is 
G-20 leaders gathering in Seoul this week face a full plate of issues, most prominently the effort to stave off beggar-thy-neighbors currency devaluations. This week on the Global Prosperity Wonkcast, we've distilled highlights from a private briefing I organized where five CGD experts shared their views on key issues facing the G-20, and their implications for poor people not represented at the table. Snippets below—listen to the full 30-minute Wonkcast for the rest of the story or scroll to the bottom of this page for full event video. If you'd like a bit of historical background on the G-20 and how it came into its current role, listen to 
On Monday, November 1, 2010 the Center for Global Development was pleased to host, along with the Institute of Medicine, What’s on the Agenda? Assessing the UN Summit on Non-communicable Diseases, featuring presentations by Rachel Nugent, Deputy Director of Global Health, CGD and Derek Yach, Senior Vice President of Global Health Policy, PepsiCo. Ambassador Richard Bernal, Alternate Executive Director, Inter-American Development Bank provided the opening remarks and served as moderator. Discussants included James Hospedales, Senior Advisor, Prevention & Control of Chronic Diseases, Pan-American Health Organization, Julian Schweitzer, Principal, Results for Development Institute and Peter Lamptey, President of Public Health Programs, Family Health International.
Heart disease, high blood pressure, diabetes and cancers are usually considered diseases of the rich world, the result of too much food and too little exercise. But these serious diseases are already a huge problem in the developing world, accounting for about half of the burden of disease. Yet new research from the Center for Global Development has found that barely 3% of foreign aid and philanthropic spending for developing world health addresses these often overlooked diseases.