Project30000
Back in 1984 we asked the world's future netizens to map out 30000 replicable micro up projects http://www.normanmacrae.com/netfuture.html so that sustainability could be enjoyed the whole planet round


Its interesting as my mapmaking friends and I go round our local to global reporting journeys, how much I find Brazil invented for the world.

Over the last few weeks, like many people we have been asking ourselves what are the local to global ways of getting on the radar screen of the world's biggest ever phillanthopy organisation resulting from the merger of Gates' and Buffetts' foumdations for world good. What the Economist called Billanthropy

Microfinance is one of our top 10 local to global favourite maps for how to change the world.

ONE OF THE FIRST BRAZILIAN ORIGINS IN TOP 10 CHNAGE THE WORLD MNETHODS
Did you for example know that Brazil can claim (due to Accion) to have been one of the originators of Microfinacne. Wikipedia tells the story like this:

ACCION started as a student-run volunteer effort, with its first operations in Caracas, Venezuela. At first, ACCION was a Peace Corps-like organization, building schools and waterways in the poorest parts of Latin America. Soon, however, ACCION's founder (Joseph Blatchford) realized that these types of changes weren't creating a real, lasting difference in the quality of lives of those affected. In 1973 ACCION staff in Recife, Brazil realized that one of the major obstacles in the struggle of the poor was that almost all their profits were being paid to loan-sharks from whom they had borrowed money to keep their businesses afloat. ACCION staff made the decision to start offering small, moderate interest rate loans to the poor, and in this way launched the field of microenterprise. Since that time, ACCION has managed to overturn the myth that the poor are bad credit risks, as it has maintained well over ninety percent re-payment rates

ACCION offered an exciting alternative to the under-served population that were ineligible for traditional loans and wanted to avoid the exploitive lending practices of loan sharks.

Within four years, the experiment had shown its success in having provided 885 loans with a repayment rate of over 90%. The loans also helped to create or stabilize 1,386 new jobs. This success in making a lasting impact in peoples lives, as contrasted with the previous projects they had done seemingly steered ACCION firmly in the direction of being a microfinance organization. Since this modest beginning ACCION has expanded it's microlending operation to countries throughout South and Central America, the United States, Africa and India.

ACCION claims (and recorded dates seem to indicate) that these loans were the first modern pioneers of microcredit.

Sadly Accion has in recent years lost all the trust of anyone i would ever network with - by taking hundreds of millions out of an IPO of a microfinace in mexico. Always ask who consttutionally owns any microcredit you get involved wit as volunteer, customer , social or other busienss partner http://socialbusiness.tv


RIO'S CATCOMM
At Project30000 entrepreneur cataloguing reporters like me have a natural ineterst to explore what goes into Catcomm's bank of projects. I understand that pride of place goes to projects that emerged out of Catcomm's local participants serving the Favelas of Rio. But then, if I understand correctly, Catcomm also logs some international projects that had no direct connection with actual activities at Catcomm. If so, a third section might report Brazil's other local to global project movements especially in true microcredit fields-

Brazil is one of the most gifted places in starting social movements and citizen organsiations that the world goes on to franchise interlocally (eg the World Social Forum as a macro example which also incubates many others), but who find that we cannot do full justice on understanding all the fonuding collaboration missions because we are not fluent in Portuguese.

Footnote 1:
Sao Paulo, Brazil's largest city - and home to more than 3 million microentrepreneurs with virtually no access to affordable business credit.