Podcasts & Videos

Center for Financial Inclusion Videos

• How to Make a Biomass Briquette
  "What on earth is a biomass briquette?" you might ask. It's a solid cooking fuel made out of organic waste material. Biomass briquettes offer an environmentally friendly alternative to charcoal and a cheaper substitute for the billions of households that cook their meals everyday using the inefficient combustion of charcoal or firewood. Learn how to make these doughnut-shaped briquettes in this video and step-by-step visual guide.
  

Center for Financial Inclusion Podcasts*

• Craig Churchill on Microinsurance
  Topic: Microinsurance
  In this podcast, ACCION International Principle Director Monica Brand speaks with Craig Churchill of the International Labour Organization's Microinsurance Innovation Facility. Craig discusses some recent innovations being made in terms of microinsurance products, delivery channels, and supply gaps, as well as the challenges facing the advancement of the sector.
  

• The Origins of the Campaign for Client Protection
  Topic: Campaign for Client Protection
  Elisabeth Rhyne of the Center for Financial Inclusion and Kate McKee of CGAP talk about the origins of the Campaign for Client Protection, its relevance at this time, and their next steps.
  
  
• Why Client Protection? An Interview with Mathias Katamba and Shireen Farrag
  Topic: Campaign for Client Protection
  The second podcast featuring members of the Campaign for Client Protection Steering Committee, this episode features Uganda Finance Trust CEO Mathias Katamba and Sanabel (Microfinance Network of Arab Countries) Executive Director Shireen Farrag.
  
  
• Why Client Protection? An Interview with Samit Ghosh and Asad Mahmood
  Topic: Campaign for Client Protection
  Campaign for Client Protection Director Robin Ratcliffe interviews two members of the Campaign Steering Committee during their first meeting in March 2009. Here Samit Ghosh, managing director of India's Ujjivan, and Asad Mahmood, managing director of Global Social Investment Funds at Deutsche Bank, share their reasons for joining the committee and supporting the campaign.
  
  
• SouthNet Cygnus - Housing Innovations Through Integration
  Topic: Housing Microfinance
  The second in a series on housing microfinance, David Levai speaks with Willie Vos, managing director of SouthNet Cygnus. A branch of the South African property developer SouthNet, SouthNet Cygnus is a residential-property developer focusing on the lower-income groups of South Africa. They have taken a unique approach to solving the housing problems at the bottom of the pyramid, integrating differing components of the housing value chain by bringing together not only developers and financiers, but municipal stakeholders and services.
  
  
• MeXvi and Housing for Mexico’s Rural Poor
  Topic: Housing Microfinance
  In this podcast, the Center’s David Levai speaks with Guillermo Calderón about his company MeXvi, a Mexican building material provider. MeXvi’s model, loosely based on Cemex’s Patrimonio Hoy, provides prefabricated houses for the Mexico’s rural poor and specifically targets disaster areas frequently hit by hurricanes and offers credit facilities without need for any collateral to finance the acquisition of these brand new homes.
  
  
• Heather Clark on the Beyond Codes Project
  Topic: Beyond Codes, Client Protection
  Heather Clark speaks with Double Bottom Line Manager Cara Forster about joining the Center as a senior fellow and her role in the Center's Beyond Codes Project.
  
  * Some podcasts may take a few minutes to download.

 

Energy Links Podcast Series

The Energy Links Podcast, hosted by Paul Rippey, is brought to you by the Center for Financial Inclusion at ACCION International and the Academy for Educational Development FIELD Project, with the generous assistance of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Wallace Global Fund. Your comments and questions are welcome. Please send them to EnergyLinks2009@gmail.com. 

• Roey Rosenblith, co-founder of Village Energy in Uganda
  Roey Rosenblith, co-founder of Village Energy (Uganda) Ltd, talks with host Paul Rippey about his start-up solar lighting company, which seeks to add maximum local value by assembling products in country. Roel also shares about his recent experiences as a passenger on NorthWest Flight 253 on Christmas day, which barely escaped being blown up, and reads part of his blog post on that experience, which appeared on the Huffington Post.
  

• Asif Dowla, Climate Change and Microfinance
  Asif Dowla talks with host Paul Rippey about the new paper, sponsored by Grameen Foundation and Oxfam USA, on Climate Change and Microfinance. Professor Dowla discusses how MFIs can “climate proof” their financial products, and of the importance of remittances and savings in a changing climate.
  

• Jacob Moss and the Partnership for Clean Indoor Air
  In this 13th episode, Paul Rippey interviews Jacob Moss of the EPA, who has led the effort to create the Partnership for Clean Indoor Air. Jacob and Paul talk about stoves, including some breakthrough models that might change everything! Check out the Partnership for Clean Indoor Air and watch a video on clean cooking at www.pciaonline.org.
  

• Nick Sowden of ToughStuff
  Nick Sowden of ToughStuff talks about their success selling solar lamps in Madagascar and other countries using existing distributors, and a business in a box model. He also talks and about, well, how tough their solar lamps are. But they still haven't put one in a blender... Get more information at http://www.toughstuffonline.org/

• Patricio Boyd, Director for Rural Operations at Emprenda
  Patricio Boyd, the Director for Rural Operations at Emprenda in Argentina, talks about how their MFI has installed over 1000 home lighting systems, all driven by consumer demand, and of their plans to expand in the region. Our first podcast from Latin America!

• Jay Thompson Interview
  In this special podcast, Paul Rippey interviews poet Jay Thompson, who discusses a poem by Robert Hass, the former Poet Laureate of the United States. The poems seems to have something to do with decentralized energy production in the developing world. Now, that was unexpected! Jay and Paul go on to discuss how poetry sometimes has a long term unanticipated impact on laws and attitudes. Give this one a listen...
  

• Paul Breloff, Vice President for Business Development & Strategy, SKS Microfinance
  The ninth in the Energy Links series, this episode brings the perspective of Paul Breloff, Vice President in charge of Business Development and Strategy at SKS Microfinance, the largest MFI in India with over four million customers. SKS has been working with a supplier of solar lamps, and making loans to end-users. Listen in as Breloff talks about the opportunity, SKS's motivation, and some of the surprises they've found along the way.
  
  
• Ibrahim Togola, Director, The Mali Folke Center
  This podcast features an interview with Ibrahim Togola. Director of the Mali Folke Center, Ibrahim has set up a for-profit company (Access) and a credit union (Nyetaa Finance) that work together to promote clean energy products.
  
  
• Gaurav Gupta of the The Climate Project - India
  The seventh episode in the Energy Links Podcast Series, this interview with Gaurav Gupta, Director of The Climate Project - India provides listeners with an inside perspective on climate change issues in India and efforts to address them. Gupta discusses his work supporting 120 civic leaders across the country as they promote the messages in Al Gore's An Inconvenient Truth and develop tailored approaches to addressing them. Listen today to hear Gupta's analysis of the new technologies promising to provide renewable energy on a scalable basis and the challenges to achieving this.
  
  
• The Microenergy Credits Team on Linking Microenergy Loans to Carbon Markets
  The next in the Energy Links Podcast Series, this episode give listeners a chance to hear from April Allderdice and James Dailey of Microenergy Credits as they discuss their efforts to bring renewable energy technologies to scale at the base of the pyramid. April and James walk listeners through their initiative to link microfinance loans to the growing carbon markets through a low-cost, web-based platform that dramatically reduces the cost of accessing these markets.
  
  
• Patrick Avato on Lighting Africa
  In this episode of the Energy Links Podcast Series, host Paul Rippey speaks with Patrick Avato of the Lighting Africa Project at the World Bank. An expert in energy, experienced development practitioner, and prolific writer, Patrick offers listeners insight into this World Bank initiative to provide up to 250 million people in Sub-Saharan Africa with access to modern, off-grid lighting products by 2030.
  
  
• Richard and Joyce Stanley on Biomass Briquetting
  The fourth in the Energy Links Podcast Series, this episode includes an interview and audio from a field visit with Richard and Joyce Stanley of the Legacy Foundation as they discuss biomass birquetting with Paul Rippey. The Legacy Foundation works with associates worldwide to expand the use of biomass briquetting as a source of renewable energy. Listen in and visit their site to learn more about this growing technique.
  
  
• John Beijuka on Microfinance, Energy, and Gender
  The third episode in the Energy Links Podcast Series is an interview with John Beijuka, a Ugandan consultant who oversaw a consumer acceptance test of solar lamps. He and host Paul Rippey talk about how solar lighting can become a gender issue!
  
  
• The Voices behind Barefoot Power in Uganda
  The second in the Energy Links Podcast Series, this episode includes interviews with Harry Andrews of Barefoot Power and James Wire of Linux Solutions. As always, the Center for Financial Inclusion's Paul Rippey hosts the discussion which talks about the renewable energy products under production and distribution by Barefoot Power in Uganda as well as James' work supporting enhanced access to "light throughout the night" in rural Uganda.
  
  
• Beth Rhyne on ACCION Energy Links
  The first in the Energy Links Podcast Series, this episode give listeners a chance to hear from Beth Rhyne, Managing Director of the Center for Financial Inclusion at ACCION International as she discusses the motivation for the Energy Links Project. With support from USAID and the AED FIELD Program, ACCION is working in Uganda and other areas in East Africa to enhance access to appropriate and sustainable energy in rural areas. Beth is joined by Paul Rippy, Energy Links Project Manager as they explore the issues they have seen to date and the progress of an initial pilot that is putting affordable solar lamps in the hands of rural entrepreneurs and households.

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For more information on the Center's podcasts, please contact: Kelley Mesa Senior Publications Specialist Email: kmesa@accion.org For more information on the Energy Links project, please contact: Paul Rippey Senior Fellow Email: EnergyLinks2009@gmail.com