ACCION Debuts New Film about Microfinance

    BOSTON, Nov. 26 /PRNewswire/ -- ACCION International today announced
 the debut of a new film about its work in microfinance, the practice of
 providing small loans, business training and other financial services to
 help poor entrepreneurs around the world.
 
     Filmed on location in Latin America, Africa and the United States and
 narrated by CBS News' Mike Wallace, Voices from the Field demonstrates how
 microfinance can provide an effective tool in helping to alleviate global
 poverty.
 
     In their own words, clients from Peru to Tanzania explain how access to
 financial services has helped to put a roof overhead, pave dirt floors,
 provide running water and educate children, allowing them to pull
 themselves out of poverty with dignity and pride.
 
     Voices was produced and directed by Stephen Atlas of Far Corners
 Productions of Waltham, Massachusetts, and is available for viewing online
 at http://www.accion.org, or on DVD, free of charge, by contacting ACCION
 at 56 Roland Street, Boston, MA, tel. 617-616-1515.
 
     About ACCION
 
     ACCION International is a private, nonprofit organization with the
 mission of giving people the financial tools they need -- microenterprise
 loans, business training and other financial services -- to work their way
 out of poverty. A world pioneer in microfinance, ACCION was founded in 1961
 and issued its first microloan in 1973 in Brazil. ACCION International's
 partner microfinance institutions today are providing loans as low as $100
 to poor men and women entrepreneurs in 25 countries in Latin America, Asia,
 Africa and the United States. In the last decade alone, ACCION partners
 have disbursed more than 17.9 million loans totaling more than $12.3
 billion; 97 percent of the loans have been repaid. Selected for the fourth
 consecutive year for its pioneering approaches to poverty alleviation,
 ACCION was among 43 organizations awarded the 2007 Social Capitalist Award
 by Fast Company magazine. ACCION has also been awarded Charity Navigator's
 highest rating -- four stars -- for efficiency and sound fiscal management.
 For more information, visit http://www.accion.org.
 
 
 

SOURCE ACCION