Grameen Foundation Receives Moody's Foundation Grant To Support Measurement of Global Poverty Efforts

WASHINGTON, Oct. 29, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Grameen Foundation today announced that it has received a grant from The Moody's Foundation to enable poverty data to be used more effectively by social sector organizations to measure, track and report on their clients' poverty levels using the Progress out of Poverty Index^® (PPI^®).  

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The $393,669 two-year grant from The Moody's Foundation will support the collection of PPI data using mobile phones and the enhancement of the data validation process for PPI users. This is the second grant from The Moody's Foundation to Grameen Foundation for the PPI.

The PPI is an easy-to-use measurement tool that helps organizations that aim to serve the poor demonstrate how well they are meeting this goal. There are currently tools for more than 45 countries that are home to 90 percent of the people in the world living on less than $1.25 a day.

"Moody's has made a strong commitment to social initiatives, including microfinance Social Performance Assessments, and we are pleased that The Moody's Foundation is supporting Grameen Foundation's efforts to champion social transparency for microfinance institutions and the broader poverty-focused sector," said Alex Counts, President and CEO of Grameen Foundation.

Grameen Foundation created a mobile-based version of the PPI to make it easier for organizations with limited technology infrastructure to adopt the tool. Now part of the foundation's TaroWorks mobile application suite, this updated version of the tool will lower barriers to adoption even further, especially for organizations in remote or hard-to-reach areas.

In addition, Grameen Foundation will work with The Moody's Foundation to enhance protocols for verifying PPI, including strengthening reporting and analytical processes and developing an e-learning platform for users.

"We are pleased to be working with Grameen Foundation to improve the quality and usefulness of poverty level information. We believe this will have a significant impact in determining how microfinance institutions can more effectively serve the poor," said Frances G. Laserson, President of The Moody's Foundation.

About Grameen Foundation
Grameen Foundation is a global nonprofit organization that helps the world's poorest people achieve their full potential by providing access to essential financial services and information on health and agriculture that can transform their lives. Founded in 1997, it delivers solutions that respond to the needs of the poor, as well as tools that help poverty-focused organizations become more effective. It focuses on initiatives that can achieve widespread impact and uses an open-source approach that makes it easy for other organizations to adopt them broadly. Nobel Laureate Dr. Muhammad Yunus, founder of Grameen Bank and the Grameen family of companies, is an inaugural member of its Board of Directors, and now serves as director emeritus. Grameen Foundation is headquartered in Washington, D.C., with offices in the U.S., Asia, Africa and Latin America and the Caribbean. For more information, please visit www.grameenfoundation.org or follow us on Twitter @GrameenFdn.

About The Moody's Foundation
The Moody's Foundation, a charitable foundation established by Moody's Corporation, is committed to supporting education, in particular the study of mathematics, finance and economics. The Foundation also funds specific initiatives in the areas of global economic development, microfinance, civic, health and human services as well as arts and cultural programs. The Foundation supports programs located in select metropolitan areas in the United States, the United Kingdom and elsewhere around the world. For more information, please visit www.philanthropy.moodys.com.

CONTACT: Liselle Yorke, 202-628-3560, ext. 128, [email protected]

SOURCE Grameen Foundation