From MicrofinanceFocus.com
http://www.microfinancefocus.com/mobile-banking-may-accelerate-progress-towards-millennium-development-goals

May 17, 2011: The UN Capital Development Fund (UNCDF) and the Australian Agency for Internation Development recently organized the "Branchless Banking in the LDCs: the challenges and possibilities for donor organizations, regulators" within the Fourth UN Conference on Least Developed Countries. The event took place in Istanbul from 9 to 13 May, 2011.

By JEFFREY SACHS, The New York Times
Published: September 17, 2010

As 140 heads of state and government gather Monday at the United Nations for the Millennium Development Goals summit, they and the public will ask what has come out of this decade-long effort.

The answer will surprise them: A great deal has been achieved, with some of the most exciting breakthroughs occurring in Africa.

I recall how the Millennium Development Goals were initially greeted with cynicism — as unachievable, pie-in-the-sky, a photo-op rather than a development framework. Cynicism has been replaced by hope, born of experience, commitment and breakthroughs.

Developing world introduced to full range of banking services and financial tools.

Dateline: Tuesday, September 14, 2010
by Penney Kome

Move over, microcredit! Like the rest of us, poor people need more than loans. As big banks move into the microloan market, social change groups and charities such as the Gates Foundation are moving into funding or providing a whole range of financial services in remote poverty-stricken parts of the world — using sophisticated tools like mobile banks, debit cards and cell phones.

"Poor people are not dumb people," said Joyce Lehman, program officer for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. "There is no connection between intelligence and wealth." Arguably, there is a greater connection between wealth and access to appropriate tools.