学友IPASA首届反贫困论坛闭幕式顺利结束

2009年5月13日星期三晚上学生反贫困论坛闭幕式在北京大学二教505顺利举行。主持人首先介绍了演讲者——沛丰公司的夏黛柏女士。她介绍了关于小额信贷的有关情况。
小额信贷可以分成两块。一类是政府，放非常小额的贷款。第二类是银行等金融机构，贷款额较大，但是很多银行都不知道如何进行小额信贷工作。而且在扶贫的过程中有很多争论，比如说小额信贷是否应该以盈利为目标等等。小额信贷应该是灵活多变的，根据各个地方的不同的情况来。比如说财务报表工作，这是在没有金融服务的地方推广金融服务。可以让农民放开他们的思维，这时需要我们去指导。小额信贷是需要资金的，小额信贷的公司也是要进行评估和分析的，不愿意将钱贷给不可靠的对象。银行也是可以有评估的。
夏女士紧接着又介绍了沛丰及其在中国的工作。
沛丰公司的总裁非常关心贫困人民，他碰到了尤努斯教授，获得了关于小额信贷方面的信息介绍，觉得这会对穷人大有帮助。所以决定开展这方面的业务。沛丰中国是在2002年于北京成立，目前是一个非政府机构，肩负着金融和扶贫的双重职责，主要是在西部，如云南、甘肃、宁夏等进行工作。现在正在进行争论：是直接给他们钱呢，要帮助他们建立事业？我们扶贫办认为，贷款这种形式可以克服直接给予资金的被动性，因为建议或指定的用钱方式可以更好地发展个人。当然，夏女士也强调社会保险不包括在其中。
夏女士在介绍的过程中询问中国政府是否支持小额信贷的发展，王曙光老师给出了详细的解答。根据介绍，中国政府整体上是支持小额信贷的，但是地方政府之之间的执行力度还是有差异的。比如说宁夏省的小额信贷发展情况比较快，而一些其它省份，如河南等就较为滞缓。目前来看，小额信贷公司的发展速度也是比较快的，仅08年就又新成立了几百个小额信贷的公司。
那么，沛丰如何展开自己的工作呢？
据介绍，沛丰的资金来源就是申请各种项目，通过寻求政府帮助等等。我们喜欢从妇女展开我们的工作，因为妇女更倾向于把钱花费在孩子和其它生产性活动上。夏女士给我们看了一张妇女的照片，照片上的妇女拿着一双鞋，灿烂的微笑溢满脸庞。她只是一名普通的农村妇女，上过职业学校，所以有缝纫技术。在小额信贷公司提供给她一份信贷之后，她说服了其它4名妇女，将她们五个人得到的小额贷款放在一起，买了缝纫机开始她们的事业。随着她们的不懈努力，订单越来越多。到目前为止，这名伟大的妇女已经成功培训了约一万四千名妇女，这也让我们看到了小额信贷的伟大力量。
其后，学友经济研究社代表发言。学友经济研究社和IPASA是相互合作，相互支持的。学友经济研究社主要关注的是实践方面，曾经到西部地区去考察，而且今年暑假还会组建实践团队去宁夏考察，为我国的反贫困事业做出贡献。
IPASA会长李俊也讲述了他的观点。IPASA是一个新成立不久的部门，很多事业都急需完善。在学术方面，我们会更加关注学术方面的讨论，在实践方面，我们今年暑假会提供30-40个实践机会，给北大的同学更加了解贫困问题的机会。我们会努力发展会员。IPASA学术部部长对整个活动做了总结。从百人反贫困大签名，到精彩的学术讲座，我们聆听，交流，合作，思考，这次活动促进了我们对贫困问题的认识，让我们对贫困问题有了自己的思考。
最后，北大的同学和夏女士在小额信贷方面进行了热烈的讨论。反贫困论坛闭幕式顺利结束！

Time-Sensitive: ASAP International Internships

Dear IPASA'ers,

The organization which we are affiliated with, the Alliance of Students Against Poverty, has a couple of international internship opportunities which they could provide for IPASA members to participate in. The opportunities are in Haiti (in the Caribbean) and Bangladesh. If you are interested, please email me (Jon)before the end of Thursday with an English copy of your resume, and a cover letter in English, expressing your interest in one of the opportunities. I will be forwarding them people's resumes on Friday.

Unfortunately, because we were late to communicate with ASAP this time, we will not have access to the partial fellowships which they would have provided. So, interested members would have to be able to pay for their whole travel to and living expenses in the country.

See below descriptions of the opportunities.

ASAP 2009 Summer Internships in Haiti

The Alliance of Students Against Poverty (ASAP) is a global campaign to eradicate extreme poverty worldwide by mobilizing the idealism and talents of today’s students.

ASAP knows that a united body of students will have the power to generate and implement creative solutions to eradicate extreme poverty in their communities and throughout the world.

Furthermore, ASAP seeks to inspire, educate and prepare young people to become the future leaders of civil society, government and the private sector, ensuring they put extreme poverty where it belongs—in our history books

ASAP is looking for interns to participate in its 2009 Summer program in Fondwa, Haiti. Students will work closely with this local community of rural Haiti and students from the University of Fondwa on development projects in the area of education, agriculture, and sustainability. In addition to helping implement key development initiatives, students will gain rich field experience useful in future careers in poverty-relief or sustainable development.

Students with a passion for working in impoverished communities are encouraged to apply. While there is no requisite amount of work experience, we ask that applicants be willing to adapt to changing environments and/or responsibilities as projects are subject to change with local needs. A certain degree of patience is useful and students should be physically fit for manual labor.

The internship will take place from June 15th to July 31st and ASAP will provide up to $500 to cover airfare or living expenses.

ASAP Internships--Summer 2009

Alliance of Students Against Poverty interns will provide a great service to ASAP’s partner organizations by performing ethnographic interviews of women living in extreme poverty and recording their stories through audio, video, and photography. Our partner organizations are some of the best microfinance institutions and non-profit organizations in reaching the poorest of the poor through livelihood development, skill training, and other preparatory programs. Not only will ASAP’s partner organizations then be able to use these materials on websites and in publications, but ASAP interns will gain a greater understanding and appreciation for the life of individuals living in extreme poverty. With this understanding and enthusiasm, interns will organize chapters, mobilize students, and spread the ASAP message in the United States and in the countries where they serve.

Interviews will focus on how our partner organizations have benefited the lives of the women. In order to communicate effectively with the clients, each intern will pair up with a local student who will serve as a partner and interpreter. Throughout the intern’s time in country, he/she will be responsible for keeping a daily journal of his/her experience. These journals will include the written story of each client, as the intern’s thoughts, feelings, and daily activities. The client’s stories and media files will be given to the partner organizations to be shared with donors as well as to promote their programs and client success stories.

In addition, ASAP interns will have access to the stories and will be able to share them with friends and family to educate them on the lives of those living in extreme poverty. ASAP will use the stories and journals collected by ASAP interns on our website to educate and inspire students throughout the world. Each intern will also be responsible for working with their local partner/interpreter to create a local ASAP chapter in the host country.

ASAP interns will be responsible for the following:

Pre-departure:
ASAP requires its interns to educate themselves about the issues of extreme poverty through reading online training materials and articles so interns are prepared to serve most effectively upon arrival to the country.
Interns must purchase security and medical assistance insurance through “International SOS”, have health insurance abroad, obtain a passport and Visa, and get vaccinations and a physical exam. Interns will also need to get malaria prophylaxis where necessary.
Alliance of Students Against Poverty internships are available for high school graduates that are 18 years or older.

Upon return:
Becoming involved in the leadership of a local ASAP chapter or starting a Chapter where one does not exist.
Presenting experiences and knowledge gained to high school, middle school, and elementary school students to educate them about extreme poverty and the effective programs and solutions that are reaching and serving the poorest of the poor.

Logistics and Requirements:
Students will be deployed in Teams of 2-3.
Internships will last approximately one month.
Students are responsible for purchasing airfare and travelers insurance.
Each student selected must attend a mandatory 2-3 day training at the end of May in Washington, DC, and will be responsible for all related expenses.
Each student will keep a daily journal of his/her experience.

Internship Host Country:
Bangladesh: BRAC, Targeting the Ultra Poor (TUP) Program, http://www.asap2025.org/page/bractargeting-the-ultra-poor

Qualifications:
International and language experience is a plus.
However, the most important qualification is a passion for ASAP’s mission and desire to be involved in the ASAP movement.
Undergraduate or Graduate student at an accredited University.

欢迎大家加入fund-raising~~

大家好！我是fund-raising部共同部长裘蕾洁~~在这里真诚欢迎大家加入我们部~~
fund-raising部旨在为我们的组织筹集资金，这些资金将主要用于为一些小额信贷公司提供进行小额信贷的资金，所以，我们会与国内外著名的企业以及各级政府部门打交道，通过他们直接或间接的获得资金来源，来推动中国反贫困的进程。
在我们部，大家可以获得与高层人物交流的机会，开阔视野，并且获得与各种人物接触的技能，可以说是十分锻炼人的哦~~欢迎大家积极加入哈~~

The Beauty of Microfinace

When people ask me about my experience in China, one impression stands out above all others: the enormous, largely untapped human capital possessed by the world's most populous nation. China's human resources are vast, but the country still lacks the soft infrastructure to allocate these resources efficiently to the cause of sustainable development. Nowhere is this gap more serve, or more evident, than in China's vast, impoverished countryside. Rural entrepreneurs fueled much of the growth of the 1980s, but in subsequent years educational, medical, and economic policies have made it increasingly difficult to access the vast, latent store of human capital among China's rural poor. I believe microfinance will be crucial to tapping this important resource, by giving the rural poor the freedom to improve their lives through creating businesses and, eventually, accessing educational, health, and other social services. The beauty of microfinance is that it invests in individuals- something China still does too little of, meaning a great store of human capital remains untapped.

By Scott Moore

学友IPASA首届反贫困论坛欢乐开幕

2009年4月24日晚七点，首届学友IPASA反贫困论坛在经济学院大会议室欢乐开幕。

首先，在主持人介绍了反贫困在世界以及在中国的进程后，王曙光老师对本次论坛致词。王老师对中国目前的贫困状况，在农村医疗保障领域、教育领域、金融领域以及农业政策领域取得的进展作了简单介绍。他强调，在反贫困过程中，尤其需要注重理论和实践的结合。最后王老师表示，贫困是导致许多社会问题的原因，而我们对反贫困这一事业则应充满信心。

接下来，学友社长谢思佳和IPASA主席卢新月分别发言。谢思佳主要介绍了学友在反贫困方面所作的工作，包括在农民工子弟小学进行的调研和到云南进行的实践；卢新月师姐则介绍了IPASA的成立，以及主要职能。他们都表示，本次论坛将为广大学生提供一个平台，通过聆听高端观点和相互交流来认知贫困与反贫困，鼓励更多的有志青年加入到反贫困的事业中来。

由此，平新乔老师的精彩讲座也拉开了帷幕。平新乔老师从以下几个方面展开本次讲座：

1、 中国的反贫困经验。平老师以自己在新中国成立初期，以及改革开放前的切身经历和体会给大家刻画了贫困的具体图景，然后介绍了中国反贫困进程中的两个重要阶段，一是八十年代的制度改革所引起的生产力释放，二是九十年代初以来，市场机制的引入所导致的城市化；而后一阶段则是中国的反贫困真正起步的阶段。平老师谈到，中国的反贫困历程在某种程度上是对资本主义国家早期的城市化历程的复制，而不同之处在于，中国的这一进程在社会主义制度下进行，很少有人在脱离贫困之后又陷入贫困；并且，中国将资本主义近百年的城市化进程压缩到了三十年内进行，密度大，压力强，因而也容易滋生出其他方面的问题，比如腐败。

2、 经济增长中出现贫困的原因。平老师向大家介绍了能够对此作出解释的三种理论。一是马尔萨斯陷阱在贫困问题中的运用。中国广大农村地区的主要生产要素为土地与劳动力，资本的极度缺乏导致这些地区陷入与欧洲前工业化时期相类似的低水平的内生均衡之中，正如马尔萨斯自得人口理论所描述的那样。二是Dasgupty对印度农民调查的基础上发展的关于农民的消费、储蓄和投资行为的描述，而资本的缺乏也使导致农民特殊的消费、储蓄和投资行为的原因，从而也导致了一种内生的低水平均衡。三是从社会学角度对贫困问题作出的解释。平老师总结说，与外界的隔绝、封闭，没有新的资源进入，是导致贫困地区在经济增长中仍然陷于贫困的关键原因。

3、 从长远来看，反贫困应如何和进行。平老师向大家介绍了一种关于新资源的流所导致的各国经济发展趋同的机制（Lucas，2009）。他还指出，这种理论同样可以运用于解决一国之内经济发展不平衡的问题，因而对反贫困也很有借鉴意义。这种新资源可以是知识，也可以是专利，贫困的解决的关键在于新资源向农村的流动，打破原有的内生均衡，获得发展；而引入新资源流动的前提则是开放。

4、 在反贫困中，政府可以做什么，学生能做些什么。平老师谈到，中国目前的反贫困工作绝大部分由政府完成，也就是依靠财政支出来进行。但在相关研究中，财政投入并没有对贫困的改善产生显著的效果。因而犯贫困还需要寻找和设计更有效率的途径。作为学生，平老师指出，进行田野调查，阅读相关书籍都是为反贫困事业作出贡献的由用方式。

讲座之后是气氛热烈的Q&A环节，有同学就自身经历谈到父母教育水平对子女教育水平之间存在的关系的问题，有同学问到政府、企业、NGO组织在反贫困中的角色及他们之间的关系，有同学问到政府在农村融资方面的作用，也有同学问及确定贫困县的标准及其制定问题。平老师对这些问题一一进行了解答，拓展了大家对反贫困以及反贫困进程中问题的认识。最后，平新乔老师总结说，在北大的学习与生活值得我们每一个人珍惜，而怀有感恩的情怀则是进行反贫困事业的关键。

开幕式暨讲座在欢乐的气氛中华丽落幕。

最后，感谢平新乔老师和王曙光老师在百忙之中抽口参加我们的开幕式，感谢两协会会长的开幕致词，感谢主持人夕禾的精彩主持，感谢项目组同学的精心准备，当然也感谢到场的每一位同学，希望论坛能够在欢乐的气氛中顺利进行！

Why I am Interested in Poverty in China

I hope that the IPASA Blog can be a meaningful forum for both learning about poverty, and for thinking about the poverty problem as it relates to our individual selves. Therefore, I thought it might be worthwhile to write a post describing my background and explaining why I am interested enough in the topic of poverty in China to be spending my year at PKU studying it, and working on founding the International Poverty Alleviation Students Association. Please feel free to comment or write your own post (in English or Chinese, of course)!

On a basic level, poverty and China are of course both worthwhile general academic topics. To the extent that life is meaningful, then people’s obstruction from pursuing meaning by a lack of access to resources is certainly an important problem. China is the world’s largest country with a rich history and culture, and more positive change might be happening in China than anywhere else. However, I think a good question might be why I, myself, would be so interested in the intersection of these topics, since I truly have very little background in either of them. Although my great-grandparents were empty-handed Jewish immigrants to the U.S., I personally have enjoyed an upbringing and education that almost anyone would describe as being the opposite of poor. My home country’s global position relative to China is such that American parents tell their little children that if they dig a whole straight down in the ground for long enough, they will eventually emerge here.

Despite my distance from both poverty and China, I think that China’s poverty problem is both a meaningful issue for someone with my interests, and a logical target for someone with my background. China and poverty are each meaningful to me for their own reasons. To start with, I can trace my interest in China back to a very young age. Many people probably have a very lofty basis for their intellectual interests, but I am unashamed to admit that mine began with Chinese food. I was brought up in Philadelphia, a city about mid-way between New York and Washington, DC. My parents often used to take my older sister and me to restaurants in Philadelphia’s Chinatown. I found the food to be both delicious and strange, stared at the simple “picture” words before the English name of each dish and thought they were both elegant- and weird-looking, and heard the servers and owners talking to each other in a language which to me at the same time sounded sophisticated and kind of funny.

Since the U.S. is a “melting pot” country of immigrants, two lessons that are continuously emphasized in its educational system are that people’s cultural differences are a treasure, and that, with regard to important matters, people actually mostly have the same interests. So, when I was lucky that my high school offered a chance to actually study the very language of the Chinese restaurants (at least, the Mandarin-speaking ones), it seemed to me that I had a chance both to embark on a journey collecting valuable knowledge, and also to undertake a meaningful task of building a bridge to help link two groups of people who ultimately had much in common with each other. After devoting much attention over a period of many years, I have come to believe that China, while indeed as great as I originally thought, is not more strange and funny than my home—and that Chinese people are indeed in most basic ways very similar to me. Furthermore, when I come to China, I can try to help Chinese people to learn that the U.S. has a positive culture, and that I am ultimately no stranger than they!

In addition to studying China, I also think that it is quite appropriate for me to be studying poverty. In college, in addition to studying International Studies and Chinese, I also majored in business. In fact, also since I was young, I have been very interested in business and money. This interest has not really been a product of much of my educational development: even in the capitalist U.S., students are commonly taught from elementary school through high school (and certain majors in college) that the most important lesson about money is to understand its limits. Although America’s education system contains a diversity of viewpoints with regard to many issues, all teachers seem to endorse the phrase that “Money cannot buy happiness.”

Even in elementary school, I remember finding this lesson dissatisfying. Aside from the question of whether, for example, a new toy would make me happy (perhaps, perhaps not), I did know that so many things that enabled my existence required money. Money allowed my parents to buy me my favorite books, which I knew could make me happy, and which happiness seemed to always be approved by my teachers. In another way, when I ate breakfast and dinner my parents used to always command me to finish all of the food on my plate, and to remember how lucky I was to be unlike the poor, starving children of the remote regions of developing countries who did not have anything to eat. If those children had a little bit of money, than certainly they could use it to buy a happier life. A lot of extra money did not seem to be that useful, but it seems that there are many ways in which money can buy happiness.

Studying as a business major in college, I have learned to appreciate money and business as being some of the world’s greatest problem-solving tools. Economics don’t solve every problem, but if they are set up right, then they seemingly can enable a society to accomplish almost anything. Studying economic development amounts to studying business’s most important—and therefore, I would say, most interesting—problem: how to create more opportunities for more people to gain money. Muhammad Yunus, the original creator of formal microfinance, has described poor people as being “bonsai people,” like perfectly good trees whose environment has restricted them from growing to large size (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bonsai). People’s intellectual curiosity is satisfied by solving problems, and as Confucius said, 仁者无忧. So, even though I am lucky not to have a “background in poverty,” I think it makes sense for me to engage the topic.

Of course, China has provided me with a special opportunity to study (and perhaps, some day, work in) poverty alleviation. For one thing, China has a huge poverty problem which remains to be solved. Also, though, China’s economic development has been historically unprecedented. By studying how business and money have grown in China, one can learn more not only about Chinese society, but also about how economics can work. To that end, I hope that IPASA can be a helpful group for all of us members. While being a community that incorporates international knowledge exchange and cooperation, we can help each other learn about the most interesting and important economic topic, poverty.

by Jon

北京大学首届学友IPASA反贫困论坛！

北京大学首届学友IPASA反贫困论坛即将华丽登场！
四月，反贫困的声音回荡未名！
期待关注，欢迎加入！

★4月24日（本周五）晚19：00-21：00
反贫困月论坛活动开幕式暨讲座
嘉宾：北京大学经济学院教授平新乔
北京大学经济学院副教授王曙光
PlaNet Finance China驻北京代表

★4月26日（本周日）晚19：00-21：00
反贫困主题学生论坛
清华、北大两高校海内外学子
国际视野打造社会责任感
思想碰撞思维火花

★5月初 沛丰（PlaNet Finance）讲座
反贫困之小额信贷在中国
主讲人：Gabrielle Harris(夏黛柏)
沛丰协会中国代表处首席代表；

★5月闭幕式暨活动总结华丽落幕
主办：北京大学学友经济研究社
国际学生反贫困组织（IPASA）
指导单位：共青团北京大学委员会、北京大学经济学院

●论坛背景及活动主旨
贫困是人类社会面临的最严峻挑战之一，而消除贫困则是当今世界共同关注的重大课题。联合国将消除极端贫困和饥饿置于未来要实现的8个“千年发展目标”的首位。
北京大学作为中国的最高学府，学术精英的集中所在，以经世济民为己任。此次由北京大学学友经济研究社、国际学生反贫困组织(IPASA)联手主办的“学友IPASA反贫困系列论坛”，是北京大学历史上第一个学生自发组织的以“反贫困”为主题的大型系列论坛活动，具有开创性意义。本次活动旨在铺设著名学者、业界精英、莘莘学子思想互动的平台，使北大学子能近距离地聆听高端人士针对我国反贫困进程的现实热点问题的探讨，加深他们对中国反贫困进程的理解，拓宽眼界的同时提供深入调研的机会，为北大学子提供多方资源以了解反贫困面临的困境和我们所应担当的责任以及义务。

●主办方简介
北京大学学友经济研究社：始建于1978年、以理论研究为主同时强调自主学习和实践能力的经济学术实践类社团，以关注现实、学术自由、广交贤达为宗旨。社团顾问为北京大学经济学院院长刘伟教授、党委书记雎国余教授；曾邀请耶鲁大学、北京大学、中国经济研究中心等多家学校、单位的著名老师讲座，并于清华大学、南开大学、人民大学等校保持持续良好的经济学术往来。
IPASA(international Poverty Alleviation Students’Association)是由各国学生自发组织、自主管理的国际性反贫困组织，最早发源于美国校园，2009年由北京大学、宾夕法尼亚大学、普林斯顿大学学生引入中国，将中国总部设立于北大。IPASA致力于消除赤贫，举办国际会议、讲座、工作坊等形式呼吁学生关注贫困。IPASA获得了包括诺贝尔奖学者及世界名校教授在内的指导，与全球性NGO、全球小额信贷机构和公司、全球反贫困基金会等组织建立了良好的长期合作伙伴关系。

北京大学首届学友IPASA反贫困论坛主持人招募！

北京大学首届学友IPASA反贫困论坛即将华丽登场！

四月，反贫困的声音回荡未名！期待关注，欢迎加入！现针对学友社以及IPASA会员，提出诚挚招聘贴

*职位：反贫困论坛系列讲座及开幕式、闭幕式主持人

*招聘人数：1～4名

*职位简述：
1、开幕式主持人（4月24日或4月25日）
2、小额信贷讲座主持人（4月23日）
3、学生论坛-辩论会主持人（4月26日）
4、闭幕式主持人（4月29日）

*职位要求
1、语言表达能力强，随机应变能力强
2、口齿清晰
3、有主持经验者优先

*申请流程请有意者在下周四（4月23号）之前，发一份自我简介和求职意向到IPASA学术部公邮academic.IPASA@gmail.com，邮件命名为“张三_申请主持人_主持场次（如：开幕式）”

*职位回报
1、精美礼品一份
2、全方位深入了解北京大学首届学友IPASA反贫困论坛
3、学友社及IPASA领导力提升机会

希望大家踊跃报名噢：）让学友IPASA越来越欢乐，越来越和谐哈！预祝北京大学首届学友IPASA反贫困论坛圆满成功！

-- IPASA学术部邮箱：academic.IPASA@gmail.com