Influence of Environmental and Governance Factors on Sustainability of Microfinance Institutions in Ghana

This study examines the environmental and governance factors and how they affect sustainability of Microfinance institutions (MFIs) in Ghana. Microfinance institutions like any other system are affected by peculiar environmental and governance factors which determine to a large extent how it survives. The study therefore measures seven variables by testing seven hypotheses from a survey data of 114 MFIs in Ghana. The study revealed that even though there was a positive and significant relationship between sustainability and improved regulatory framework, loan recovery, quality of staff and the MFIs ability to create jobs for their clients, existence of Board of Directors, and increased competition, do not impact on sustainability. Recommendations on how to enhance the environmental and governance factors to ensure sustainability of MFIs have been made. Key words: sustainability, environment, governance, microfinanc

Success of Microfinance Institutions: The Ghanaian Experience

Success in microfinance refers to measures which when adopted will significantly improve the life and operations of the institutions though many authors have different views on what constitute success. The following imperatives have been used to scan success of microfinance institutions (MFIs): acquiring more clients, effective and efficient loan processing, effective record keeping, increased savings, external and internal audits, level of staff remuneration and staff turnover rate. The research was based on both qualitative and quantitative approaches. First, interviews were held with selected CEOs from all the categories of MFIs in Ghana. This was followed by self-administered survey involving 130 microfinance institutions. The results indicated that all the perceived factors were significant in determining the success of MFIs. Key words: Success; Microfinance; Sustainability; Remuneratio

An Evaluation of Sustainability and Subsidy Dependence of Microfinance Institutions in Ghana

The research aims to explore the understanding of the relationship between sustainability of microfinance institutions (MFIs), subsidy dependence index (SDI) and operational self-sufficiency (OSS).The research study is based on initial exploratory study by analyzing data on 14 executive directors in qualitative interviews and 116 relationship executives in research questionnaires. The microfinance institutions identified were the Financial Non-Governmental Organizations (FNGOs), the Savings and Loans Companies (S&L), the Credit Unions (CUs), the Rural Banks (RBs) and the SUSU Companies. Multiple Regressions which allows for the testing of theories or models established a significant relationship between the Operational Self Sufficiency (OSS) and the predictors, especially the drop-out rate of clients and average loans. The Subsidy Dependence Index (SDI) was calculated for the various types of MFIs and the result was a high dependency ratio especially among the FNGOs. Though the dependency is on the decline, it is very slow indicating that most MFIs will depend on subsidies for a very long time to come. Key words: Subsidy dependence; Sustainability; Operational self-sufficiency; Viability; Microfinanc

Comportamento de dois genótipos de milho cultivados em sistema de aléias preestabelecido com diferentes leguminosas arbóreas.

O cultivo em aléias tem sido recomendado como alternativa para a substituição da agricultura de corte e queima, no trópico úmido, devido à grande capacidade de produção de matéria orgânica e de reciclagem de nutrientes, mas algumas dúvidas quanto à sustentabilidade e à competição interespecífica são persistentes. O objetivo no trabalho foi avaliar a viabilidade da cultura do milho em um sistema de cultivo em aléias de leguminosas arbóreas. O delineamento experimental utilizado foi em blocos casualisados, com quatro repetições dos tratamentos: aléias de sombreiro (Clitoria fairchildiana), ingá (Inga edulis), guandu (Cajanus cajan) e leucena (Leucaena leucocephala) e uma testemunha sem aléias. Foram avaliadas a remobilização de carbono e nitrogênio, massa de grãos, massa de mil grãos e competição interespecífica entre as cultivares de milho e as leguminosas. A produção de grãos foi maior nas parcelas com C. fairchildiana e L. leucocephala. A produtividade do híbrido de milho foi superior à da variedade em todos os tratamentos. A produtividade e a massa de mil grãos de milho não são negativamente afetadas pela distância da linha da leguminosa arbórea. Esse estudo conclui que o sistema de aléias com leguminosas arbóreas é uma alternativa importante ao manejo sustentável dos agroecossistemas no tropico úmido. Além disso, nessa região a produtividade em grãos na cultura do milho é favorecida no sistema de aléias preeestabelecidas com as leguminosas arbóreas sombreiro, ingá e leucena e pela utilização de genótipos eficientes no aproveitamento do nitrogênio, cujo sincronismo entre a liberação e a absorção do N aplicado por meio das leguminosas deve ser aprimorado

Proteome Serological Determination of Tumor-Associated Antigens in Melanoma

Proteome serology may complement expression library-based approaches as strategy utilizing the patients' immune responses for the identification pathogenesis factors and potential targets for therapy and markers for diagnosis. Melanoma is a relatively immunogenic tumor and antigens recognized by melanoma-specific T cells have been extensively studied. The specificities of antibody responses to this malignancy have been analyzed to some extent by molecular genetic but not proteomics approaches. We screened sera of 94 melanoma patients for anti-melanoma reactivity and detected seropositivity in two-thirds of the patients with 2–6 antigens per case detected by 1D and an average of 2.3 per case by 2D Western blot analysis. For identification, antigen spots in Western blots were aligned with proteins in 2-DE and analyzed by mass spectrometry. 18 antigens were identified, 17 of which for the first time for melanoma. One of these antigens, galectin-3, has been related to various oncogenic processes including metastasis formation and invasiveness. Similarly, enolase has been found deregulated in different cancers. With at least 2 of 18 identified proteins implicated in oncogenic processes, the work confirms the potential of proteome-based antigen discovery to identify pathologically relevant proteins

A New Type of Proton Coordination in an F1Fo-ATP Synthase Rotor Ring

The high-resolution structure of the rotor ring from alkaliphilic Bacillus pseudofirmus OF4 reveals a new type of ion binding in F1Fo-ATP synthases