ACCION Debuts New Film about Microfinance

ACCION Debuts New Film about Microfinance

'Voices from the Field' Profiles Lives of Poor Microentrepreneurs on Three Continents

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/.

First Call Analyst:
FCMN Contact:

Source: ACCION

CONTACT: Bruce MacDonald, VP, Communications of ACCION International,
+1-617-625-7080, ext. 1245, bmacdonald@accion.org

Web site:

http://www.accion.org/

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