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Christie Lecture in Economics October 14, 2008 John Hatch
- Father of Village Banking - Founder of FINCA John Hatch is the founder of FINCA, one of the world's leading microcredit institutions with programs in 23 countries and over one million low-income families assisted since its inception in 1984. John is also known as the father of "village banking", a group loan methodology now replicated by over 800 micro-credit programs in 60 countries. John's economic development career spans 44 years, during which time he was a Peace Corps volunteer and staff member (1962-64), Fulbright scholar (PhD. Univ. Wisconsin, 1973), economist, and a consultant to small farmer development projects in some 50 countries (1973-83). In addition to his management duties at FINCA, from 1996 to 2006 John directed field research by summer interns armed with Palm Pilots who interview some 4,000 clients per year to document their poverty levels, business profitability, and rising living standards. John also continues to serve as co-founder and executive committee member of the Microcredit Summit global campaign to reach 175 million of the world’s poorest mothers with self-employment loans by the year 2015. He has given microcredit workshops and lectured widely at universities at home and abroad. Following his retirement in 2007, John now lives in Santa Fe, New Mexico, where he pursues a lifelong interest in water coloring, has finished a screenplay, continues his public speaking activities, and actively campaigns for an end to global poverty by the year 2025. |
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